What can be said

Rating: 10/10 (11 December 2015)

Kubrick said that the holocaust was about six million who died, Schindler's List was about six thousand who didn't. That perfectly encapsulates the brilliance of this film. The Holocaust was the most horrific event man ever caused, nothing comes close. Somehow, Spielberg found a story of hope in the pitch black evil. That is not to say this movie is for the faint of heart. Nothing about Schindler's List is easy, it will break you but in the end the tears you shed--and you will cry--are not elicited by horror but by beauty. It is the story of a man, by no means a saint, who finds it in himself to stand up against the horrors of his day. I could write on about the acting, writing or directing, and it is all superb, but to do so would miss the point. Schindler's List excels because it has the all important fourth factor, the right stuff. I am too young to have seen it in theaters and I envy those who shared this experiences with strangers, but every time I watch this film I am left speechless. I do feel the need to right about the ending. Realizing that the evil presented in this film is of a degree we cannot fathom, Spielberg brilliantly reconnected us to reality. It was on my third viewing when it occurred to me that the little boy, the grandson of a Schindler Jew, was no more then eight years old. This would mean that he was born after Schindler died yet owes his entire existence to the man. This is the beautiful part of the story, this is what brings me to tears every damn time. Schindler's influence stretches beyond the grave. This movie was over twenty years ago, that boy is now a man, probably married, maybe with children. Schindler gave the girl a husband, the boy a father, and they never shared time on earth. This is one of the twentieth centuries most extraordinary films about one of its most extraordinary men and if it wasn't for the film, we wouldn't even know the name Oskar Schindler.