The Best Movie Ever Made

Rating: 10/10 (23 February 2013)

A lot of people are under the assumption that either CITIZEN KANE or VERTIGO is the best motion picture in human history. And, while these are undoubtedly in the discussion, and one can say that Orson Welles and Alfred Hitchcock are certainly in the top 10 best directors in history, neither of these are the best movie of all time.
CITIZEN KANE is an epic piece of semi-fiction clustered around the life and times of Hearst, McCormick, Insull and a few others. This film broke ground in so many technical ways--flashbacks as the primary source of telling a story, multiple narrators, deep focus shots, intense shadows and lighting effects, and camera angles shot from the floor at times. Also, this was probably the most highly controversial film ever made, since William Randolph Hearst tried furiously to snuff it out, and Hollywood moguls approached Orson Welles and RKO Productions to reimburse him for the costs of the film just to simply destroy it. However, although CITIZEN KANE might be the most innovative film of all time (save for the first motion picture, the first color motion picture, and the first with sound), it is not the best picture or all time. This is largely because the story is quite dated, and almost no one can connect with a newspaper mogul in today's society. Sure there are enduring themes here, but ultimately this picture doesn't have the soul to grab us as viewers and pull us in.
Without going into similar detail for VERTIGO, suffice it to say that this is another picture that is technically revolutionary (Vertigo effect), but the story just doesn't have the level of humanity and soul that one would expect for best movie ever.
Two other pictures that are commonly viewed as contenders include IMDb's own #1 THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION as well as IMDb #2 THE GODFATHER. And while these movies are much more soulful story-wise than VERTIGO or CITIZEN KANE, neither rises quite to the level of technical brilliance exhibited by the other films.
So, there appears to be a quandary at the top of the movie hierarchy, where we have two brilliant, technical masterpieces that don't have quite enough soul, and we also have two brilliant cinematic masterpieces that might not be as technically/visually stunning as one would expect from the best movie ever.
Enter SCHINDLER'S LIST.
SCHINDLER'S LIST is a movie that, although it is comfortably amongst the top movies on IMDb (#8 currently), no one ever seriously mentions it for best movie. And this is really a crime, because it deserves that title, and is by far Spielberg's best work.
The acting is A++ in this movie--what we have is Liam Neeson, possibly the most underrated actor of the last quarter century, delivering his finest performance as protagonist Oskar Schindler. Alongside this performance, is Ralph Fiennes also giving his finest career performance as antagonist Amon Goethe. There is not a single line spoken, nor facial gesture made, nor flourish with a prop (cigarette, shot glass, deck of cards) that is anything short of mind-blowing. The scene between Schindler and Goethe discussing the difference between power and justice, with power coming the ability to not exercise that very power, or make a pardon, was phenomenal. And then Goethe's being so influenced that he becomes obsessed with trying on that version of "power" for size before ultimately discarding it was haunting. Aspiring actors be on notice, this movie can teach you to win an Oskar (intentionally misspelled) someday. Ben Kingsley fills his role sublimely as the necessary cog in the Schindler machine (and ultimately the one who goads Schindler into realizing there is more than business at stake), Itzhak Stern. Additionally, casting European and Jewish actors and actresses only makes this tale that much fuller with realism and soul.
The sound, music, and cinematography is simply on another level, and this is what sets it apart from THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION and THE GODFATHER. Seeing Krakow from a distance at night, with machine gun fire intermittently lighting up rooms with murders was extremely effective, as were all the set pieces that showed intricate hiding places and how the Nazis had come to use stethoscopes to defeat this Jewish strategy. The cat and mouse game between hunter and hunted was very well done. What's more, the emaciated bodies of people who played some of these roles looked like they were actually taken out of Holocaust footage. It was disturbing and stunning all at once. Throw in an AMAZING, beautiful, and tragic score with superb sound editing, beautiful panoramic shots, and compelling grayscale to yield an artistic, audiovisual feast.
As if to cement its status as best film ever, the attention to detail, the script, and the utter despair felt at every turn was breathtaking. You cannot help but be awe-struck at every horrified expression, every pained look, every exactly delivered line. Though this is a 3-hour-long epic, there is not a single extraneous line in the entire movie. There is not a single gratuitous scene. Every scene absolutely belongs, and every spoken line fits like a jigsaw puzzle.
The mood of this film gives it soul, like you find in films such as CASABLANCA and THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION, but darker and haunted. This feeling just makes you want to root like hell that everyone makes it out unscathed. And when that train full of women is mistakenly sent to Auschwitz, a knot forms in your throat--so close, but yet so far from salvation. And, even Liam Neeson as Schindler is not immune, as he gives a bravura final performance where he weeps and questions the value of a life--could he have done more? It's become his sickness, his addiction, and though he did so much, it is certain not being able to turn his Nazi gold pin into even a single additional life will haunt him forever.