Great, Not Just Great For You

Rating: 10/10 (25 December 2009)

Before I saw it, Schindler's List seemed to me to be spinach cinema; it's good for you, but you don't like it. I planned to watch it out of a sense of moral obligation rather than keen expectation. I knew its reputation and felt its importance bearing down on me heavily. I got the DVD. I put it in the player. I settled down. Within a few minutes something truly remarkable had happened: the movie had started working. It drew me in and held me there. I was solemn, but not depressed. I was absorbed, but not entertained. I was taught, but not preached to. This is not a conventional movie in any way. It does nothing you expect and many things you don't, but in the end exceeds all expectations.