SCHINDLER'S LIST
A film review by Jon A. Webb
Copyright 1994 Jon A. Webb
SCHINDLER'S LIST is the true story of Oskar Schindler, a German (from Czechoslovakia) businessman who started a enamelware business using Jewish labor duing the Holocaust. He ended up saving the lives of 1100 Jews who worked in his company.
This is a remarkable film, which justifiably takes itself very seriously. It is Stephen Spielberg's most artistically solid film, and arguably the best non-documentary film on the Holocaust. Spielberg largely stays away from the cute, artsy touches that have made his films seem a little too commercialized (though I could've done without the games he played using a touch of color here and there in this black and white film; it made me think of the technology used to make the film.) It could well be that he will finally win Best Director for this movie.
The main point of the film is psychological: how it can be the case that simply keeping one's humanity, and the recognition of it in others, can be as defiant, brave, and ultimately worthwhile an act as anything else. Schindler did what he did not because he was a saint, but because he refused to, or perhaps could not, shut his eyes to what was going on around him; he saw everyone, both Nazis and Jews, as people, and responded to them in that way.
Schindler is contrasted in the film with the concentration camp commander, who I thought was portrayed very well (though I don't recall the actor's name.) The commander sees the Jews as objects, less than animals, and loses his sanity in the course of the film.
The direction keeps the subject of the film a little remote, which is probably necessary to avoid annoying sensationalism with this subject. It is not until the final scene that the reality of the film strikes home, and then it hits very hard.
Only Liam Neeson, as Schindler, Ben Kingsley, as Itzhak Stern (the accountant who ran Schindler's factory), and the concentration camp commander have a strong personal presence in the film. The rest of the characters are merely puppets being pushed around, except in a few scenes. I claim that this typical deficiency of Spielberg works for him in this film; what is happening to the Jews, and what the Nazis are doing, is simply too horrible for us to accept if it was portrayed in a way that would involve us personally, as, say, Oliver Stone might.
-- J
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