The mother of all Holocaust movies

Rating: 8/10 (27 January 2019)

"Schindler's List" is an American mostly English-language movie from 1993 that won Best Picture that year and took home another six Oscars including one for director Steven Spielberg, for whom it is probably still his career-defining work and with everything that he has under his belt like Jaws, Indiana Jones and much more, this means quite something. This film we have here runs for over 3 hours and I was lucky enough today to catch it on the big theater screen on the occasion of a very special day here in Germany. And what can I say. It was a feast. If that is an appropriate term given the heavy subject. I already wrote in the title of my review that this is of course a movie about the Holocaust. And it does not even try to hide the horrible deeds done by the perpetrators back then. Which means you have several occasions where you see people being shot in the head from the nearest distance and killed in cold blood for what their religion is. But it is also an uplifting movie as the man in the middle of it is Oskar Schindler, a manufacturer who saved more than a thousand Jewish lives during these perhaps darkest days in German (global) history. He is played by Liam Neeson and this is also his career-defining performance today without a doubt. Ralph Fiennes was around the age of 30 when he played the main antagonist here, Amon Göth, and Ben Kingsley, already an Oscar winner back then, is also on board and he looks so different compared to how he looks today, almost older you could say. By the way I did not know this film was based on a book in fact. It's really been a long long time since first time I saw it. But it is as good 25 years after its release as it was back then when I watched it for the first time. I must say I was not too touched throughout the movie as I hoped I could be and as I know many others were, but the last 20 minutes or so are heart-breaking stuff. I am talking about the moment when Schindler starts talking to his "employees", the guards I mean with that, as well as the Jews when he says he will be the hunted from now on. And then there is this powerful march with the haunting music at the very end before the film switches into the now, well into the early 1990s you must say, and we see the survivors, the Schindler Jews, and their offspring too and this idea of how Schindler did not only save these men, but saved entire generations and future children is so incredibly touching that there is no way your eyes won't get wet. I think my entire cinema could have finished drought in Africa when the closing credits rolled in. And lets not forget John Williams' beautiful beautiful soundtrack / main theme that is among the saddest tunes you will ever hear during a film and I know now already it is one that will never leave my head and ears. It was probably before watching this film the one thing that I have come across many times over the last years/decade and which I remembered better than anything else from this film.
I was also glad to see parents with their children in the audience today, kids that were not even close to being born in 1993, so the film's message is carried on to the next generation. Well, what can I say. The Holocaust subject here in Germany is one that is very dominant today also in modern culture and there are constantly new exhibitions about this topic and also many new films still being made. And not just in Germany obviously. But I am pretty sure that none of these will ever reach the icon status of Schindler's List. Other really touching moments for me included the moment Kingsley calls the list something like "ultimate goodness", when we see earlier on the shoes and jewellery taken from Jews before their journey into destruction, the dead girl in the red dress etc. The latter is one you could talk about for ages and write an entire review about in my opinion. What is her significance? Well.. I would say this only use of color before the jump forward in time near the end is intended to emphasize that there is an individual human being behind every face and even if they don't stand out thanks to shining garments, we still should not forget that. Be it the one-armed men, the woman who knew so much about construction or everybody resting down there below Göth's balcony. They all have their stories and their loved ones and they all should not have died. It is very difficult in the presence of these sheer numbers of Jews being killed back then, but we shall not forget every one of them deserved to live. And every one of them has their own story. If we lose our empathy and become numb to what happened, then all is lost. And it is merely numbers that mean nothing to us. Okay, I mentioned Göth already. Fiennes was nominated for an Oscar for that portrayal and many today say he should have won instead of Tommy Lee Jones, but not having seen the latter's movie, I will not discuss that in detail. But I think it is a surprising loss, even with TLJ having the momentum given how much they loved Schindler's List. Like with the scene I mentioned some lines above, I also think that Göth could have deserved his own review. It is so difficult to say what this character is and what he is not. There is no 100% description, it is all about the shades. Very fitting the house keeper's description that you never knew what would happen next with him and how you could calm him down. Is he an opportunist? A sadist? A psychopath? A racist? Probably yes to all that, but then there are these moments when deep down inside him he has affections for the Jewish housekeeper before reality bites and he starts attacking her violently. The scene when he tells Schindler that he wants to take her with him is telling enough, only to say he should shoot her in the head in the nearest forest. Maybe this is the closest he can get to love? Tough to say. The relationship between Göth and Schindler is also interesting. I do think he looks up to Schindler for his success with women, his whole aura, his talent to entertain and he wants to be like him instead of being an alcoholic and gambling addict. Not many would have gotten away with the hose scene really, but Schindler does with the high-profile Nazis trying desperately to convince themselves that he is just torturing the Jews in the wagons. Of course he is not and they know. But they do not have the will and charisma to oppose him. The very first scene at the table when Schindler invites the Nazis over is already very telling, who is the man in charge. But he needs them too. Without being an NSDAP member, there is no chance for him to thrive and save a single life.
And finally, lets look at the character transformations. Some brief words on Göth first who believes he is some high-appointed ruler about who lives and who dies thanks to Schindler's influence. There is no real goodness in the former. It is all make-believe and when he realizes he shoots the boy in cold blood. But about Schindler, there is a lot more to say, also when it comes to his wife and of course his heartfelt final speech about how he could have saved more. At some point, it was never about prestige, about reputation or about business anymore. Let alone about money. He gives it all away for his fake factory. This is when he turns into the good human being, which also has a lot to do with Stern's influence for sure. So yeah, this is a really long movie, but oh so rewarding and also for me a definite contender for best film of 1993. Don't give up on it if greatness is not achieved on all occasions early on. What is waiting for you is absolutely worth it. Of course, due to the cruel imagery, this is not a film for the very young ones, but even if it is extremely serious and will break your heart on more than one occasion, there are also really many moments, surprisingly more than I expected where this film will make you smile. These include basically all Schindler's exchanges and interactions with women, be it the ones sitting on his desk typing or the ones who want to see him or all the other ones attracted to him and the other way around. Or one other scene that stays in the mind very much for me is when he is looking for Stern at the train station and how these resilient Nazi guards help him quickly after being worried about their own future and having fear of being sent to Russia. So yeah, there is probably at least a dozen scenes more that stay in the mind and that I could write a whole chapter about and you will recognize these scenes when you watch them or maybe you will think of completely different scenes than the ones I mean, but that is perfectly fine though. I will spare you all that. But I will not spare you the words that this is an absolute must-see from the historic and emotional perspective and unless you really really hate Holocaust movies for whatever reason, you should watch this one. Actually, even if you do, you should watch it because this is the one film that can change your mind. Go for it if you really haven't seen it so far and with that I am of course speaking in particular to the younger readers. There's a reason this is so high on the imdb top250. And rightfully so. If you are lucky enough like myself to get into a big screen showing, then do not miss out under any circumstances. A gigantic thumbs-up from me for Schindler's List.