Schindler's List (1993, Steven Spielberg)
Schindler's List will forever be Spielberg's great serious film. I discount any notion that because Spielberg is Jewish, that he has some sublime connection to the material. People who suffered during the Holocaust have a connection to the material. Also people who's direct relatives suffered during the period. I want to make it clear that any praise of the film regarding Spielberg's special position is silly. I have Irish ancestory, but that doesn't qualify me any more than an Italian to make a movie about the Irish Potato Famine. I wasn't there. Spielberg wasn't there during the Holocaust.
I enjoy the stylistic touch of shooting it in black and white. I think more films should be shot in this method. It does give it a sense of age and place. World War II is afterall a war which has been forever viewed in black and white, whether through actual footage and photographs or old classic films.
Despite the excellent raw first half of the film in which we see Schindler (Liam Neeson) gather up Jews for his factory and the massacre of Krakow ghetto, it slowly descends into Spielberg sentimentality. I did appreciate not knowing the motivations of the Schindler character who starts out as an opportunist looking for cheap Jewish labor in the war, to penniless savior. There are hints at his change. It's done very subtly and masterfully.
The other main character in the film is Amon Goeth (Ralph Fiennes) who murders without thought. His character is a bit too evil for me in that Spielberg way of seeing things in shades of black and white. Clearly Schindler is flawed but in Spielberg's mind he is a white character because he does good. Goeth is a black character. He does bad. This is one of my main complaints against the film. Despite their dealings with one another, the audience is lured into cheering when we see Goeth hanging in the last scenes of the film. Never do we stop to question him or feel sympathy for his nature. He is a character straight out of Billy Budd. Claggart. He hates because he hates himself. That is why he cannot pardon, because he cannot pardon himself. Spielberg quickly gives us a glimpse at this and then tosses it aside. Simply put, the Nazis are the bad guys, the Jews are the good guys, and there's a good German and a bad German.
The girl in the red dress, which remains a touchstone of the film, provoked no emotion out of me. In real life she lived. In Spielberg's world she dies. The film drags on with the scenes of Schindler's Jews going back and forth on the trains. The ending of the film is embarrasing with Schindler's breakdown, "I could have saved one more." At this point William's musical score hits its climax. I also dislike Spielberg's choice to show the actual survivors with their actor counterparts putting stones on Schindler's grave. Overkill to a message already hammered home. Schindler's List shows promise during the first half, but ultimately it dives into sap. With Saving Private Ryan and Schindler's List behind his belt, Spielberg seems to connect with World War II as its great modern storyteller, placing himself no doubt just behind Schindler and Eisenhower in scale of importance.
I much prefer The Pianist directed by Roman Polanski who was actually offered Schindler's List to direct, but turned it down. Polanski's film is much more touching without being sentimental and Polanski luckily doesn't see the world in the "black and white" shades that Spielberg looks through.
Grade: B-
Schindler's List will forever be Spielberg's great serious film. I discount any notion that because Spielberg is Jewish, that he has some sublime connection to the material. People who suffered during the Holocaust have a connection to the material. Also people who's direct relatives suffered during the period. I want to make it clear that any praise of the film regarding Spielberg's special position is silly. I have Irish ancestory, but that doesn't qualify me any more than an Italian to make a movie about the Irish Potato Famine. I wasn't there. Spielberg wasn't there during the Holocaust.
I enjoy the stylistic touch of shooting it in black and white. I think more films should be shot in this method. It does give it a sense of age and place. World War II is afterall a war which has been forever viewed in black and white, whether through actual footage and photographs or old classic films.
Despite the excellent raw first half of the film in which we see Schindler (Liam Neeson) gather up Jews for his factory and the massacre of Krakow ghetto, it slowly descends into Spielberg sentimentality. I did appreciate not knowing the motivations of the Schindler character who starts out as an opportunist looking for cheap Jewish labor in the war, to penniless savior. There are hints at his change. It's done very subtly and masterfully.
The other main character in the film is Amon Goeth (Ralph Fiennes) who murders without thought. His character is a bit too evil for me in that Spielberg way of seeing things in shades of black and white. Clearly Schindler is flawed but in Spielberg's mind he is a white character because he does good. Goeth is a black character. He does bad. This is one of my main complaints against the film. Despite their dealings with one another, the audience is lured into cheering when we see Goeth hanging in the last scenes of the film. Never do we stop to question him or feel sympathy for his nature. He is a character straight out of Billy Budd. Claggart. He hates because he hates himself. That is why he cannot pardon, because he cannot pardon himself. Spielberg quickly gives us a glimpse at this and then tosses it aside. Simply put, the Nazis are the bad guys, the Jews are the good guys, and there's a good German and a bad German.
The girl in the red dress, which remains a touchstone of the film, provoked no emotion out of me. In real life she lived. In Spielberg's world she dies. The film drags on with the scenes of Schindler's Jews going back and forth on the trains. The ending of the film is embarrasing with Schindler's breakdown, "I could have saved one more." At this point William's musical score hits its climax. I also dislike Spielberg's choice to show the actual survivors with their actor counterparts putting stones on Schindler's grave. Overkill to a message already hammered home. Schindler's List shows promise during the first half, but ultimately it dives into sap. With Saving Private Ryan and Schindler's List behind his belt, Spielberg seems to connect with World War II as its great modern storyteller, placing himself no doubt just behind Schindler and Eisenhower in scale of importance.
I much prefer The Pianist directed by Roman Polanski who was actually offered Schindler's List to direct, but turned it down. Polanski's film is much more touching without being sentimental and Polanski luckily doesn't see the world in the "black and white" shades that Spielberg looks through.
Grade: B-
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Member since Fall 2002
Top 100 Films, clicky below
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