Review of Schindler's List (1993) by Ardania22 — 31 Aug 2015

Epic historical dramas don't get much better than this. Probably the most visceral recount of the Holocaust ever brought to cinema; the sporadic violence is brutal yet purposeful, shocking without feeling exploitive. The cast is all excellent. It's three hours long, yet you hardly feel the length. Like Lord of the Rings, it's so massive and engrossing that time stops mattering.

What really makes this movie special, though, is its treatment of Schindler himself. The character isn't a particularly nice man. He's adulterous. He's erratic. He loses his temper. He's also kind of a pedophile, at least in one scene. Most "great man" epics would try to gloss over these imperfections and have him redeem himself in the end through his valiant actions. But Spielberg's too smart for that. He doesn't try to scrub Schindler clean of his sins. He presents the Nazi renegade warts and all, and as a result, Schindler feels achingly real (and Liam Neeson's outstanding performance certainly helps). You want to see him succeed, to overcome his personal demons for the greater good, and every little moment of light in his darkness feels profound. In the end, though, his triumph isn't particularly heroic. I won't spoil how it ends, in case you haven't seen the movie, but there's a scene near the end where Schindler tries to come to terms with the massive good he's done and what it means for him. It's heartbreaking, and one of the best-earned crying scenes in movie history.

Seriously, see this movie. It's epic, unflinching, riveting, and utterly beautiful.