Schindler's List

I consider Steven Spielberg to be one of the best storytellers in the world of film, regardless of how many stars I give to Schindler's List. He is an excellent craftsman and storyteller. Some voices in the community of film fans sometimes argue that he is too commercial and that they only take Schindler's List or Saving Private Ryan seriously from his work. I have the exact opposite feeling. Spielberg has always told fairy tales, whether for children or adults, and they are perfectly suited for relaxation and genre projects. Sci-fi, adventure stories, or fantasy from his workshop are usually treats. It's worse when he tries to enter the realm of high art and wants to do timeless, more serious work. Spielberg still uses similar or identical means as in his relaxation projects. In Schindler's List, several quite serious things bother me. First, the whole story is based on an artificially created myth, and even though its core is true, it ultimately sounds like Radio Yerevan reports. The facts are upside down here. Oskar Schindler was an adventurer, a Nazi not out of conviction but based on hard calculation, a manipulator, and a ruthless exploiter. Much negative can be said about him, and it would be much more accurate to despise and condemn him rather than admire him. Historical films usually approach the interpretation of historical facts languidly and only take from them what they need to achieve their goal or a partial effect. And usually, if it concerns distant history, viewers don't mind – except for historians and fans of historical science. But here it is so striking and concerns such a sensitive topic that it fundamentally bothers me. Schindler's real role has already been mapped by historians and completely contradicts everything Spielberg portrays in his film. In the labor camp, prisoners were mainly selected from the ranks of the Jewish police, collaborators, or those who had to pay. The conditions in the camp were very harsh, and its only advantage was that it was not systematically exterminationist, meaning that there were no gas chambers. Schindler was completely indifferent to the prisoners, and all he cared about was how to monetize their slave labor. By the way, neither Oskar Schindler nor anyone else saved any human lives. For those who were taken to the Protectorate, other prisoners had to be selected for liquidation… Another problem is Spielberg's typical squeezing of emotions, where possible, emotional manipulation, moving, blackmailing, and behaving like a typical blockbuster producer. Despite all this, he managed to convey the horrors of the Holocaust to the widest audience at a time when many decades had passed since the events and eyewitnesses were dying out, which is not insignificant. At the very least, the scene of the ghetto liquidation belongs among the memorable film moments. Overall impression: 60%. (18/01/2014)

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)

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)

So, here it is. I finally gathered the courage, mustered all my mental strength, and carved out three hours of free time, because those three things are necessary to watch Schindler’s List. As many have said, I probably wouldn’t have believed that Hollywood could make a film with such depth, but when Spielberg takes on a project, anything seems possible. While watching the film, I found myself thinking countless times that I was watching a documentary because everything feels so harsh, chilling, realistic, and believable that it doesn’t even seem like it could be a movie. Spielberg is a true magician, and with the black-and-white filter, he created the most chilling piece of work in history. As for the two lead roles, it’s not enough to say the actors played them perfectly—they portrayed them in an almost otherworldly way. Neeson, in the role of Schindler, gave the best performance of his life (I’ve heard that his character is quite altered and idealized, but that doesn’t bother me in the slightest), but Fiennes delivered an absolute masterclass. There were moments where his character’s actions made me feel physically sick. Some scenes are so overwhelming in their atmosphere that I now understand why Spielberg had to watch a comedy series during filming to clear his mind. Even though most people know what happened during World War II, they should still watch this film. It’s not just an incredible movie—it’s a must. I give it 96%. (28/08/2017)

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)