Good - but a bit overrated

Rating: 10/10 (14 April 2005)

In the past couple years, I have been taught about the Holocaust and the Rwanda genocide. And so out of curiosity, I have seen both movies made about the tragedies. Schindler's List was and is given a lot of praise, but I didn't find the movie as compelling as "Hotel Rwanda" or many other stories. This movie sorely lacks characterization. In order for the audience to truly grasp the tragedy of genocide, we first need to establish a connection with the characters that undergo such torture. But the truth is, other than the main characters, those surrounding Oskar Schindler, we mostly never get to see the other characters through the methods of characterization. The almost never talk, a background story is rarely given, we never get an idea of other character's opinions about them and like I said they never talk. All we know about them is what we see. About the only the writer's and Spielberg lets us see the tragedy is watching total strangers go through h***, but we get no idea of their personality, hopes and dreams with the exception of some small addititions. This movie suffers the same fate as "The Passion of the Christ." It spends it's hours showing us blood, gore and misfortune and expects us to feel sorry for the characters. But without really understanding that the characters truly don't deserve the torture they go through, we can never really understand the tragedy. The film is good, but the lack of a rich cast of characters, I really cannot give this film a 9 or a 10.