Rated R
This is one of those films that
everyone needs to see at some point, and preferably more than once. It is a powerful
masterpiece that is incredibly eye-opening, moving, and influential. It is a
historical dramatization (based on Keneally’s novel from 1982) about the Third
Reich’s Holocaust and how Oskar Schindler ended up saving the lives of more
than 1,000 Polish Jews (because of his infamous list).
The three hour-long epic recreates
the period during World War II when Jews, living in Nazi-occupied Krakow, are
taken from their homes, stripped of their possessions, and placed in
impoverished ghettos and forced labor camps, only then to be relocated to
concentration camps, damned for execution. Oskar Schindler, a German
industrialist and war profiteer, becomes an enamelware factory owner and
appoints a Jew, Itzhak Stern (played brilliantly by Ben Kingsley), as his accountant
and right-hand man. Although he has his faults, one can see the glimmer of a
conscience starting to grow. Stern is keen on his somewhat softening heart and
when plans of relocating and refitting the factory are made, helps Schindler
create a list of “necessary” employees they’ll need. They both know that their employees’
jobs are the only things keeping them from the gas chambers. Schindler starts
to add more and more names (with Stern’s advisement) in an effort to save more
and more lives from their inevitable fate, all the while either bribing Nazi
officials or going behind their backs. In an incredibly powerful scene near the
end, after Schindler has lost his fortune and is now a fugitive, he breaks down,
wondering how many more he could have saved had he just tried even harder.
This is all juxtaposed to the
character of Amon Goeth, a soul-less and despicable human being (played by the
nominated Ralph Fiennes), who exerts his power over the Jews without restraint
or remorse. It is sickening to know that there were/are people in this world
capable of such unbridled hatred of others.
Most people remember the pop of
color in this black & white film... Before the evacuation of the ghettos,
Schindler watches as a little girl walks down the street wearing a red coat.
Much later, when piles and piles of clothes and shoes are being burned,
Schindler catches that same coat in one of the piles. I’m sure this was a
deliberate decision to make this more personal to the viewers… you immediately
recognize it and frown. It suddenly snaps you back to the reality of it all in
case you were starting to go numb from the sheer volume of unnecessary deaths.
It’s not just a pile of coats. Each coat represents a real innocent person. The
fact that the coat was a child’s makes you ache even more. (It is her arm that
is depicted in the movie poster above.) That is one example of the deservingly
award-winning cinematography, in addition to its interesting uses of
contrasting light and shadows and some cinema
verite (hand-held camerawork).
A random note about the award-winning
music… I recognized the song “Gloomy Sunday” being played at times throughout
the film so I looked into it a little more to understand its significance. It
is a Hungarian “love” song written around 1933. The original instrumental
version was titled “End of the World” until a lyricist told a story about
suicide and translated the new version to be “Sad Sunday”. It didn’t become
famous in America until Billie Holiday sang it (with slightly different lyrics
in English) in 1941 (the version I’m familiar with). It is such a pretty song
for being so depressing and it is an interesting addition to the film.
Billie’s
version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBIqLqUenz0I think Bjork’s version adds a certain je ne sais quoi: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCEJtUNe90A
“Schindler’s List” won seven of
its impressive twelve nominations that night, considering it was the second highest-grossing film this year.
This film’s competition was “The Fugitive” (the highest-grossing), “In the Name
of the Father”, “The Piano”, and “The Remains of the Day”. Spielberg finally
won his first Best Director award; this was his sixth nomination. He also won
three technical-advancement awards for another box office hit he produced this
year at the opposite end of the spectrum: “Jurassic Park”. A film that I feel
got snubbed a nomination is “Philadelphia”- a moving film about a man,
diagnosed with AIDS, who is fired from his conservative law firm. Tom Hanks won
the Best Actor award for his role in that film, edging out Liam Neeson as well
as Anthony Hopkins and Daniel Day-Lewis. Another memorable film that came out
this year (and especially meaningful for me since I have a sister with mental
retardation) is “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?” with one of Leonardo DiCaprio’s
finest performances earning him the film’s only nomination (at only 19 years
old!).
MOVING SCENE:
It’s wrong to say I have a
“favorite” scene in a movie about the Holocaust, so I’ve renamed this section.
One of the most powerful scenes
for me was the very very end. I was crying so hard I could barely see the
screen. The camera (in full color now) focuses on Schindler’s grave and slowly
pans out to show a moving line of people coming to pay their respects by
placing a rock on his gravestone. These people are known as the “Schindler
Jews”- those whose generations were saved by this man simply marking their name
down on a piece of paper. It wasn’t until about halfway through the line, when
I started recognizing actors, that I realized each survivor (or descendant) was
being escorted to the grave by the actor who portrayed them in the film. It was
incredibly moving and respectful and an appropriate ending to the film.
Spielberg paid homage to the
millions of victims of this atrocity by making a movie in their honor… the
least we can do is watch it.
LESSON LEARNED:
Truly, one man can make a
difference.
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