one of Spielberg's finest and a work of incredible importance

Rating: 10/10 (21 June 2005)

SPOILERS Sixty years is a long time. When you compare the world today with 1945, so much has changed. People complain about multiple different things which really are quite petty. In contrast, all those years ago, the World was in a terrible state. Millions dead, countless cities destroyed, humanity took itself to the verge of extinction. Through brutal and inhumane methods, vast quantities of people were wiped off the Earth. One of the biggest groups of people to suffer were those of Jewish faith.
Detested by Adolf Hitler due to a belief that they were responsible for the decline of the German power, Jews were slaughtered in huge numbers. Not all Germans followed this route however. Through the work of German 'heroes' like Oskar Schindler, some were saved. Telling the story of Schindler's list of Jewish workers, Steven Spielberg's 1993 film is not easy watching. At over three hours long, it is a powerful black and white piece which shows the brutality of the Nazi extermination of the Jews. It is an amazing piece of work which is understandably shown in schools. Just like Spielberg's later "Saving Private Ryan", "Schindler's List" reminds us of parts of the war and it is a film which is crucial to the future development of the human race.
As the German war machine spread across Europe, Hitler's army began to spread his beliefs across the land. Rounding up Jews and putting them into ghettos, the Nazi party began the slow process of wiping out a race of people. German industrialist Oskar Schindler (Liam Neeson) hated these events, and under the excuse of manufacturing for the war effort, he set about saving as many as he could.
From the first moment to the last, it is hard not to be taken aback by this film. Ironically beautiful in a well shot black and white form, it recreates the ugly side of human nature. Whether it's Ralph Fiennes Nazi commandant or the misguided child spitting at the passing Jews, "Schindler's List" is not afraid to show this nasty side of humanity.
Successful at the Oscars with awards for best film, director, adapted screenplay and others, the one disappointment is Neeson loosing out to Tom Hanks in "Philadelphia". Hanks was outstanding in that film as a man with aids, but throughout every scene of this film, Liam Neeson displays the finest acting he has ever done. From the first moment of exploitation of high ranking Generals through to his heartbreaking final scene, Neeson is outstanding.
In terms of acting, Neeson is not alone in his quality. The amazing, and perhaps even more powerful, thing about "Schindler's List" is the way in which every single individual on the screen has you believing them. From the main characters through to the random five second Jew, every person on that screen is wonderful. You watch the actors playing a difficult role, and they do it so well, that it just makes the film even more powerful than it already is.
One of the most crucial aspects about "Schindler's List" is the sense of the numbers. In any film where genocide is committed, it is incredibly easy to loose track of the numbers and become dehumanised to the suffering. Steven Spielberg shows throughout this film how aware he is of this. In the clearing of the ghetto though, Spielberg gives his clearest indication of bringing the individual back into focus. As the film progresses in black and white, during the ghetto scene, Spielberg has a little girl in a bright red coat running along innocently. This girl, this child, is trying to escape the danger, and both the audience and Schindler notice her distinctively. Spielberg focuses on this girl and then half an hour later we see her body amongst a pile of the deceased. We're reminded, brutally but crucially, that these are not just statistics but individuals with lives, families and dreams. We are shown that all this waste of human life is terrible, and that little girl stops us from ever growing numb to the vast quantities of dead.
The issue of the Holocaust is not an easy topic to portray. If it is badly written, the story looses it's meaning slightly, if we are just shown large numbers of corpses we become desensitised. Steven Spielberg knows this. In "Schindler's List", Spielberg has created a masterpiece. Beautifully written and acted, the film is particularly powerful because it manages to use an attractive method of filming to show something truly terrible. From the first five minutes through to the conclusion, "Schindler's List" is an amazing piece of work. It is powerful, it is moving, and to try to prevent something like this happening again, it needs to be shown regularly in schools. Like a small number of films, "Schindler's List" is a masterpiece which reminds us of events we should never forget.