Rating: 
Summary: Almost perfect
Review: The holocaust is surely about the most difficult event or series of events to understand or depict. Very few films have succeeded. The rather cheesy 70s TV series "Holocaust", although a reasonable try at it for prime time TV, comes to mind. Here Spielberg presents in an almost completely non-sugar-coated way, with believable people and events, a view of the holocaust as it happened in and around Cracow. It needs to be said that the original book is outstanding too - without this as the source for the film, the film would probably not have worked. Harrowing, horrible and still incredible to believe. The way people speak and the things they say appears to have the authentic feel of the period. The soundtrack is outstanding - unbelievably real sounds of shooting and the clink of cartridges on pavements (shells on sidewalks) make this a very difficult and uncomfortable viewing experience. Just as it should be, of course. This deserves five stars without any doubt. If I must find anything to criticize, then I think there are three things that were unnecessary. Why black and white? The events took place in color - the world was not black and white - why not show it in its real hues? Well, we know why black and white was chosen, but I do think that black and white=old or a long time ago is a bit of a cliché. The photography is astounding anyway. Why did Goetz and some of the others have to speak their lines in a faux German accent? This seems unnecessary - surely in this film they were largely all speaking German? Still this is a small point. The most serious breakdown and something that was apparently made up for the film was Schindler's emotional farewell at the end. It was not in the book, it did not need to be in the film and should not have been. The film would not have been diminished by omitting this faint touch of treacle. What Schindler had done for "his" Jews was clear - words spelling it all out were just not necessary. But these are small criticisms of a masterpiece.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent!!
Review: Im a sophmore in HS and have recently watched Schindlers List. This movie definately showed what the Holocaust was like. I never knew how bad the holocaust was until I watched this movie. It was terrible. (the war) The movie was excellent. More then excellent. it was incredible. Everyone should see this movie. Its awesome. I even cried in it. Its a very sad movie. but its good. WATCH IT!
Rating:
Summary: One of Hollywood's Most Important Moments
Review: Of course, Schindler's List is a classic. And yes, Steven Spielberg is one of our most important directors. But what Spielberg has achieved in this movie towers above anything he has ever done....he has taken a true story, one of powerful emotion, and fabricated a legacy for all people to remember.This movie is unlike anything I have ever seen before. Despite Spielberg's use of gritty B&W, which makes the viewer focus completely on the story, there are shots so powerful and intense that you scarcely notice. Scenes that play over and over in my head include the little girl running through the Warsaw ghetto during the liquidation of the Jews; concentration camp women pricking their fingers and rubbing blood into their cheeks in an attempt to appear healthier, and thus less apt to be sent to the gas chambers; and most of all, entering Auschwitz, replete with Nazi guards, barking dogs, and a slow pan upward to the giant brick chimney, belching smoke and flame into the night. Knowing the fuel of that fire makes it that much more monstrous. Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes, and Ben Kingsley tower over all in their respective lead roles, but Spielberg's use of little known actors in key roles succeeds beautifully. I imagine the emotional level during shooting was extremely high, and it shows in the performances. This movie will grow in importance as time passes, not only for its technical genius, but also for presenting the viewer with as vivd a reminder of man's inhumanity to man as one could ever hope for. When I attended this movie in the theater, there was an intermission, at which point most of the patrons talked and smoked together. But at the film's conclusion, everyone simply filed out of the theater in silence. Nobody spoke a word. The film had spoken many volumes for us all.
Rating:
Summary: comparison with the original book
Review: i think this is an incredible film which really evokes the horrors that happened in Cracow during the war (although i dont know much about the rest of poland etc). I read the book, schindlers ark, before i saw the film and i was honestly surprised at how accurate Spielberg kept the screenplay. The atrocities commited by amon goeth really happened and things that seem miraculous like when 2 of goeth's guns failed to work when he attepted to execute a rabbi are actual events. i think one unnecessary part tho was when oskar broke down completly at the end.in reality, oskar was too dignifyed. However i understand the impact that the scene creates so im just nitpicking really.
someone asked in their review below what the little girl in red symbolises. in the book schindler rides up a hill overlooking the ghetto with his mistress. an SS official takes the little girl by the hand and walks her from the street with a line of other jews. the girl looks over her shoulder and sees a boy of 10 brutally murdered, and oskar wonders why the SS man doesnt shield her from the horror. upon reflection, her realizes it is simply because the SS will not permit the girl to live to tell the tale. this event is the turning point for schindler, and it spurs him on to defeat the system.
Rating:
Summary: One All Time Movie-Black and White!
Review: I wan to get this movie on DVD, can you please let us know when is going to come out on DVD. Thank You.
Rating:
Summary: WOW!
Review: There is one thing that I think Universal Pictures could do for this film and that is to release an awsome DVD transfer to this.
I have never sceen a better anti-war flick before out of the bunch. Everyone should watch this. The wideccreen virsion.
Rating:
Summary: Spectacular.
Review: I am, and have been extremely interested in world war 2 and the holocaust for quite some time. I was shocked an appalled to hear that over 60% of students that graduate from high school DO NOT even know what the holocaust was! I am 15 and I feel that I am very mature for my age, and I know that I know more about life and how important it is than most of the pop/heavy metal obsessed teens of our society, who consider fine cinema any movie starring josh hartnett or mandi moore. And when reading a book on jews of the holocaust somebody asked me "why jews wore those stars around their arms." having no idea what the star of david was. Continuing with my fascination of the war, I was destined to see schindler's list, a compelling tragic story of hope and tragedy. This heartbreaking story pulled me in from the opening lighting of candles, to the gritty, documentary like black and white shots that we know so well. While watching this you feel like there is a weight strapped to your heart, and that weight keeps continuing to get heavier, and heavier, leaving you sick to your stomach, that people would actually do this to living, breathing human beings. Worse than that, children, babies, babies like yours who didn't know what was going on around them. Think of what it felt like when we were children, getting picked on by bullies on the playground or being lost in the grocery store. You felt terrified, and when you're that small there is nothing you can do, you just stand and wait, your little heart aching for your mother. Now think of being in a cold, muddy concentration camp, your mother and father taken away, a man standing with a rifle, swearing at you, taunting you. As a child you wouldn't know what was going on, and wouldn't know that your short, unlived life, would soon be ending.
Steven Spielberg made a masterpiece here, and should be proud.
Rating:
Summary: A tragedy that needs to be remembered
Review: Yes, the Holocaust happened over 50 years ago. Yes, it is a well-covered topic in literature. However, this is still an important movie, especially for my generation, which has not known any large-scale war. Such excellent works as this remind us of the horrors that can grow from hate, and encourage us not to repeat them. Why is it so abominable that Mr. Spielberg make a film on the holocaust? Is he unqualified simply because he is Jewish? The film is not propaganda, nor exploitative, as the events that are depicted are very thoroughly grounded in reality. They are not sensationalized in typical Hollywood fashion. If Spielberg were only after another blockbuster hit, he would have made the movie much differently (e.g. shorter, more entertaining, with a more likeable protaganist). In fact, this movie is his way of remembering and honoring the victims and heroes of this dark period, through as honest a portrayal as is fit for the big screen. I do not understand the accusations of racism against Germans in this movie. After all, Schindler himself was German, even considered highly by the Nazis in power, before his disapproval of their philosophies developed. In reality, the movie is not racist. Rather, it lays bare the evils which arise from elitism and racism, in this case demonstrated by the Nazis. An intelligent viewer will take this lesson and expand it to apply to all such evil in the world.
Rating:
Summary: Cinematic Power
Review: "Schindler's List" is Steven Spielberg's powerful and emotionally charged adaption of Thomas Keneally's novel, the fact based story of Oskar Schindler, member of the Nazi party and war profiteer who, by an extraordinary act of redemption, saved the lives of more than 1,000 polish Jews during the holocaust. Straightforward and unsentimental, apropriately filmed in black & white without the use of storyboards--the gritty camera work avoids the "slick" look often seen in most Hollywood motion pictures. That is because "Schindler's List" is something different than most Hollywood motion pictures. Despite its 187 minute duration, "Schindler's List" moves along at a brisk pace; Spielberg never spends too much or too little time in any scene. Entire cast is excellent, notably: Liam Neeson is superb as Oskar Shindler; Ben Kingsly is endearing as Schindler's mild mannered accountant, Itzhak Stern; Ralph Feines is all too convincing as the execrable concentration camp commandant, Amon Goeth; Embeth Davidtz begs sympathy as Helen Hirsch, the Jewish servant and object of Goeth's perverse desires. Buyoed by an intelligently written screenplay, Steven Spielberg has once again delivered nothing short of a masterpiece (definitely his personal best in a plethora of triumphs), and perhaps the finest motion picture ever. Often difficult to watch, "Schindler's List" effectively conveys the terror and hopelessness experienced by the more than 6,000,000 innocent victims of Hitler's "Final Solution". At the same time, it offers a message of hope and the power of redemption. Hopefully, this stunning account will educate enough as to avoid repeating one of mandkind's darkest chapters.
Rating:
Summary: Speilberg's Jewel
Review: No words can describe now incredible this movie is! The best Speilberg movie i've ever seen. It has sensational performances bye Ralph Fiennes and Liam Neeson. This movie shows how cruel and brave the human spirit can be. Get this movie!!! Some turn their heads and try to forget the holocaust, but this movie proves that we can never forget.
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