Spielberg's Entrance to Adulthood

Rating: 8/10 (10 February 2009)

"Schindler's List" was THE movie of 1993, and nothing came close to touching it in acclaim. It felt like the movie Steven Spielberg had been waiting years to make, and despite his previous efforts at making movies for grown ups ("The Color Purple"), this is the first movie that suggested he was maturing as a film maker.
So does it hold up after all these years? Mostly. But is it a typical Spielberg movie? Most definitely. The first 3/4 of the film are compulsively watchable and entertaining, if you can consider brutal and graphic scenes of concentration camp violence entertaining. Spielberg uses a near-documentary style that fits the material perfectly, and using black and white with only occasional splashes of color feels like an inspired decision. But boy is that last quarter of the film schmaltzy, and has Spielberg's gooey fingerprints all over it. I don't know that something as horrific as the Holocaust needs a lot of emotional embellishment, but Spielberg just can't help himself.
However, I forgive Spielberg in this particular case. This was obviously a story that meant a great deal to him, and I'm not sure it's fair to expect him to remain emotionally distant from it. He tells his story with a great deal of passion, and for the most part he tells it very well.
Grade: A