Schindler's List
SCHINDLER'S LIST (15)
D: Steven Spielberg
Universal/Amblin (Steven Spielberg, Gerald R. Molen &
Branko Lustig)
US 1993
185 mins
War/Drama/Historical
W: Steven Zaillian [based on the novel
"Schindler's Ark" by Thomas Keneally]
DP: Janusz Kaminsky
Ed: Michael Kahn
Mus: John Williams
PD: Allan Starski
Cos: Anna Biedrzycka Sheppard
Liam Neeson (Oskar Schindler), Ben
Kingsley (Itzhak Stern), Ralph Fiennes (Amon Goeth), Caroline Goodall (Emilie Schindler), Jonathan Sagalle (Poldek Pfefferberg), Embeth
Davidtz (Helen Hirsch)
Amongst the greatest war films ever made and almost
certainly the most powerful.
From the book "Schindler's Ark" by Thomas Keneally, the
story presents a biographical account of Oskar Schindler, a Polish war profiteer who used persecuted Jews as cheap labour, but later bribed German officials so he could save the lives of over
1,000.
Liam Neeson gives a warts & all performance as the
temperamental man, a womaniser who valued money above all else, but upon witnessing the horrors of the holocaust, developed both a guilty conscience for his actions and a duty of care for
those in his employment.
The haunting and poetically strike black & white
photography give a documentary feel to the drama and though some parts are fictionalised for dramatisation purposes, it's very easy to believe that everything that occurs here is the
truth.
The ensemble cast are all outstanding, particularly
Neeson, but also Ralph Fiennes as the detestable Amon Goeth, who runs a concentration camp with both an iron fist and a violent temper.
Steven Spielberg broke his Oscars hoodoo with this film,
winning 7 awards in total including Best Picture & Best Director.
10/10
