Schindler's List

I am sure I will only repeat what has been said many times about this immortal work of Steven Spielberg. For me, the film is actually perfect in every way. When strong emotions come, they do so without the need for manipulation, though of course it’s clear that given the subject matter, Spielberg had it easier in this respect at least – there is simply no emotional manipulation here either, we are "merely" being provided with the facts and it is up to each viewer how they can absorb these ancient facts or how the film ultimately affects them (how emotionally). In making Schindler's List, Steven Spielberg not only fulfilled his duty to the Jewish population, but also his duty to the entire world in ensuring that all generations of all nations are educated and informed about what man was capable of in the 1940s – both the most monstrous and the most noble. I waged an internal battle with the character of Oskar Schindler (the phenomenal Liam Neeson) for most of the film, and couldn't quite pin down his character or discern his intentions up until a certain point. The very respectable running time, in which there is not a single dead spot, gives a great amount of space to identify with the characters, their fates, and the fate they had to involuntarily accept. It's hard to say what Schindler's List would have been without Spielberg's evocative direction, likewise what it would have been without Zaillian's excellent screenplay, Williams' perfectly pitched soundtrack, or Janusz Kamiński's flawless cinematography. And did you notice that throughout the entire film, not once does the word "leader" appear in any language? (06/08/2011)

Spielberg's sensitive precision, Williams's music, Kaminsky's cinematography, Neeson's eyes, Fiennes's villain, Kingsley's everything, the little girl in the red dress walking through the black and white film... An unforgettable story. PS: Finally seen in the cinema on the occasion of the 25th anniversary. Indescribable experience. (15/01/2008)

What can I write about this film if I don’t want to just dryly pull out all of the superlatives and assign them to every single component of its filmmaking? Welles had Citizen Kane, Coppola The Godfather, Kubrick A Space Odyssey and Spielberg has Schindler’s List. Portrayed by Ralph Fiennes, Amon Goeth is the personification of the collapse of the human spirit responsible for the greatest tragedy in our history. John Williams’s score is the pinnacle of contemporary film music, cinematographer Janusz Kaminski is an idol to me as a lover of black-and-white composition and the extermination of the Krakow ghetto is one of the most horrifying scenes that I have ever witnessed in a film. With Schindler’s List, Steven Spielberg fulfilled the purpose for which he became a director. And I would love to frame every shot from it and I wish that I could turn back time and prevent the events on which it is based. (27/05/2002)

Someone once described Schindler's List as the building block of Holocaust film history. Its influence confirms this, of course. Nicky's Family is not the only project that has taken inspiration from it almost literally, as Steven Spielberg simply chose to speak a universal language for academics and ordinary people alike. (15/10/2022)

The right-wing view of the Holocaust is not something I agree with, but at the very least it's refreshing to be able to deal with it these days. Schindler's List could easily be read as a defense of capitalism, whose values are "supra-ideal" and pragmatic, making it incapable of the irrational evil that the Holocaust is generally considered to be (which is conveniently myopic, of course, since every young child knows about its economic motivations). Equally, it can be read as advocacy of a trickle-down economy, whereby a wealthy factory worker develops a relationship with his employees, tries to keep them, and gradually sees them as human beings whom he can use his abilities to save. That makes this film have far more problematic levels than the 100 times rehashed closing sentiment (as awful as it is). However, Spielberg and Kaminski (whose creative input here I tend to place higher than the director's; after all, look at what kind of cinematic leap this is from Jurassic Park or Hook) have managed to translate the methodical chaos of the Holocaust to the screen perfectly in several scenes here, creating the illusion of a documentary and a surreal nightmare at the same time, as the situation must have had on many in retrospect. Nemes's Son of Saul is a few paces farther ahead in this, but I think it stands on the foundation of what Schindler's List built in certain places. (13/01/2022)