Rating: 
Summary: Very realistic.
Review: I saw Schindler's List on PBS (unedited, wow) about a month ago and was literally shocked at what power the film contains. Some scenes are so realistic, you actually start thinking that it's really happening, and that it's a documentary. It's a very intense, gripping, horrifying film that I couldn't watch more than once. I can't see how anybody could stand to sit through this film more than once. It's very gloomy and depressing, not a film to rent at Blockbuster's for a jolly night of entertainemnt. I put Schindler's List almost on the same level as The Exorcist in terms of jolts, shocks and scares. Both Schindler's List and The Exorcist are two very gripping, intense films that will stay with you forever.
Rating: 
Summary: Nazis and Sharks and Dinosaurs
Review: It makes me very sad that people so love Steven Spielberg movies. Spielberg only makes movies about the most simplistic emotions in the most simple ways. Most of the time it boils down to a child's feeling of fear running away from a monster. Is there really any difference for Spielberg between running from a killer shark or a killer dinosaur or a killer Nazi? I don't think there is. Showing bad things happening to people and saying, "Here's a great holocaust movie" is so insulting. It's the worst thing one can possibly do to take something very complicated and through propogandistic techniques (cutting between party scenes and scenes of suffering etc.) make it look simple. I beg you not to go for the cheap and easy way out.
Rating: 
Summary: Not Worthy!
Review: Although I thought it was a good movie, it doesn't belong on the AFI top 100 list. And if it does, certaintly not at #9!! Spielburg probably can't believe it either. The movie was about 1 hour too long and the end was destroyed by the 20 minute wishy-washy Schindler speech about himself. The AFI has to consider many things so I understand why they would include this in their list, it's the first big budget "holocaust victim" movie. But that doesn't mean we automatically should include it with the top 100. Right? No? So you think I'm a racist? If you think that then you probably liked this movie and like it even more now. Go ahead, stick it on top of Citizen Kane. Anyway, this film is very emotional so it will appeal to the ladies but not so much to guys. Girls like emotional movies and guys like creative ones. And I don't give mercy points when it comes to lack of creativity so I think it is just an OK movie in the end. Try "Angela's Ashes" instead of this. It's the same kind of movie as this but way better.
Rating: 
Summary: The movie Spielberg could only make
Review: This movie is in my opinion, the most important movie of all time. This movie could be a social lesson about racism. I would hope that after viewing this movie, we could really all learn to get along. It is powerful, moving, and brillant. The realism of the Holocaust is shown with brutal honesty. From the scene where the children in the camps are removed by the terrified parents, to the women thinking they are in a gas chamber to realize they are actually in a shower room, Spielberg gives a glimpse of the horror of one of the most dark moments in humanity. The acting is all first rate. Liam Neeson gives a beautiful portrayal of a man who changes his view of "his workers". From a entreprenuer who is seeking the bottom line to a man who is on a mission to save as many people as he can, Neeson captures the role. Ralph Fiennes gives a chilling performace. To play a man who does not care about the value of another human being that is not of his ilk...no words can describe it. From a critical standpoint, any other movie Spielberg does may make more money or be more popular, but THIS movie will be his artistic impression that is left in the industry. From a personal view, one of the final scenes when Schindler is leaving the plant and realizes he could have done more always touches me. This movie is a must for movie lovers.
Rating:
Summary: One Of The All Time Best!
Review: This movie testifies to the genius of Stephen Speilberg. This movie will make an impression on you after you view it. This movie details the activities of Oscar Shindler and the valuable help that he gave toward saving the lives of Jews during World War II. Many of his tactics held his life on the line. The very inhuman nature of the Nazi concentration camps are displayed by Speilberg in this epic movie. The cruelty of the Nazis is also put on display thanks to the fine movie. This is a deeply moving film. The Holocaust was brought to the forefront thanks to this movie. The plight of the Jews during the Nazi era has never been better shown. Hats off to Stephen Speilberg for a job well done.
Rating:
Summary: Whoever Saves One Life Saves the World Entire!
Review: That's the tagline of Steven Spielberg's 1993 holocaust epic, SCHINDLER'S LIST (a film that has inspired me with my own film, TRIANGLE). What is this film? A documentary? A memorial service? A biopic? The answer is all of the above. It is a realistic look at a man who began as a womanizing criminal and ended as a sympathetic savior to thousands of Jewish people. Based on Thomas Keneally's bestselling novel, it is passionate look at the Jewish struggle during the ghetto liquidation by the Nazis and in the concentration camps. Filmed entirely on location in Poland and in black-and-white, with some color aspects, SCHINDLER'S LIST brings to life one of the saddest chapters in history. Starring Liam Neeson as industrialist Oskar Schindler; Ralph Fiennes as Amon Goeth; Ben Kingsley as Schindler's accountant Itzhak Stern; and Caroline Goodall as Schindler's wife, Emilie. This is a film too sad to imagine, but also very important to watch and shameful to miss. Neeson does an extraordinary job in showing us the man who saved so many lives. A man whom most would call a pirate, he has shown us a brighter light. But, honestly, the one who impressed me (and shocked me the most) was Ralph Fiennes as a Nazi superior. Fiennes was known for playing romantic heroes on the London stage before playing such a dastardly role. (In the end, you can't help but cheer when he is eventually hanged.) And to Ben Kingsley (Oscar-winner for GANDHI), always the dependable one! His Stern provided me enough time to breathe a sign of relief and smile at his nervously mousy character. From his being trapped inside the train to his trying to reason with Schindler about the one-arm man's dependability working in the factory (a rare comedic moment in the film). This is a triumph in every way possible! To watch a man, whom we never even heard of, save thousands of lives is heart-breakingly wonderful. Good job, Steven! Winner of 7 Academy Awards including: Best Picture - Steven Spielberg, Branko Lustig & Gerald R. Molen; Best Director - Steven Spielberg; Best Adapted Screenplay - Steven Zaillian; Best Cinematography - Janusz Kaminski; Best Art Direction/Set Decoration - Allan Starski, Ewa Braun; Best Score - John Williams; and Best Film Eediting - Michael Kahn. Approximately: 3 HOURS and 17 MINUTES
Rating:
Summary: An astounding achievement...
Review: ...and that is the only way to describe this truly incredible, strong-minded and powerful film. Looking over the reviews posted, I see that there is really not much more I can say about this epic World War II drama, that has not already been said time and time again by film enthusiasts as well as Holocaust enthusiasts. I actually decided to write this in regards to one of the other reviews posted below mine that commented on this film's supposed "lack of credibility." While I respect everyone's opinion in the matter, my hope is to maybe show a different view and politely point out my qualms with that person's view. If you can't understand why this German businessman would risk his life and undergo bankruptcy to save the people that his very people were against, then you're missing one of the points that this film is making about this period. While it is meant to show the horrors and plights that the Jews underwent during the Holocaust, it is also trying to strip away that notion that ALL Germans at the time were cruel and heartless individuals like Ralph Fiennes' Nazi Commandant who would just as soon shoot you as look at you. Yes, the morals, values, and ideals of Hitler were completely and utterly corrupt and evil, and the MAJORITY of his Nazi party shared that lack of scruples and followed in his footsteps... but why would you ignorantly think that there could not have been even ONE member of that party who understood what was wrong... who was aware of the cruelty and evil with which his authority was cast... and who's eyes were open to the inhuman and hellish atrocities that were really happening. Saying something like you doubt Oskar Schindler would have done what he did out of the kindness of his heart simply because he was a German is almost like saying that you think all Germans were wicked and evil and incapable of any kind of compassion or humanity (it's obvious to me that he didn't do it for reputation-boosting, because he went bankrupt because of what he did). It's true, this film will not show you all you need to know about the Holocaust, but it never sets out to... It is equal parts biography and history lesson... you will get an up close glimpse of how harsh life was for the imprisoned, but moreover you will see the courage with which those who survived made it. I think that Steven Spielberg wanted people to realize the fact that he did not sugar-coat any of Oskar Schindler's story. By including facts about his lifestyle like that he was an excessive drinker and a womanizer, and then slowing unraveling his conscience in response the horrors around him, he paints the portrait of an indecent, not all that likeable, but complicated man whose human spirit flourished during the darkest hour in history. The final part in the film, in which Spielberg allowed all the living "Schindler Jews" to one-by-one pay their respects at his grave only testifies to this film's authenticity. The faces of these men and women as they pass the tombstone and each place a single stone in remembrance is something truly remarkable... As these people, who have all grown old and weary, reflect, they seem to remember their experience so clearly and vividly. Seeing the expressions on their faces and watching the care and love with which they gaze at the tombstone will fill your eyes with tears. These are real people expressing their thanks and gratitude to a man who saved their lives. So I don't think anyone should even try to challenge this film's credibility... watch it... experience it... if it doesn't enrich your heart and soul, then you must not have one.
Rating:
Summary: Typical Spielberg - All technique, no emotion!
Review: The critical and commercial success of this slickly produced but ultimately hollow piece of Shoah-kitsch in 1993 has always puzzled me. If Spielberg were any less than the master technician he is, I'd give this film one star. The black-and-white photography, which so many have praised, is undeniably lovely in itself, but as a means of lending the story emotional impact and credibility, it is the single worst aesthetic decision Spielberg made for the film. The technique, deliberately grainy to recall old newsreels, nicely distances the viewer from the action, and ensures that we see this as a story "out of the past." This might not have been the case had the cinematographer refrained from the annoying, pseudo-avant-garde technique (seen in every rock video!) of shooting carefully selected fragments (such as the now-famous red coat) in color, another aesthetic decision that calls attention to itself and prevents the viewer from fully identifying with the characters. Second, for all its "authenticity" (the production design is truly remarkable), the film is filled with the usual Spielbergian cheap, manipulative and blatant emotional appeals - it is an insult to everyone who died in Auschwitz to replicate the style (but not the substance, since the characters aren't actually going to be killed) of the Zyklon-B shower deaths as a suspense scene - this is one of the most sickening things I have ever seen in a movie. Additionally, huge portions of the script are obvious lifts from such telefilms as John Hersey's THE WALL, about the Warsaw Ghetto, HOLOCAUST, and even THE WINDS OF WAR, such as the woman's killing of her infant to keep it silent lest its crying betray the group...The final sequence, where all of the surviving "Schindler's Jews" are paraded around in living color only underscores the sleaziness of Spielberg's cheap melodrama. The film also distorts the facts - Oskar Schindler was no "hero" (which the movie at least recognizes), nor was he the only industrialist who made huge profits from using cheap Jewish and prisoner slave labor during the war. After this film was released, several of the survivors revealed far more ambivalent attitudes towards Schindler than you will see in this film - he may have saved most of their lives, but he also worked them like drayhorses and made money off of them anyway. I will commend the uniformly fine performances, but this film is wildly overrated. See A. Holland's EUROPA EUROPA for a film with an almost identical structure to this one, that even incorporates the "real"people at the end without seeming manipulative.
Rating:
Summary: classic spielberg
Review: moving the best word to describe this movie.poland the jews in world war two and the man who would be a savior.this movie should the horror the nazis inflicked on the jews in kracow poland.liam neeson as oskar schindler gives a great performance
Rating:
Summary: Powerfully disturbing film with lack of credibility
Review: No doubt a powerful and disturbing film about THE MOST tragic time in humanity, and it broke my heart to see all the mistreatment and the carelessness/complete disregard for human life. I can't help wonder, though, if the story is really credible. Why would a German businessman risk his life and undergo bankruptcy to save people that his very people were against? If this story really is true, I doubt he did so out of the kindness of his heart, but more for reputation-boosting. I expected a lot from this film, after all, it outlines something horrifying and truly a tragedy, but I couldn't help thinking that this film undermined the sensitivity of this subject by including a greedy, selfish, profiteering, womanizing German businessman in the story. I think that if you really want to learn more about the Holocaust, it should not be through films such as this, but through actual real-life documentaries that include no "other" unnecessary characters/stories, but truly tell the real pain, the real hurt and loss of the Jewish people who were treated so badly just because they believed differently from others. Regardless, there were some truly powerful moments in the film: The pictures of the starving prisoners who were forced to strip and be inspected by Nazi doctors, who would determine whether they could work or whether they should be killed. The little girl in the bright red dress, the only color, the only sunshine, in an otherwise gray, dark period of time, the very essence of innocence, and her symbolism later in the film when her lifeless body is wheelbarrowed over to the ever-growing pile of dead bodies that were to be incinerated. When Amon Goeth's young Jewish maid asks Oskar Schindler why he shot an elderly woman who was just passing by, bothering no one, looking at no one; his reply: because she meant nothing to him, she was just one of those people who neither bothered nor pleased him, just that she was just a random person with no meaning to him, was the reason why he so cruelly took a life so easily. I do think this film is worth watching, no doubt, but please don't automatically assume you know everything about the Holocaust because you watched this film; this film portrayed life less harshly than life for the imprisoned actually was. Please watch documentaries on the Holocaust, research more through books and legitimate media, if you want the true facts.
|
