In nazi Poland, an enterprising entrepreneur named Oskar Schindler (Liam Neeson) has taken controle of a defunct enamelware factory in the hopes that he can make money selling these wares to the german army.
Schindler uses Jewish people as "slave labour" in order to boost his profit margin. He would have to pay the Polish workers, but would not have to pay the Jewish workers.
The man behind the man is Itzhak Stern (Ben Kingsley), a Jew, Schindler's right hand man. Stern rounds up as many Jewish people as he can. First he wrangles 150 Jews; then 100 more, finally increasing this labour pool to 1,100 Jewish people.
The enterprise of Schindler's earns him fabulous sums of money. However, money doesn't matter to Schindler... he has more important things to worry about, like keeping his Jews safe from the nazis.
One nazi in particular is the worst of the worst. His name is Amon Goeth (Ralph Fiennes). Standing on his balcony, over looking a concentration camp, Goeth uses the Jewish prisoners in the adjacent concentration camp for target practice. He pciks them off one by one untill he is satisfied. Goeth hates Jews, even though he keeps a Jewish maid as a mistress.
But things are not all that rosey for Schindler. His Jews are taken from him and loaded into trains. They will be sent to the concentration camps. Schindler will have none of this. He manages to walk right into Auschwitz and get all his Jews back, safe, although very much shaken up.
Schindler had lost his enamelware factory some time ago, but he has since set up a factory to make shells for heavy artillery. None of his shells work, however, and that's the way Schindler likes it.
For seven months the Schindlerjuden make faulty shells. Schindler fights hard to keep his Jews safe and sound. That includes buying certain items off the black market and bribing different nazis, including Amon Goeth. But realistically, how long can he keep up the charade for?
Schindler's List is a gateway into the past. It is an information source as to how the holocaust operated. It does not explain the holocaust; it is unthinkable that anyone could do such horrible things to their fellow man. How could anyone practice genocide on such a large scale? Such thoughts make one's blood run cold.
In fact, genocide is commonplace in our history. It is happening right now in Africa, and recently in places like Iraq and Afghanistan. Even the great US of A was colonized through genocide against Native Americans.
As Roger Ebert stated, "Religion and race are markers that we use to hate one another. Unless we can get beyond them, we must concede we are potential executioners. The power of Spielberg's film," He continues, "Is not that it explains evil, but that it insists that men can be good in the face of it, and that good can prevail."
AMEN.
Schindler's list is hauntingly powerful. There is not one moment ehen you don't feel for the Jews and what they are going through. For me, I just wanted to reach out and murder nazi's. I was so mad at them and yet so so sad for the helpless Jews at the same time. What did they ever do to the germans?
Some might say that Schindler wasn't all that he was cracked up to be. Of course he's a great man. Oskar Schindler was an incredibly unselfish man. He saved 1,100 people from death at the cost of his personal fortune. He didn't care, as long as his Jews were safe. Even then, when he knew they were finally free, he collapsed, crying. "I could have saved more," he sobbed.
You can't help but cry at the very end of the film, seeing the parade of Schindlerjuden placing rocks on the grave of Schindler. What a grand, poiniant, fitting tribute to a great, great man.
Plot: 
This is the true story of selfless man who looked evil square in the eyes, standing up for what he belived in, even at a great personal sacrifice.
This story was just waiting to be told. It is a great story a bout a great man. It is a true story, which makes it all the more better.
Visual Effects:
Schindler's List is 95% in black and white. But this works well with the film, as it makes it look as though we are really in that time period.
The cinematography was well done; there many varied camera angles and shots, so props to Janusz Kaminski, the head cinematographer. Kaminski really had a hard time filming Schindler's Listbecause the film was in black and white. Certain colors didn't look very good when filmed sans color, so they had to use different color combonations on everything from walls to cloths to the grass. For example, greens (like the grass), didn't film well, so they had to paint the grass something other than green. Kaminski had to juggle this setback and did so very well. The B & W turned out very well.
Sound:
John Williams' score is superb. The Jewish songs mixed in create tremendous atmosphere.
Character Development:
Oskar Schindler is a man who sees an opportunity to make money at the hands of the Jews in Poland. But throughout the movie we him change. He grows from a profiteer into a man who truely cares about the plight of the Jews.
By the middle of the film, we see that Schindler does indeed care for the Jews. He walks right into Auchwitz and demands that "his" Jews, accidently sent to the concentration camp, be returned to him. Before the war, Schindler could care less about Jews; they didn't bother him and he didn't pay them any attention. At the end of the film, he is on the ground crying. "I could have saved more," he sobs. A great display of change if ever you saw one.
Atmosphere:
Films that deal with subject matter this important are always hard to get into. This film isn't for everyone, but you can enjoys this film for what it is.
Realism:
This is the true story of a great man. Steven Spielberg did a very good job of taking the Hollywood out of the pictur. Hell, if you didn't know who directed the film, you'd NEVER guess it was Steven Spielberg.
Schindler's List is so realistic a movie that it could have been passed off for home movies of the real life of Oskar Schindler. Well not quite, but you get the idea.
Warren�s Rating:
Movies it beat out for Best Picture:
The Fugitive, (1993); In the Name of the Father, (1993); The Piano, (1993); The Remains of the Day, (1993)
*NOTE*: It isn't every great movie I rate higher than 10. This is a very special rating reserved for movies that are better than the best of the best. Schindler's List is a well-deserving one of those.
11/10 Is the movie worth your time to watch?
29-11-04
