A film that can't decide what it is

Rating: 7/10 (15 October 2011)

First off, this is not a bad film. I think it starts and ends quite well, but there are are too many scenes that seem to be there mostly to document atrocities done by the Nazis in WWII. I understand the motivation to put them all in there, but rather than convey some sense of horror and outrage that events like these should elicit, I found myself both numb and bored. These pseudo-documentary parts took me out of the story and made it really hard to pay attention at all. And this is coming from a huge documentary fan, as well as someone who is not at all turned off by a long run-time if the film warrants it.
Maybe Spielberg felt it was dishonouring the memory of the dead to leave those scenes on the cutting room floor, but for a film over three hours long, I can't help but feel that there's considerably less than two hours of narrative trying to hold it all together.
I was sixteen when this film came out, and I really didn't understand why it didn't work for me then. Having watched it for only the second time recently (in 2011), I sincerely doubt I'll ever feel the need to watch it again. Given that I do think that there's a decent film hiding in there, that is a shame.