Schindler's List (1993)

Academy Award for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction, Best Film Editing, and Best Original Score. Nominated for 5 others.

directed by Steven Spielberg

starring Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes, Ben Kingsley

There isn't anything uplifting about the Holocaust, yet this movie left me feeling more happy than depressed. "The Holocaust is about 6 million Jews that get killed," said a critical Stanley Kubrick. "Schindler's List is about 600 that don't." In fairness, the actual number of saved lives amounted to nearly 1200, but Kubrick has a point. While the film explores the horrors of the Holocaust, its focus remains fixed on an inspiring anomaly. The anomaly is true, however, and within it lies a gripping story.

Liam Neeson is nearly flawless as the titular Schindler. His heroic path was an interesting one; I was relieved that this Nazi's Heart of Gold required a bit of time to forge. He's not an easy figure to embrace, initially. A war profiteer and a clever opportunist, Schindler's capitalistic neutrality renders his offers of salvation mere conveniences. His belief that war brings out the worst in men proves ironic; these horrors elevate him, while others sink to monstrosity. By the film's end, Schindler is consumed with selfless regret. His breakdown after the Wermacht surrenders is one of the most heart-wrenching scenes in cinema. "I could have got more," he repeats. "I could have got more." Yet the descendants of the Schindler Jews number 6000 today. There are only 4000 Jews remaining in Poland.

The beauty of this story stands in stark contrast to the setting of the film. Grim black and white capture this brutal reality, while the briefest glimpses of color offer no hope - only a reminder that A Million is A Statistic. From the wrenching sequence of Operation Reinhard to the despair of Auschwitz, Spielberg's camera follows the paths of the doomed as well as the lucky few on the List.

Lastly, I want to comment on one final controversy. Some said that Spielberg's portrayal of the Nazis - particularly Ralph Fiennes' Amon Goeth - veered to close to the psychotic. Portraying these men as inhumanly insane, they say, provides false reassurance that 'normal' people could never act so unjustly. In fact, Goeth was even more cruel than the movie shows. Maybe what we would like to label pyscopathic behavior isn't quite as unrealistic as it seems.