Schindler's List
reviewed by Benn "Where's the Humanity?" Farrell & Brian "the Naked Gun" Felts
"Schindler's List" is the screen adaptation of Thomas Keneally's heart wrenching non-fiction book. It follows the plight of Nazi party war profiteer named Oscar Schindler who uses the unfortunate conditions of the Jewish people to arrange money he needs to open an enamelware factory, raking in the big cash, using oppressed Jewish workers as his labor force.
However, as the war continues to turn ugly for that part of Europe, Schindler begins to have problems keeping his workforce alive, including his plant manager Itzhak Stern, whom he develops a loyalty for.
Eventually, as sociopath work camp director Amon Goeth is given the order to ship out Schindler jews to Auschwitz, so Schindler uses all the money he had made thusfar to buy every Jew that worked for him as slaves, and then some. However, Schindler's plan is secret from the Nazi's. As he witnesses first hand the atrocities the Jews have endured during that time, he decides his purchase will be to protect as many of them as possible until the end of the war.
He returns to his hometown where he begins a munitions factory, which somehow never produces any item up to code, doesn't want to add to the war effort. Over the next two years, Schindler's new factory almost goes bankrupt when the end of the war is announced.
His workers are now free people, and Schindler must flee as he would be tried as a war profiteer and a member of the Nazi party. The story culminates into a gut tearing moment of redemption for a Nazi who now revels in human decency.
The movie runs three hours, detailing the Jewish atrocities and the ongoing conflict against Schindler's plans. It is shot brilliantly by two time Academy Award winning cinematographer Janusz Kaminski (Saving Private Ryan) almost completely in black and white stock. Why? Cause Spielberg felt believe would be more accepting of the story since World War II has always been shown to the American people through black and white newsreel. He didn't want to disrupt the B&W image of WWII. Brilliant. After the first few sequences, you forget the pictures is B&W is begin with.
The screenplay was given an Academy Award to writer Steven Zaillian, who had little to do when adapting such a well told book.
Liam Neeson heads the cast as Schindler, while Kingsley stands beside him as Stern. Their scenes together light up. I haven't scene chemistry between two male characters like that in a long while, maybe ever.
The other solid performance, outside the B-supporting cast, is Ralph Fiennes as Goeth. His pacing and voice is so scary. As soon as Fiennes comes on screen, you know something bad is going to happen to someone. His scenes with Neeson are also very memorable.
Spielberg proves himself a master of shot selections with this. Distance between actors when there's distance between their characters. Table conversations look more interesting cause the camera is slowly dollying around them, almost unnoticeably. When the Jewish characters are being herded onto a truck, or out of their apartments, or into what may be a gas chamber, the camera is hand held to give you the same shaky perspective they would have experienced. He couldn't have gotten an Academy Award for anything more well-crafted, that includes SPR.
This is a disc that should be shown in schools. Shown to students who don't understand what one ethnicity can face simply because of their religious beliefs. That is why this picture is far more important than almost anything else I've ever seen. "American History X" is probably the only other movie I've seen to carry close to as much importance.
If you haven't seen "Schindler's List," please, make way on your weekend and rent it, experience it. Let it become a part of you. If it doesn't, than something's wrong with you.
Benn - Where's the Humanity?
In my opinion, this is the best movie ever made. Steven Spielberg makes a masterpiece in every definition of the word. This movie is as close to the real thing as we who did not suffer or discover this tragedy of biblical proportions will ever get, thankfully.
This movie details the triumph and the tragedy of the Jews who were saved by the Nazi party member Oskar Schindler whose original goal in moving to Warsaw was to make as much money as possible and then leave. What Schindler ended up doing was showing the true nature of humanity when surrounded by madness.
This movie is put together in such a way that few movies have done before or since. Spielberg puts the audience member there, in the work camp, in the death camp, on the firing line. He does this with such skill that I was actually shaking at one point in the movie. Spielberg shows us the true horror of this even in way that only a documentary or an interview with a survivor or a liberator could only know. This is a very difficult feat to accomplish by people who make documentaries let alone a fictional movie based on factual events. With this movie Steven Spielberg became the greatest director of my generation and I will argue of all time.
Three actors also should receive special recognition for this movie. Ben Kingsley portrayed Itzhak Stern, the man who ran Schindler's plant, and also the man who helped keep so many of his people alive. Kingsley portrayed this character as a stoic man who lived with death everyday and managed to keep fighting. He never strayed in his portrayal of man who could have been killed for the actions that he was doing. Kingsley just did an outstanding job.
Liam Neeson, who portrayed Oskar Schindler, did a great job showing the development of a character who in the beginning was only interested in money and womanizing to the end who realized that his gold Nazi pin could have gotten him one more life. Neeson scenes that best show this transformation is first when he has to go to the train station to pull Stern off of a train that is headed to death camp. When Schindler does get Stern off of the train he lectures Stern on what would have happened to the plant and to him if Stern had been sent off to the camp because of a simple mistake. We go from this scene to the end where Schindler is looking at all of his possessions and realizing that his money and his possessions meant peoples lives, he who had done so much could have done more and couldn't face himself because of what he didn't do. Masterful.
The best job has to go to Ralph Fiennes portraying Amon Goeth the work camp commander. I feel it would be incredibly difficult to take on a role that would require him to be a believable evil man. His constant struggle with trying to do what is right, while doing all of these horrible acts and realizing that he is going to lose this struggle for his sole is very compelling. The two scenes that best show Fiennes portray of Goeth can be seen when he approaches his female servant Helen Hirsch, where he struggles to show the good side of him to her and the scene where he at first forgives a young boy for not cleaning his bath tub. Goeth looks into the mirror, looking into his sole almost to see if there is something there. His decision will determine whether or not this 14 year old boy will live or die. Fabulous acting by Fiennes.
I would like to recommend this movie to everyone. But I feel that there are some people out there who could not handle the reality of this movie. Certainly anybody under the age of 16 could not understand the depth of emotions that this movie carries. However, if you feel you are up to it, and you can explain it to a teenager, then please rent this movie. I was really hesitant about doing this review because I feel that my words can in no way give the honor that this movie deserves. Brian - the Naked Gun
This is without a doubt, the most important, the best crafted, the best told motion picture ever made in cinema history. Its simply fitting and yet not at all surprising its created by Steven Spielberg