A triumph...

Rating: 10/10 (15 December 2008)

Filmmaker Steven Spielberg's 1993 World War II/Holocaust drama "Schindler's List" is a cinematic triumph. Unquestionably Spielberg's most "satisfying" film about WWII (and of his career, perhaps), "Schindler's List" is one of his many directorial highlights because of its message of hope, survival, and humanity during a time in human history that lacked any of those three. This is what Spielberg's vision of World War II was really about: regaining a sense of hope, survival, and humanity in grave times.
It's been a while since I saw it last. I saw this film about six years ago my sophomore in high school; we had to watch it as part of my world history class. Boy, am I glad I chose to show up those two days we watched this movie because I surely would have missed out on an incredible film experience. This is my favorite film about the Holocaust during World War II; "Raiders of the Lost Ark" (1981) was pure fun about World War II, and "Saving Private Ryan" (1998) showed the personal cost of World War II.
Spielberg is himself a Jew, and his personal feelings about WWII and the plight of the Jews during that time are no secret to anyone who watches his movies about that period in time; has anyone got the feeling he was secretly smirking to himself when Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) was making mincemeat out of those b******s, the Nazis, in "Raiders of the Lost Ark?" I do. "Schindler's List" is Spielberg's masterstroke of cinematic film-making. If "Raiders of the Lost Ark" showed a Jewish kid vicariously living out his fantasies of slaying Nazis, then "Schindler's List" showed us that that kid has finally grown up.
Adapted from Thomas Keneally's book, this heartfelt - and oft-times horrifying - tale is about a German war profiteer named Oskar Schindler (Liam Neeson) who gives safe haven to over 1,000 Jews (including his loyal accountant, Itzhak Stern, played by a superb Ben Kingsley) in his factory after becoming sensitive to the horrors inflicted upon them by the Nazis, especially by the psychopathic, high-ranking Nazi commandant Amon Goeth (Ralph Fiennes). By no means a saint, his transformation from womanizing war profiteer who thought nothing of socializing with the Nazis to humanitarian savior is nothing short of a brilliant performance by Neeson, who gives this at-first loathsome character a heart and a human portrayal who risked bankruptcy and certain death to "Save one Life, and save the World Entire."
What's most striking about this production is its authenticity. Spielberg filmed "Schindler's List" at the real Nazi concentration at Auschwitz - just to give it that extra-real feeling of authenticity. To make the film fit the time, he chose to film it in black & white, much rather than the easier color print. However, when color does appear in one particular key scene, you get why Spielberg chose to put it there. There's also something so real and believable about the concentration camp scenes that make the imagery during those sequences unforgettable. Who can forget the startling sequences where the Nazis are making the Jewish prisoners strip in freezing-cold weather, and then herd them into darkened rooms where ominous-looking sprinklers loom overhead?
"Schindler's List" is one of the key films about World War II, the Holocaust, and of the 20th century; maybe it's the definitive film about those three. Its historical significance will allow it to never become dated, and will make it one of the best films in the history of cinema. Steven Spielberg probably has, indeed, made the most satisfying film of his career.
10/10