Review of Schindler's List (1993) by Swati — 22 Oct 2013

I have watched this so many times I don't even remember. Has to be one of my top five favourite movies of all time. There are no words for it. Every scene rips through your soul and makes you shudder, but not in a sappy kind of way.

But in the sense that you wonder if mankind is even capable of such barbarity. There is no effort to make you cry and feel sorry for the devastation of living breathing human beings, but on the contrary, the narration is objective and kind of lists the series of events without pretence.

That's why it is so raw, and you draw your own meanings from it. Whole scenes pass without any background music to tell you how you should feel about it. Makes you experience war in a disturbingly intimate manner, like you are a spectator, watching silently as murder is committed before your very eyes, and you don't have the spine to make it stop.

It is only later, when it's all done, and it's time for reflection, that the score sets in. And I couldn't find it in me to resist the tears. The scenes about the little girl in the red coat were especially unbearable.

The score is so haunting and chilling that it picks you up and sets you in a whole different environment. The running time runs extremely fast. I'm aware that some of us may not have the level of concentration to sit through a three hour epic, but whoever prides himself in being able to appreciate art will have no problems.