Schindler's List

Hello Eddie,

Nice review. I have read reviews at couple of places and they talk about - Spielberg manipulating people with this movie. I don't understand it. Maybe it is too emotional or something else? This happened in real life and it gotta be emotional.

I dunno, either. Personally, I feel that Spielberg's movies are emotional, but they are not overly emotional or maudlin. Instead, they reflect the fact that people feel and think at the same time. There are some who praise filmmakers like Spike Lee and Martin Scorsese because of their films' hard edges, but when movies are so relentlessly angry and bitter for the sake of being angry and bitter, then they are rather worthless (which is why I think that Scorsese is not as good as Francis Ford Coppola even though they make similar movies).

Thanks for your praise!

I personally thought that the review was succint and to the point. much like the movie! I don't think Spielberg had any intention other than presenting a story about humanity, the good and the bad, and showing the breadth of this. To say that the movie is over emotional or manipulative is denying history itself. Not a version of history but a statistical fact, regarding numbers, figures and legitimate information and references. Of course Spielberg is a "movie maker" and this is of course a movie not a documentary, however I feel he has provided an introduction into a valid topic and subject matter (just as valid now as it ever was or would be, just think of Rwanda or the Balkans) that needs to be remembered, while making a movie and directing some inspirational performances. Spielberg, as a Jew, has a personal investment in the subject matter, however brutality, genocide, hope, inpsiration and love are things that all humanity subscribes to.

well, now that i think about it...some people have complained about how the real-life schindler did not make a speech about saving one more life before he fled from his factory in czechoslovakia. it's true that the real-life schindler simply just got in the car and left brinnlitz, but "schindler's list" was a movie and not a documentary. therefore, some liberties have to be taken in order to make a dramatic narrative.

of course, the same people complaining about adding stuff to real life also complain about stuff that too closely approximates real life. whatever...

Eddie,

Great point about the directors..I think Tarantino is one of the directors who will show violence for no reason.. Just for showing it..Scorsese would show violence as it would creep in human nature. He pushes the envelope too but manges it on the better side. Coppola.. what can I say about him.. After Godfather and Apocalypse, he kind of lost way.. even though these 2 movies have lot of violence but they are depicted in a way we can appreciate it.. Atleast not gruesome as QT stuff...

I think the whole point of Schindler's list was to depict the atrocity humans can to do other humans. And it was through the eyes of Oskar Schindler. he was mearly the reason for creating this movie. Spielberg did a very good job of it.. Obviously u will always find people finding faults in the movie.. I should say - different views !!!

So many people talk about Spielberg manipulating viewers' emotions, and so often they say it with a disdainful tone. Isn't this what a director is supposed to do? Isn't his job is to pull you into his vision and the experiences of the characters in the movie? Some do it well, some do it badly, and Spielberg does it pretty well for the most part.

I have long said that Spielberg was able to make me feel just the way he wanted me to feel, and I said it as a compliment. To me it is one of the signs of a competent director.

I think many people feel "manipulated" because Spielberg sometimes taps into sentimentalism, and many people think sentimentalism is sappy. I'm pretty sure those same jaded people have fond memories from their lives that they retreat to when needed. If that's not sentimental, I don't know what is.

Sean (and let me just say right now: I don't know much...)

I totally agree with you "skspence". I think Spielberg movies are too emotional and especially this one. He wanted us to feel how bad the war was and its suffering. He succeeded for most part of it.. This is not manipulation it is something that has happened and its history. I don't think people will laugh about it and say what the heck , who cares..

well, when the movie was released, there was an incident involving a bunch of high school students who burst out laughing while watching it in a theater. they weren't skinheads or ethnic germans or any group that one might think were anti-semitic (they were hispanic). take from that what you will...

I hear u Eddie.. It does not surprise me ..I would say that any sensible living human being would definitely sympathise with the suffering people faced during the world wars.

Wow! Finally watched it. Great film.

It surprised me that some consider this movie to be too emotional. The person I watched it with agrees with me that the subject is potentially explosive, and to make it into a movie that is sensitive yet not overly dramatic must have been a difficult thing to achieve. To me, this is a movie that is sober, straight and honest. It is not too difficult to watch. (It breaks my heart to imagine the kind of violence that Jewish people were put through during the war. But the movie was not too difficult.)

Does everyone think that the black and white was necessary? For the first hour I kept getting confused about who is who.

spielberg said that everything that he's seen of the holocaust has been in black-and-white, so it was easier for him to make a black-and-white movie in some respects. also, black-and-white has several artistic advantages over color.

I bought this DVD as a blind purchase. I had heard about it, it's so famous, but i'd never seen it, and I bought the DVD because of it's acclaim. Needless to say, I was not disappointed. I could easily put this in Spielberg's top 3, and that says a lot from such an accomplished director. The Oscars were well-deserved. Before this movie came out, the story of Oskar Schindler, and his saving of thousands of Jews from an unfair and unmentionable death at the hands of Nazis, was little-known. The film told an important story in a tasteful, yet artistic and bold fashion. The violence and utter brutality of the times is not censored, it is shown the way it is meant to be seen as shocking and powerful (actually, the only violence that actually shocked me was when Embeth Davidtz was slapped hard by the general, but the violence is realistic and sad). The performances are all noteworthy--Liam Neeson is great as always, Raplh Fiennes sent shivers up my spine as the insane Nazi general, Ben Kingsley struck a note of sympathy with me despite his character's strength, and Embeth Davidtz (wonderful in Army of Darkness as well) I sympathized with as well as the shy and vulnerable Jewish "mistress" of the insane general. The film is in beautiful B & W, as old documentaries of the Holocaust, with color segments at the beginning an end as retrospective then-and-now sequences. The music of John Williams is fabulous, one of my favorite scores. I was particularly emotional at the girl in the red color dress amidst the B & W environment. I interpreted it as she was color because she was the first thing that Schindler saw as pure and unblemished, his first glimpse at life without the racial bias and political upheaval. He sees her amidst the shootings and genuinely feels sorry for a Jew, even if that defies his personal convictions. When he sees her body burned, it's his wake-up call that what he is doing is wrong, which leads to him saving his factory workers. The cover shows Schindler's hand lifting her out of the void. Although he didn't literally save her, for she died, he saved relatives of hers and people of her race from extermination, and the cover is an allegory of him preserving her memory. It's a beautiful cover that fits a beautiful film. The color funeral sequence at the end, with the real surviving Schindler Jews, brought the movie full circle and aroused great emotions that these people are STILL ALIVE. Schindler made an ultimate sacrifice and act of kindness that helped preserve an entire race from death. I hardly cry during a film, but this film just arouses so much out of you. As I said, it's one of Spielberg's best.
The DVD doesn't have many special features, but that's fine with me. It's not apprpriate to bombard a film of this kind of subject matter with making-of stuff that exploits the film or makes it seem more mechanical than emotional.
MY RATING: 10 out of 10
Sometimes, the Academy and critics are right. And sometimes, blind purchases aren't stupid. In fact screw top 3. I think this is Spielberg's best film...

"He who saves one life saves the world entire."
(One of the best film quotes ever)

P.S. On earlier comments about Schindler's one more Jew speech, although it didn't happen in real life it is ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL to the movie. This is the scene that I sometimes cry in, and is the emotional pathological core of the film. If you want a documentary that's ultra-relaistic, than I am sure you can find one.
In response to the comments about emotional aspects of the film, Spielberg is kind of prone to emotional films. Some are great, some are not. Emotionalism is only sappy when overused or when a totally unbelieveable happy ending comes out of nowhere. The people who laughed in theater or found this film sappy may have been too uncomfortable while watching this movie because it made them feel emotional. Some people are like that, and as I said, even I have only cried during like 3 movies (Schindler's List, Passion of the Christ and Godfather Part II) BTW, I cried during GF II at the end after Fredo was shot. Michael is sitting in the park all by himslef, aging, and you can see that he has lost everything and all the demons running around in his head that he has to deal with. I cried then, and GF II is my all-time fave film, only matched by GF I and III. (Pardon while i go on a tangent: The GF films are like a cinematic legacy to me, much as Spartacus is to Eddie as mentioned in his review. My uncle snuck my Mom in to see the movie when it was in theater because she wasn't old enough. Then, my Mom worked at the theater when GF II cam out and saw it a billion times. When I first got it, I watched it while my grandparents and uncles were over. The slowly collected around the TV and, while some of them are usually against violence, we all sat and watched and were intrigued. Those films are very special to me, so sorry if i use them in all my reviews or comments as examples or comparions. End of tangent). I also reccomend The Pianist, Mother Night and Apt Pupil to people who enjoyed Schindler's List.

Though I thought Schindler's List was a powerful film, it never struck me as something I would want to purchase on DVD. I've watched it twice before and that has been more than enough for me.

will there ever be a special edition? I know some people don't want any special features for this movie so that it may speak for itself, but just don't watch them then. I personally would like to see how they made the sets for this film, as well as some behind the scenes with Spielberg directing. I heard he was really depressed during this movie (completely understandable and I empathize with that) and would greatly like to hear some comments from him about this movie. But thats just me, and I'm more about craft than final product, please don't quote me on that.

Onijay,

I doubt it, at least on DVD. The next-gen format might bring something, but this version is excellent if you like the film.