Just misses being a masterpiece thanks to sledgehammer climax

Rating: 8/10 (3 January 2007)

Schindler's List is one of Steven Spielberg's first "serious" Oscar-bait attempts and it is a superb (near flawless) piece of film-making up to a point. Spielberg has chosen to relate the horrors of the Holocaust through the biographical story of businessman Oskar Schindler. Schindler was an opportunist who decided to exploit the Jews affected by Hitler's final solution and utilize them in his factory. As he witnessed first-hand the repercussions of the Holocaust, he gradually began to take active efforts to save the 1100 Jews in his employ by literally buying their lives. Spielberg's stark black-and-white photography enhances the realism of the film and he directs the material with a refreshing no-frills approach. Spielberg is usually known to be a very sentimental director and what is astonishing about his work for much of the film is how cool and unsentimental it is. This is not an insult, the approach works wonders. He let's the tension and the terror of what unfolds speak for itself without embellishing with tired Hollywood clichés and intrusions. Liam Neeson's performance as Schindler is nuanced, enigmatic and entrancing. He is a person that one never truly gets to know, but his evolution from unconcerned businessman to one who in a sweaty frenzy tries to beat the clock to remember all of the names of his employees in order to save their lives is amazing acting. Spielberg and Neeson never try to turn Schindler into a saint and we get a warts-and-all central character. Ralph Fiennes is also astounding as the thoroughly amoral Amon Goeth and Ben Kingsley contributes one of his finest restrained performances as foreman Itzhak Stern. I also found Embeth Davidtz moving in the peripheral role of Helen Hirsch, a young Jewish woman who becomes the beleaguered object of affection for both Goeth and Schindler. The film is required viewing for anyone interested in history, the Holocaust or simply masterful film-making. In fact, the only thing that prevents me from ranking the film at its highest level is its conclusion. Spielberg in his latter years seems to have a problem with providing satisfying codas to his films  the more serious ones provide the greater difficulties. Schindler's List is no exception and I believe that he panders in the final few moments and fails to accept the intelligence of his audience for processing what went before. He has just crafted a perfect account of the events and torn our hearts out in the process  viewers are fully able to comprehend the depth of the accomplishments of Schindler. However, Spielberg seems to feel we need a refresher course. He adds a totally unneeded closing where the real surviving Schindler Jews and their offspring march side-by-side across the screen (all the better to marvel over their numbers) and pay tribute at Schindler's grave. While I must say I was mildly interested in seeing the modern-day equivalents of some of the characters I had just seen on screen, it was like a subtle, insightful film suddenly brandishing a sledgehammer and adopting a totally different approach to make its point. Still, just in case any is still slow on Schindler's accomplishments as a savior, Spielberg then literally types it out for us to remind us exactly how many were saved and how many offspring from future generations have been saved by Schindler's selfless efforts. I really found this drawn-out and needless climax to shatter the mood generated by the earlier portions of the film and it prevents me from rating this a masterpiece.