SCHINDLER'S LIST
A film review by Michael John Legeros
Copyright 1994 Michael John Legeros
Directed by Steven Spielberg Written by Steven Zaillian, based on the novel by Thomas Keneally Starring Liam Neeson, Ben Kingsley, Ralph Finnes MPAA Rating: "R" (presumably for Holocaust horrors) Running Time: 195 minutes
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"You shouldn't get stuck on names."
- Unidentified Nazi officer to Oskar Schindler
Steven Spielberg's SCHINDLER'S LIST is a three-hours-plus-change, black-and-white biographical drama about a Nazi industrialist who saved over 1,100 Jews during the Holocaust. And it's also grand entertainment, albeit delivered in a very unexpected fashion.
SCHINDLER'S LIST is the true story of Oskar Schindler (Liam Neeson), a shrewd Nazi businessman who smells profit in Poland. The year is 1939 and displaced Jews are arriving in the city of Krakow at a rate of 10,000 per week. Schindler sees an angle and arranges to open a manufacturing firm with unpaid Jews as labor. With a Jewish accountant (Ben Kingsley) handling the "nuts and bolts," Schindler's company soon becomes a major supplier of cookware to the German army.
But as the war progresses, the Jews in Krakow are relocated to a labor camp outside of town. Schindler is outraged at the treatment of his workers and bargains with the base commander (Ralph Fiennes) to bring his Jews back to the factory--a labor "sub camp" that has become a haven for hundreds of Jews who are all but assured that they won't die there.
Seemingly a strict mercenary at heart, Oskar Schindler nonetheless finds himself affected by his workers. Which compels him to undertake a series of dangerous actions to protect his Jews....
Most of SCHINDLER'S LIST is unlike anything that Steven Spielberg (or the rest of Hollywood) has done before. Gone are the camera tricks. Gone are the special effects. Gone are the swelling strings. In its place is a new universe: a grim, black-and-white world where the only rule is realism.
In near-documentary fashion, Spielberg catalogs horror after horror of the Nazi war machine. His camera never turns away from even the most monstrous of atrocities. But he never stares, either.
The effect is remarkable, to say the least, and SCHINDLER'S LIST delivers a punch rarely felt in mainstream movies.
Forget persecution, the indiscriminate murders, alone, are numbing. But then come the details: a conveyor belt dumping bodies onto an enormous pyre. Nurses scrambling to feed patients poison before the Nazis reach the hospital. The reaction of a Jewish jeweler to a satchel full of human teeth.
As overpowering as it sounds, the Holocaust is just a part of the film's matter-of-fact background. Spielberg isn't delivering any Big Statement here. Instead, he treats the horror as something that, simply, happened. Much as when Schindler himself states that "People die--it's a fact of life."
Move into the foreground and SCHINDLER'S LIST lightens up considerably.
Despite the sobering subject matter, there's plenty to enjoy about this story of a rogue, reluctant hero. SCHINDLER'S LIST contains action, drama, insight, and humor. And all in surprisingly equal proportions. Call it the balancing act of the year--director Spielberg and writer Zaillian walk a tight line between too-little and too-much. And sometimes they trip.
The three leads are excellent. Liam Neeson is a polished but shadowy presence. His character is a cipher, though, but that doesn't detract. Much better realized is the role of Commandant Amon Goeth, the labor camp commander brilliantly played by Ralph Fiennes. He's a complex study of evil that could find Fiennes friends at the Oscars.
Mel Brooks notwithstanding, the screen Nazi may never be the same again.
The very important third player is Ben Kingsley as Itzhak Stern, Schindler's accountant and later right-hand-man. Stern spends most of the film as the silent partner, wary of his employer--the enemy--but no less dedicated.
The supporting cast doesn't make as strong an impression. Schindler's wife (Caroline Goodall) registers, as do several Nazi officers. And many of Schindler's Jews become familiar faces by the end of the film. The rest are mostly extras who provide the portraits in a haunting hall of sad faces.
Technical credits are exemplary. Allan Starski's production design, Janusz Kaminski's cinematography, and Michael Kahn's editing are all outstanding. Even John Williams comes through with an atypical score that's a knock-out.
SCHINDLER'S LIST lags in a couple spots. An abused chamber maid delivers a monologue that restates the obvious. Some footage appears to be missing after the Auschwitz incident. And Schindler's final speech fails, in spite of the director's obvious restraint. (Neeson just plays it wrong.)
Bottom line: SCHINDLER'S LIST is certainly the best film that
Steven Spielberg has made since "E.T." This searing
drama about a Nazi Industrialist who saves hundreds of
Jews is not only one of the *best* films of last year,
but also one of the most *entertaining*.
Grade: A
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Michael J. Legeros legeros@unx.sas.com
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