500th Review: Simply the greatest historical movie ever made

Rating: 10/10 (26 March 2012)

Schindler's List is almost too painful to watch - a remarkably subdued but traumatically powerful account of the greatest evil ever perpetrated by mankind. I can't watch it without weeping, not just crying, but every time, I just weep.
Spielberg sets aside all sense of melodrama and instead gives us not only remarkable characterization in Oskar Schindler, Amon Goeth, and Itzak Stern, but also brings an enormous sense of humanity and dignity to an almost impossible subject.
I cannot begin to say what it was like to see this for the first time in the cinema the week it was released - it was simply the greatest film I had seen - it truly captures something about human dignity and hope as well as evil and complacency that go beyond words.
I could write about the magnificent production, and filming, grading, editing and care - but above and beyond this there is just the power of the true story - that one man did make a difference is almost impossible to comprehend given the odds and given the circumstances.
Cinema at its very very best can capture both the reality and the hyper-reality in a way that no other art form can - Schindler's List does - and it remains a living testament and the most powerful reminder that we all can and must choose good over evil.
Schindler's List remains for me one of the greatest, if not the greatest, film I have seen and I always knew it would be my 500th review. Thank you Steven Spielberg, and I hope it will serve always as a reminder why courage and good really matter.