1993--Schindler's List, Steven Spielberg

 

1993--Schindler's List, Steven Spielberg

Nominated: The Fugitive, In the Name of the Father, The Piano, Remains of the Day

Should have won: Schindler's List

Be sure to see: Dead Alive, Groundhog Day, Jurassic Park, The Nightmare Before Christmas, What's Eating Gilbert Grape

“Whoever saves one life, saves the world entire”--inscription found on the inside of a ring

     Prior to Schindler's List, Steven Spielberg had been nominated for best director three times, going 0-3 for Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and E.T.. The fourth time proved to be a charm. He has gone on record saying of all the movies he has been a part of, he hopes to be remembered for two of them, E.T. and Schindler's List. 1993's best picture winner had been an idea of Spielberg's for decades. Watching it gave me one of those rare feelings that it wasn't a movie but an experience. It is probably the most important Oscar winner ever made.

     It is September, 1939, and Germany has defeated Poland. Jews have been ordered to register family members and relocate to major cities. At the start of World War II, Oskar Schindler, a Nazi who owns a factory, has figured out a way to manipulate the system. He sympathizes with the Jews and gets them to work in his factory in an attempt to save their lives, but also for selfish reasons like cheap labor or because the Jewish children's fingers are small enough to reach certain mechanisms. As Jews are rounded up for the death camps, Schindler uses politics to achieve his goal. Take, for example, when his accountant is being taken away on a train to a camp by mistake, Schindler saves him but scolds him by asking what would happen if he were five minutes later. “Then where would I be?” he asks, focusing on himself. He has no concern for the accountant's well-being. By the end, his views and priorities have shifted to a more heartfelt side. He can be considered a hero by movie's end when early on he is all business-minded.

     Schindler's accountant is Itzhak Stern (Ben Kingsley, who I can never picture as anyone except Gandhi). All the while, the camp's commandant is Amon Goeth, one of the most evil villains in movie history. A man who kills Jewish people for fun, sniping those from his window he sees not working. Once, he pardons a boy for not cleaning a tub properly only to snipe him as he is leaving. When someone escapes the camp, Goeth shoots every other person he rounds up just as a lesson. Goeth is played by Ralph Fiennes to perfection. He lost the best supporting actor award that year to Tommy Lee Jones' portrayal of an United States Marshall in The Fugitive. For years I've agreed with that choice. Upon further review, well let's just say we are all entitled to change our minds now and then. Goeth is one of the most harrowing villains in movie history.

Though Schindler is the focal point of the movie, Goeth and his men's cruelty steal the show. People are killed at will. Some murdered for performing jobs too slowly, others are shot on a whim. A building is being constructed and when the architect speaks up that it needs to be torn down and rebuilt or it will collapse, the scene ends with a chilling visual and then a chilling suggestion by Goeth.

My favorite (if I can use that word for an experience like this) part of the film is a 17 minute long sequence of the Nazis rounding up Jewish families who are hiding in their houses. It is a very intense scene where we root for the residents to not be found but know how the outcome will be.

Contrasting Goeth's cruelty is Schindler's compassion, even though it is a little misguided for a while. When the workers are on trains that have stopped, he turns a water hose on and sprays in the windows. On one hand it is nice he's giving them water but on the other, nobody should be locked up unwillingly on a train like cattle. A guard says he shouldn't do that because it gives them hope and that is cruel. I found him to be a somewhat flawed character. He clearly has a heart but doesn't follow through with it completely.

Though the film is a starkly beautiful black and white, there is a little color in it. That color is a little girl's red coat. She walks down the street even with the horrors of murder around her. A lot has been said about the meaning of this character. The reason for the red coat and what ultimately becomes of the girl, I'll let you form your own opinions.

Schindler's new factory is run with different rules. More compassion. His humanity begins to shine through. And his speech to his workers and the soldiers as the war is ending is moving, brilliant, and, in a way, epic. Many emotional moments occur in the final few moments such as the workers being released, Goeth's ultimate demise, and Schindler's breakdown, the reason for it I won't spoil but it is a very powerful moment. The film ends with a documentary style segment of the real present day Schindler's Jews visiting his grave. The movie is one of the most powerful ever made; one everyone should see but not one I'd recommend popping in weekly. The movie is flawless though Oscar Schindler wasn't. The documentary of the film summed the man up this way: “Schindler didn't come to Poland to save the Jews; he came to make his fortune.” If that was truly his original vision then he officially has the most incredible character arc in movie history.

NOTE: I had a hard time figuring out what picture I wanted to use. I wanted one of Oscar Schindler; I wanted one of Goeth; I wanted one of the frightened people; perhaps children. I saw lots of moving pictures. I went with this one but it is just one of many striking images.