Schindler's List (1993)

In 1993, audiences around the world received two of director Steven Spielberg’s most influential and critically acclaimed films. One, an enthralling dinosaur adventure with ground-breaking visual effects that captured the imagination of an entire generation; the other, a harrowing recreation of true-life events centring around the most vile and evil moments in human history and the true heroes that rose from the ashes of destruction and genocide.

“Schindler's List” is a meticulously constructed, horrifying and disturbing film that, if you are human, will definitely make you cry at least twice during its mammoth 3 hour 15 minute run time!

The decision to film the majority of the picture in black and white was an ingenious move; it adds a stark and bleak reality to the events of the film, the lack of colours and soul-crushing score reinforces the powerful message that is being told.

The most outstanding technical features of “Schindler’s List” all won an Academy Award, giving the film a total of seven Oscars. From the film itself (Best Picture), to the direction (Best Director), the script, the sets, cinematography, editing and music; all of the talented people behind this masterpiece deserved the recognition and respect that they received.

The talented cast all deliver some of the best and most moving performances of their careers.

The ever brilliant Liam Neeson plays every element of his complex and multi-layered character perfectly. Sir Ben Kingsley brings a warmth and likeability to an otherwise stone-cold story; the usually charming Ralph Fiennes plays quite possibly one of the most disgusting and malicious characters in modern cinema.

This film sticks out like a velociraptor in a kitchen when compared to Spielberg’s earlier projects. His most popular works were entertaining adventures which occasionally played with dark themes. “Jaws”, the “Indiana Jones” Trilogy and “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial” had cemented Spielberg as a master of thrills (Indy), chills (“Jaws”) and spills (the emotional “E.T.” scenes.) However, “The Colour Purple” and “Empire of the Sun” presented a director that could also craft excellent historical films, thus leading to “Schindler’s List.”

The new-found maturity in his career is one of the many reasons why Spielberg is my favourite director. Whilst I personally prefer his more accessible romps such as “Duel”, “Indiana Jones” and “Catch Me If You Can” over his gritty dramas, I admire a filmmaker who has the range and talent to create such vastly different works. The fact that the man who directed “Hook” also made “Saving Private Ryan” is astounding; in which other director’s filmography can you find such a stylistic divide?!

“Schindler’s List” is about a nation turning a blind eye to the horrors that were being inflicted upon good, ordinary people.

It is a movie that is still relevant today (which makes all the more tragic), which is why “Schindler’s List” must be seen and talked about to prevent anything on the level of the Holocaust ever happening again!

I saw this film a-year-and-a-half ago yet every traumatic scene still feels raw in my mind. I never EVER want to see “Schindler’s List” again, not because it’s bad, but because it is so unsettling and disheartening.

“No one can do anything to fix the past - that's already happened, but a picture like this can impact us, delivering a mandate about what must never happen again.”

-Steven Spielberg-