The More I See It The Less I Like It

Rating: 7/10 (21 May 2003)

I thought SCHINDLER`S LIST was a masterpiece when I first saw it a few years ago and having seen it again a couple of times over the years I find myself admiring it less and less after each subsequent viewing . This is down to my gut feeling that the film sugarcoats many events , especially the eponymous character . Remember the scene at the end where Oskar Schindler gives away his goldnes parteiabzeichen in order to finance the saving of some more lives ? It`s a very touching scene but in reality this badge would have no value , so how is this explained ? Very easily - The holocaust happened but that scene didn`t. And I find the character interaction somewhat cheesy between Schindler and Stern . It`s like Stern`s manipulating Schindler while Schindler is making it clear that he doesn`t need manipulating because he`s going to save as many human lives as possible . It`s like the film is trying to say only someone who is good by nature can benefit humanity , an almost insulting simplification and rose tinted view of human nature . This is why I enjoyed Ralph Fiennes performance as Amon Goeth so much . He`s a Nazi murderer who shoots woman and kids , but Fiennes plays him not as an inhuman goose stepping monster but as an all too flawed human one .