Directed by critically-acclaimed filmmaker Steven Spielberg who won several Oscars for this particular film that is considered one of the greatest of the 20th century, Schindler’s List was recently remastered and released on the big screen for its 25th anniversary, and I found it to be extremely relevant in today’s divisive times in which hate crimes have risen. Although I saw it many years ago, simply watching it at a movie theater had an even greater emotional impact on an already extremely powerful film exploring the evils of the Holocaust perpetrated by the Nazis. Based on a true story, the plot follows Oskar Schindler, played by Liam Neeson who was nominated for his extraordinary role, who was an industrialist working alongside the Nazi party in Krakow, Poland and went on to save up to 1,200 Jewish people from extermination by the end of World War II. The almost three and a half hour long film with its potent black-and-white cinematography and intense attention to detail still stands the test of time as probably the most important artistic representation of the Holocaust. In addition to the nuanced performance given by the great Liam Neeson, the movie is full of beautiful and very memorable acting performances, especially Ben Kingsley who gives a remarkably tender performance as Schindler’s Jewish accountant Itzhak Stern and a young Ralph Fiennes who gives a horrifyingly realistic performance as the truly evil Nazi officer Amon Göth. In retrospect, Liam Neeson wholeheartedly deserved the Oscar for Best Actor as well as the other lead actors deserving awards in their respective Oscar categories. As was the case at the time of its release, the most indelible image from the entire movie is the appearance of a little girl wearing a red coat, the only color amongst the symbolically stark black-and-white imagery. The film was correctly recognized for the astounding directorial vision of Steven Spielberg who quite effectively captures the horrors of the labor and death camps of the Holocaust without showing a gratuitous amount of blood and gore. Overall, I found it to remain one of the most profound cinematic experiences of my life as a result of the stupendous directing, writing, acting, musical composition, and cinematography; the movie is truly worthy of its seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Original Score. If you ever get the chance to see this extraordinary cinematic piece of history on the big screen, it is definitely worth your time and money and will leave you even more in awe than viewing it on the small screen and before the beautiful restoration done for the 25th anniversary.
KEITH on Reels 