Spielberg's greatest film

Rating: 9/10 (12 August 2006)

When I recommend this movie to friends who haven't seen it, I always get the same answer..."Yeah, I've heard it's excellent, but it's got to be depressing." I teach high school honors history and every spring I show my seniors this movie as part of a World War II unit. Ten graduating classes have experienced it. Spielberg has never been better. His one-two punch with this film and 1998's Saving Private Ryan should be required viewing. I was vindicated this summer when the American Film Institute ranked Schindler's List #3 in its latest Top 100 film series, Most Inspiring Films. Over the years my students have agreed with me...this film about mankind's darkest hour and the horrors of the Holocaust ends on a most beautiful and hopeful note. Spielberg's use of color in a black and white film, though simply done, is the most powerful thing I have ever seen in film-making.