A master director's masterpiece. This landmark film about Oskar Schindler, a German entrepreneur/conman, who despite his nature, works to spare the lives of Jewish workers during the Holocaust. Schindler is a scheming man who plays the Nazi machine for everything that its worth. He opens a munitions factory and brings in Jewish slave labor. Schindler manipulates the system to move more and more Jewish workers into his factory which means they will be spared the certain doom of the concentration camps. Even at the risk of his own life, and even though his factory fails to produce anything, he manipulates the Nazi authorities into giving him more workers. With every name on his work roster, he has spared another soul.

At the center of the film is Liam Neeson as Schindler. He is wonderfully understated in the role and actually offers the audience little to attach to. The character is a slippery fellow and Neeson doesn't make him too approachable. Until the end, Spielberg avoids presenting the man in a theatrically heroic light. Much of his character's arc is masked and the man is left remarkably untouched by Steve Zaillian's script. We end the film not knowing much more about Schindler than we did at the beginning other than the enormous gift he gave to those under his care. In this sense, the man himself seems to be of little consequnce when compared to the greatest of his deeds.

The entire film is masterfully handled. Spielberg, who can get heavy handed (watch Amistad and Artificial Intelligence: A.I.), is very delicate with how he handles this production. He approaches every scene with a strange calmness. Even scenes of sharp violence are handled with gripping documentary feel. Even though it's shot in black and white, the film carries the gravity of reality. Spielberg smartly allows his scenes to naturally play out and gives the actors space to work. A major reason this is Spielberg's best film is because this is the best he has ever done working with actors.

Ben Kingsley portrays Schindler's accountant Itzhak Stern. Kingsley has made some serious horrendous films (Suspect Zero, Bloodrayne, The Last Legion) and his performance here reminds us that a man of his talent stooping to do such films is like Pavoratti singing Britnet Spears songs. Stern acts as Schindler's conscious and often directs him through the moral minefield of his acts. Like Neeson, Kingsley keeps his performance toned down and lets the story speak for himself. His unaffected performance perfectly contrasts with the brutish, emotionally troubled figure on the other side of Schindler's life, Amon Goeth, portrayed by Ralph Fiennes. This film made Fiennes' career and for good reason. He nearly steals the show as the violent narcissist head of the concentration camp. The image of his flabby, tired body poised on a balcony using his prisoners are target practice is chilling. As we get to know Goeth, we come to understand how his thinking would lead him to perform such a cruel act. Spielberg doesn't slap a simple "Nazi" sign on his forehead, he delves into the man's troubled mind and shows the fragile human behind the monstrous sins. In my opinion, Amon Goeth is one of the great villains ever put to film.

This is one of the rare films I think should be shown in high schools, not only because it is a reminder of what happened but as a reminder that it can happen again. It also shows that even though the greatest evils are committed by individuals so are good deeds. We decide the course of history and what we do has an impact on the generations that follow. If you have not seen this film you really need to watch it as soon as possible. It is one of the films I think everyone should see once in their life.


Cautions: There is shockingly graphic violence and full frontal nudity throughout this film. Even if you're against such things, I will point out that of all films it is this one where I know it is absolutely called for. None of the violence, none of the sexuality or violence is put in for any other reason other than to advance the story and bring reality to the production. The film would be lessened without it.