Schindler's List
Directed by:
Steven SpielbergScreenplay:
Steven ZaillianCinematography:
Janusz KaminskiComposer:
John WilliamsCast:
Liam Neeson, Ben Kingsley, Ralph Fiennes, Caroline Goodall, Jonathan Sagall, Embeth Davidtz, Małgorzata Gebel, Mark Ivanir, Andrzej Seweryn (more)VOD (4)
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Adapted from the novel by Thomas Keneally, Steven Spielberg’s masterful film tells the incredible true story of the courageous Oskar Schindler (Liam Neeson). Initially a member of the Nazi party, the Catholic Schindler risks his career and life, and ultimately goes bankrupt, to employ 1100 Jews in his crockery factory during the Holocaust. Schindler’s Jewish accountant (Ben Kingsley) serves as his conscience, as Schindler conducts business with an obstinate and cruel Nazi commander (Ralph Fiennes), who viciously kills Jewish prisoners from the balcony of his villa overlooking a prison camp. Filmed entirely in black-and-white on location in Poland, Schindler’s List does not downplay the faults of its magnanimous and unlikely hero, but relates a story of the triumph of the human spirit in the face of horrific devastation and tragedy. (Universal Pictures UK)
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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.
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If there is one single example of a film that is both excellent and thematically important, it is Schindler's List. Where else could you feel the indescribable horror and shame of the human deeds you have just seen, photographed in the most horrifying but at the same time most beautiful black and white composition imaginable? The scene with the little girl in the red coat, walking as a symbol of colourful innocence through pure hell, is probably the most powerful I have ever seen in a film, and it brings tears to my eyes every time; and even if it was the only one in the whole movie, I'd still never get this film out of my head – but it's not, not even close. Masterpiece.
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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.
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When Spielberg puts forward his most fundamental mental dilemma alongside opinions and beliefs, nothing can arise but the strongest and extra tasty cinematic coffee and his intellectual peak. While Schindler's transformation from an ordinary citizen to an unstoppable advocate for all neighbors gains intensity perhaps a bit inconspicuously, during grand scenes and perfectly credible streams of thoughts from the mouths of the main characters, it becomes all the more emphatic. A truly unique and irreplicable work in its own way, in every aspect.
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Schindler's List is one of the best movies ever made by Steven Spielberg. It is a powerful story that is also told in places very brutally, which is quite surprising even for Spielberg, or at least it was surprising in 1993. Great performances by the actors, which are not undermined by Spielberg's typical pathos, even though it is very suppressed.
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