Schindler's List (1993)

This is one intense movie that is really not exactly what I expected it to be. Schindler's List is the story of Oskar Schindler's life throughout the rise and fall of Nazi Germany. Schindler begins using Jews from concentration camps in his factories and ends up saving hundreds of lives in the process. It is hard to know where to start with an epic of this proportion. The acting in the film is as good as it gets. Liam Neeson is amazing as the German playboy who unintentionally finds himself becoming the savior of a whole camp of Jews. Ben Kingsley is as convincing as an actor can be portraying the defacto leader of the Jews who is simply doing his best to survive. Ralph Fiennes is perfect as the young, ruthless, influence-able leader of a brutal concentration camp who treats his prisoners no differently than he would stray dogs. It would have been hard for the casting director to do a better job. The direction of this movie is amazing, it is a classic Spielberg masterpiece. The entire film is shot in black and white, which adds an amazingly emotional aspect to every scene in Schindler's List. It is all but impossible to become emotionally invested in this classic. I always thought this movie was about a magnanimous German who was just doing his best to help those who were suffering. As it turns out, Schindler was basically a patriotic German who cared more about making money than he did about anyone's religion. He realized that his business would be more profitable if he used free Jewish labor, and if that happened to help them out, all the better. We do see that by the end of the film, Schindler has developed a real compassion for his workers, and does whatever he can to help them, but that was not always the case. It is interesting to note that after the war concluded, Schindler had to go on the run from the Allies, as he was considered a Nazi sympathizer, and abandoned the life he had created. It is sad that one of the great German heroes of the Nazi era died without ever receiving the recognition he deserved. My wife has never seen Schindler's List; I think she would like it, but it is a lot of movie to sit through. This is a great film that I am thrilled to have finally seen; I would recommend it as a movie that everyone should watch. I give Schindler's List 4 and a half stars.