A masterpiece in every sense.

Rating: 10/10 (15 April 2017)

Released in the year 1993, Schindler's list is undoubtedly one of the best works of Steven Spielberg, based on the book by Thomas Keneally, which has won over seven Academy Awards including another 74 wins and 26 nominations. Basically dealing with the Jewish persecution by the Nazis during World War II in Poland, Schindler's list is a American epic historical period drama and biography of Oskar Schindler, who gradually becomes concerned for his Jewish workforce after witnessing their persecution by the Nazis. Shot in black and white, with the odd carefully chosen touches in color, the horror of the holocaust is laid bare and speaks for itself. The documentary style allows Spielberg to deliver his message without preaching. The clever use of light and shade also makes it visually stunning.
In Krakow during World War II, the Germans had forced local Polish Jews into the overcrowded Krakow Ghetto. Oskar Schindler, played by Liam Neeson, an ethnic German, arrives in the city hoping to make his fortune. A member of the Nazi Party, Schindler lavishes bribes on Wehrmacht (German armed forces) and SS officials and acquires a factory to produce enamelware. To help him run the business, Schindler enlists the aid of Itzhak Stern, played by Ben Kingsley a local Jewish official who has contacts with black marketeers and the Jewish business community. To highlight the incongruity of this self-serving attitude, Spielberg contrasts Schindler's increasing prosperity with the declining fortunes of a handful of Jews. Schindler is careful to cultivate mutually profitable relationships with a number of high-ranking German officers, one of whom is Amon Goeth (Ralph Fiennes), the commandant of Paszow concentration camp. One of the movie's strengths is that it attempts to gain some understanding of the motivations of a character like Goeth, rather than taking the easy route of simply portraying him as an unthinking Nazi monster, and Fiennes is frighteningly convincing in his depiction of a deeply disturbed man who is all too aware of – and haunted by – his own shortcomings.
I personally felt the movie was a little slow paced at times, but I thoroughly enjoyed it from the beginning till the very end. This movie has morals and emotion which one can hardly ignore. Filled with violence and gore, it was uneasy to watch it a couple of times. Dialogues were amazing, as well as the acting by Liam Neeson and Ralph Fiennes, especially was impeccable. It did not even once occur to me that I had been watching a black and white two decade old movie the whole time, thanks to the brilliant cinematographer Janusz Kaminski and the editor Micheal Kahn. Among the dialogues, "Power is when we have every justification to kill, and we don't." was the one which appealed to me the most. The movie begins with a calm feeling and ends with the same calm, but during the whole time we pass through a lot of emotion, which brought tears to my eyes, blew my mind, ultimately leaving me speechless. The movie is beautiful and a magnificent work of art, which is a sheer pleasure to watch. Last but not the least, Music by John Williams adds a lot to the various emotions as well, without which the movie would not be the same.
A terrible chapter in humanity's history but one told so well by Spielberg and company. While Schindler's List is ultimately an uplifting story, it's also an incredibly harrowing and emotionally draining movie. A classic movie which needs to be watched by every single person, to know how lucky we are and what 'Life' is all about yet again.