The Best Drama, with top comic asides.

Rating: 10/10 (7 March 2002)

I rank this as THE best drama story ever. When it got released, I was chatting with a co-worker in the staff room who said: "I know I should see this movie, but I don't think I could handle sitting through two hours of watching people suffer in the concentration camps." and I totally agreed. If only we'd realized how great this film tells its story.
I think a scene that best demonstrates this film is the Train Rescue scene. I can just imagine a lesser production putting a heavy-handed sentimental moralistic sob speech right in the middle of it (which would have turned Oskar into a very quick martyr for sure). Instead, the characters are trying to cope with the immediate concerns of the situation. They're almost in a state of self-denial about the implications of what's going on; and it's left to the unspoken sequence at the end to bring home the emotional impact. As Alfred Hitchcock said: "A good filmmaker doesn't tell you something, he shows you something".
Another aspect that makes this film work, and one I don't think gets acknowledged too much, is it's effective use of dark humor. Examples include the Chicken Thief scene, and Oskar negotiating with the Aucshwitz Commandant. (I also reckon the sequence where Goeth tries out Oskar's "benevolence is power" idea, and decides it doesn't work is humorous - but that may be just me!). This film almost has the personality of a Hogan's Heroes episode - and I mean that as a sincere complement.
It reminds me of a Yiddish joke I heard about a Nazi sympathizer and a Jewish businessman who bump into each other on a street corner at the start of WW2. The Nazi sympathizer snaps "Schweinhund!!!' and stalks off in a huff. The Jewish businessman brushes himself off, tips his hat, and murmurs; "And **I'm** Goldberg."
But the thing that really makes this film work is the fact that is plays on the viewer's expectations. The film is made for people who have seen WW2 documentaries, and think they know what happened. The prime example is the shower scene (which I think is more psychological than PSYCHO). This film works because it doesn't preach at you, it plays the situations and asks you to respond to them. And I think that's the secret of great storytelling.