Rating: Summary: more magnificent on dvd then ever! Review: what a powerful, emotional masterpiece from the master himself! like "the passion" there are times where you must turn your head away and others so gutwrenching and emotional, you will be weeping! from the superb acting, to the incredible cinematography and beautiful musical score by john williams, this remains the ultimate classic after 10 years! the dvd presentation, fully restored frame by frame and presented in gorgeous dts sound make this a must see-must own, rest assured, once seen you will never forget it. again, bravo mr. spielberg!
Rating: Summary: 5 star movie - 3 star DVD Review: Great movie on 2 sides instead of 2 separate DVD-s. You'd think they could treat a movie like this accordingly...
Rating: Summary: Certainly not perfect Review: Overall i think this film is worthy to own, i already have it on vhs and have been waiting for the DVD version. But in reading some earlier reviews i find myself agreeing with some of the film's detractors:- the final factory scene/schindler's farewell are far too syrupy, it's almost embarassing to watch. - there are certainly some drawn out sections in this film, a lot of time is spent on the relationship between goeth and his maid. and i'm not exactly sure why, we already know what kind of person goeth is by everything else he has done. why develop his character on this one point and leave out more important ones? - there are quite a few scene and shot steals in this movie from previous works, i have a list of my own, but some other reviewers have pointed out some additional ones. - remember this is a piece of drama, not a historical document. there are better teaching tools in history books and testimonials rather than cinema. In response to those who have complained that S-berg leaves out certain aspects of history, i think we need to remember that the story is simply about 'Schindler's List' and thus he really has no obligation to tell us everything that happened during the time period. Although, if you are paying attention, since the story is set in Krakow, those must be polish citizens thowing stones while the jews are being marched into the ghetto.. as is the boy drawing his finger across his throat as a train heads into auschwitz. Finally, in goeth's speach during the camp's opening, i found it ironic that he would state that jews had been in krakow for 700 years, and that that presence was coming to an end. Not too far from Krakow is Breslau, a city that was thoroughly german for 700 years until the end of the war when it was emptied of its population (along with the rest of german Silesia) during the largest ethnic cleansing in europe's history.
Rating: Summary: Powerful Review: Is there anyone left who hasn't seen this one yet? See it!! A story about a very ordinary guy, not a particularly "good" man, who ends up saving hundreds of people from Nazi concentration camps. While the Nazis around him grow increasingly inhuman in their indifference to the suffering they are causing, Schindler moves in the other direction, from an insensitive materialist to a man capable of seeing in these victims of persecution a common humanity. The fact that this is based on a true story is enough to leave one filled with awe. The ending is fantastic. Great performances by wonderful actors all around.
Rating: Summary: Sad Intesitiy, Horror and Emptiness Review: One is seized by the irony in this movie of the Schindler Jews who could die in concentration camps or be chosen to build war implements and related products for the German War Machine. I was stunned when I saw this movie because when I was a very young child I knew a Schindler survivor not understanding the seriousness at the time of what he suffered. This movie will make you cry and make you think. The music is engaging, between the violin solo at the start and the song Jerusalem of Gold at the end where there is a tribute to those who survived and died, how powerful the combination of sadness and sorrow. The movie is dark and being in Black and White, you feel the emptiness of the existence of prison life. Finnes plays a rather heartless and cruel killer in the camp that is an ironic opposite of the open minded and tender hearted Schindler. The irony and message in this movie seems to me to be that even though Germany of the day was controlled by an ideology so anti freedom and life, there existed many who did not agree with what was happening. There are many subtle lessons in this movie, Ben Kingsley is outstanding in this film. Most of all, Liam Neeson is believable as the business man turned savior.
Rating: Summary: To Choose Humanity Review: Oskar Schindler is a man who admits he doesn't know much about business, but his powers of persuasion are nearly without equal. A smooth operator he knows how to entertain, cajole, bribe and manuever his way with both legitimate and shady business characters. One lesson he learns is that there is no time like war to make money. Using money put up by Jewish investors, with nothing left to invest in, and slave labor he rents from the Nazis Schindler sets up shop and makes a bundle. So much that he can afford a wife, a mistress, or two and a small army of secretarial assistants that he scarcely needs. However, working cheek to jowl with the SS exposes him to the other reality of war. It is now the policy of the German goverment to reduce human beings to piles of ashes. Bit by bit Schindler turns from war profiteer to humanitarian. Ralph Fiennes is excellent as the sadistic SS Officer Amon Goeth who keeps a suspicious eye on Schindler but who can't help but fall for his charms, and Schindler in turn calls him, "a wonderful crook." I'm partial to films that explore the more obscure figures and events in history. This film ensures that Oskar Schindler will no longer be unknown. NOTE: the films roll call scenes appear very similar to a 1962 film, "Transport from Paradise" by Zbynek Brynych, the technique and effect are the same.
Rating: Summary: Horrifying, and true. Review: Steven Speilberg's Masterpiece is a real eye opener into human evil, and the triumph of the human sprit. An accurate account of the inhumanity of people who would rather blame and condemn those who are of different religious background, and to condone their hatred with unspeakable acts of violence and cruelty. I glad that this film is finally coming to DVD, because it time to reeducate the public of the most horrifying time in human history. Especially now when people really needed to see it to know the danger of misconception and the horror of misleading propaganda where power does corrupt, even when it involves religion. This is a perfect time for this movie to come out.
Rating: Summary: NOT A PERFECT TRANSFER - STILL A PERFECT FILM! Review: "Schindler's List" is the four hanky historical weepy that swept the Oscars in 1993. Based on Thomas Keneally's best seller, this Steven Spielberg masterpiece follows war profiteer Oskar Schindler (Liam Neeson) on his silent quest to save more than 1,000 Jews from the Nazi concentration camps by employing them in his crockery factory. Ben Kingsley is marvelous as Oskar's Jewish accountant. Ralph Fiennes is evil personified as the Nazi officer who derives his pleasure from using Jews for target practice. Truly, to see the film once is to forever remember it. TRANSFER: There are a few things I'd like to forget about Universal's DVD. First is the DVD's exaggeration of film grain that crops up now and then, particularly during outdoor scenes. Second is the 'age related' artifacts - like the blip that suddenly floats by just after the opening credits and the scratches that suddenly slip in and out of this transfer. Seriously, there is NO EXCUSE for a film of this vintage to have any AGE RELATED artifacts!!! Now, the good news. There's virtually nothing else to complain about on this disc - oh, except for the fact that the film's been split over two sides of one disc - thus providing a jarring interuption half way through. The gray scale is gorgeous, full textured and well balanced. There are NO digital anomalies for a smooth picture throughout. Blacks are black. Contrast and shadow levels are stunning. The audio is 5.1 and very well spread. EXTRAS: Two featurettes that really are weak for a film of this magnitude. The box set is better endowed though you'll pay through the nose for it. BOTTOM LINE: "Schindler's List" is an absolute must for any movie lover. At times it's painful to watch but powerful to experience. A genuinely haunting modern classic.
Rating: Summary: A hero, a tragedy and the wisdom out of it Review: The movie is mainly in black and white, directed with high professionalism and refers to the most serious matter Spielberg ever approached: the Holocaust. Moreover, the Holocaust has been approached from many aspects, mostly with stereotyped ideas (either it did happen or never happened), exaggerated or not, included Gypsies or not ...etc., some authors and historians actually deformed this horrible historical facts, others tried to profit out of it and few told it as it happened. The movie is -most probably- about a real story that it did happen, nothing is unusual in the brutality of war, sadistic soldiers and generals, poor hopeless people killed for their race, color or religion: All where repeated -and still- in every war. Nothing is unusual, also, in Oskar Schindler, this no-saint war profiter who finally turned to be a savior, which is something common in the human race, and which creates the real heroes enlightening the human accumulation of wisdom. Spielberg did a great job, very realistic and brought to cinema the unique movie about the real holocaust that included the corruption of the generals, the madness of the Nazi ideology and the horrible tragedy that Jews (and other 160 million victims) died in it. However, it is not an anti-German film or Holocaust propaganda, it is a precious credit to the cinema and Spielberg (together with his other great masterpiece Empire Of The Sun) reminding us that it is a great art. Do not watch the movie for the Holocaust controversy, and do not watch it because it is for Spielberg, but buy it and view it every time someone is promoting WAR.
Rating: Summary: Masterpiece Review: Schindler's list is a masterpice. Filmed in black and white, it delivers incredible authenticity to the story, but most of all intensity. And whenever the director wants you to particularly focus on a "movement" he would add some colors and depicts the dramatics instants to the fullest (the little girl in red jacket and the candle). The story of Oskar Schindler depicted in this movie (whether 100% correct or not, who cares) is breathtaking. He's a man aspiring for power and money, or at least that's what he thought he wants. Scene after scene, oskar schindler will turn to the man who saved the life of more than a 1000 human lives from Nazi's forces. This movie is fulled with little details, and you'll enjoy discovering them one after the other especially that almost everyone will watch this movie more than once.
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