Schindler's List (1993)
After seeing Saving Private Ryan and Life Is Beautiful, I wanted to revisit this since I don’t think I have seen this since school as part of a history lesson in WW2. Despite being more than 25 years ago, it is one of the movies that you somehow remember. Not necessarily plot details but the devastating sensations it leaves you with. As a teenager it was mostly just the horrors of the holocaust that made an impression, but now I can appreciate this more as a great film on its own.
First of all it is one of the best looking black and white films out there. Schindler himself is an interesting character with how he is not a heroic savior. Still just a nazi businessman first and foremost that, at least initially by accident, saves people from the holocaust. Of course compared to Amon he is an outright saint. He is up there as the most evil villain in any movie and Spielberg even have to turn it down a bit for the audience to not find him too cartoonishly evil.
It is one thing to depict this dark time in history with little restraint but I admire how Spielberg manages to throw in some dark humor as well. Not to defuse a tragic situation but to underline it. Like when they arrive in the ghetto and say how it can’t get any worse now, or the worst is over once they get into the work force. Or Amon not being able to get his gun to work.
This isn’t any replacement for proper education in history but it is a good supplement and a fantastic film.
Rating: 4.5