boring and contrived

Rating: 1/10 (21 December 2001)

Many people have told me how devastated they were when they saw this movie. But I was just bored. We talked about it and, in the discussions that followed, I was accused of not caring about the victims of the Holocaust. One person even said I was denying the Holocaust happened!
And that soured me on the movie even more. The fact is, Holocaust movies have insurance against criticism: if you say the movie is a waste of time, someone might attribute your opinion to the Holocaust itself. I don't understand it, but that weird emotional blackmail made me really uncomfortable with Schindler's List.
I thought Liam Neeson was horrible. His acting is very stiff and unconvincing. The use of hand-held cameras and black-and-white cinematography *should* work, but ultimately they amounted to subtle special effects.
I thought the movie was emotionally flat, as well. I watched each character go through the motions, wondering when something unexpected would happen. The horror of the Holocaust is shown in an almost clinical way.
I don't know. I just felt that this movie would feel less like a bid for an Oscar and more like a personal film.
At the risk of being a complete jerk, I'll give Spielberg this advice: Do it again. Make another Holocaust movie. Why not? He finished Kubrick's "AI." Kubrick had another movie in the planning stages, a Holocaust film called "Aryan Papers" (aka "Wartime Lies"). I hope he'll finish *that* Kubrick movie, too, and create a better Holocaust film, something I can sink into and be surprised by, something that feels much more personal.