One of the most important films of modern times

Rating: 10/10 (31 July 2001)

Some events in human history are of such a magnitude that no single film made anywhere, least of all Hollywood, can ever do them complete justice. But in 1993 Steven Spielberg put all his heart and soul into a film about the greatest injustice that Man has ever foisted upon his fellow man--the Holocaust. SCHINDLER'S LIST is the result.
This epic movie, shot in a somber, documentary-style black-and-white, focuses on Oskar Schindler (Liam Neeson), a savvy Nazi businessman who had opened an enamelware factory in Krakow, Poland after the Nazis basically overran it. Schindler was every bit the womanizer and con man, and initially he saw the Jewish people of the Krakow ghetto as potential slave labor, nothing more. But when it became rather clear to him what his fellow Nazis were doing to the Jews, he began to use his powers of persuasion to shield his workers and their families. In doing so, he somehow managed to save twelve hundred lives from extinction.
Spielberg clearly does not gloss over Schindler's gamier side, though he may be accused of romanticizing it. But he also does not spare us the horrible fact of the Nazis wiping out at least six million people because they were Jews, and perhaps three times as many more of other "inferior" peoples. Ralph Fiennes is about as chilling a villain as there could possibly be, since he's portraying the notorious Auschwitz death guard Amon Goeth. This is a film about pain, death, and murder on a scale never before seen in human history (and, if we're lucky, which will never been seen again). But it is also about redemption. Oskar Schindler was no saint; and for each life he saved, at least 5000 more died. But he did as much as he possibly could, and went broke doing it. For that, there is a place in heaven for him.
Winner of seven Oscars, including Best Picture and Director (which Spielberg clearly deserved long before this), SCHINDLER'S LIST is one of the most important films of modern times, a monumental statement against hatred from a master of the cinema.