it may be only 6th on the imdb list but i've got a new #1

Rating: 10/10 (6 May 2002)

perhaps it's a clue about the sad state of our world, the inevitability of the holocausts of the past and the holocausts yet to come, that a full half of the films rated higher on the imdb top 250 than this monumental movie celebrate violence and war. blood and death are now and have always been the high art of our greedy raging world. we can pray for the future, but peace can only come true if people are willing to see the world through the vision of justice, respect for humanity and willing to sacrifice so others may live. That is why i suggest the visions of Keneally, spielberg and oskar schindler. this movie is so magnificent from here on out all my grades will go down in perspective. 12 oscar noms, 7 wins (including picture and director), a host of other accolades, all amply deserved. there is just so much to admire: the mix of large scale storytelling with countless smaller story arcs (kudos to Steven Zaillian's oscar winning adapation of keneally's wondrous novel), hundreds of amazing and daring cinematic touches (set design, cinematography, and editing all also picked up statues) dozens upon dozens of bravura performances, monolithic sets with literal casts of thousands, impressive historical accuracy, the list is near endless, a series of beauties rising into ultimate truth: a film with a soul. perhaps the powerful beauty of this film is that spielberg does not put a hollywood polish on the fact that oskar schindler was a comprised man yet capable of tremendous goodness. in some ways this can be seen as spielberg's first mature film and it's entirely appropriate that this was the first time he collected an oscar after 5 noms. the journalist in me wants to document all the details in this well earned victory, but the humanist in me just wants to thanks everyone involved for the fact it exists. whatever else may be wrong with our planet we can still find hope in the fact that men like schindler are remembered and revered and honored in such an celebrated and immensely popular film. if my words can make you see a film or work for peace, let this one be the one, let now be the time.