Schindler's List - 1993 (R)

Actors: Liam Neeson, Ben Kingsley, Ralph Fiennes
Director: Steven Spielberg
Reviewed: 26 May 2005



If you don't know what this movie is about, you must've been living under a rock for a while now.
This is Spielberg's masterpiece film about the Holocaust, which chronicles the actions of Oskar
Schindler. He is a German who starts a metalworks factory to benefit from the cheap labor of 
Jews, but when he sees the horrors of the concentration camps, he beings to save their lives
by employing them. It is a very hard movie to watch, very visceral and alive despite being in
black and white. The movie captures the brutality of the Nazis. One scene in particular, the
liquidation of the Krakow ghetto, will haunt you. Neeson is excellent as Schindler, perfectly
showing the transition between a shrewd businessman and a savior. It is based on a true story,
if you didn't know. The ending is beautiful, as each actor and the "Schindler Jew" they portray
walks up and puts a stone on Schindler's grave. It is too poetic for words. I have seen this and
The Pianist (which is also very good), and in my opinion this is a superior film. It is long,
clocking in at around 3 hours, but it is worth every second to see. 

SCORE: 10/10

GOOD QUOTE
-The truth is always the right answer. 
-Stern, if this factory ever produces a shell that can actually be fired, I'll be very unhappy.
-Who are you? Moses? 
-It's Hebrew, it's from the Talmud. It says, "Whoever saves one life, saves the world entire."

BAD QUOTE
-Ah, an educated Jew... like Karl Marx himself.
-I'd say I'd get you one but the man who made it's probably dead. 
-I teach history and literature, since when is it not essential?