Schindler's List (1993)

Director Steven Spielberg's finest work to date is "Schindler's List", a story of the Jewish people's plight under German domination in the Second World War.

Liam Neeson, in his greatest work thus far, plays "Oskar Schindler" a German ne'er-do-well who happens to be politically connected. He uses this connection to get a factory given to him, a factory confiscated from its Jewish owners. The Jews are offered an easy choice: they can stay and work for no pay or go to the concentration camps. They obviously choose to stay.

Schindler's right hand man is Ben Kingsley, a Jew who keeps the books for the factory. Ralph Fiennes plays the brutal German officer who comes to transform the factory into a concentration camp. Both performances absolutely top-notch.

Some of the genius of Spielberg's approach is evident in the even-handed way he paints the character of each important person, each is not monolithic -- greedy Schindler has moments of generosity; brutal Fiennes has moments of kindness.

The acting is superb, overall, the cinematography is mind numbing, combining frank brutality contrasted with the lush lifestyle of the powers-that-be. The black and white photography is compelling, especially the use of the little girl's red dress. The eye follows her, a little red dot, through the chaotic destruction of the Krakow ghetto; we finally see her lifeless body, crumpled and discarded, a victim of the Nazi brutality. What a powerful way to personalize the tragedy to the individual level, without a word, after numbing the mind with dozens of candid acts of brutality! We know these things happened, we saw the red dress, we cared about the individual girl!

Somewhere along the way, Schindler evaluates his life and has a change of heart. He decides to plow his ill-gotten gains into a noble cause -- to help save the Jews from destruction! The other reviewers have given the details, so I won't mention all the poignant, moving scenes that take place, but there are many.

"Schindler's List" is riveting, compelling, and will likely go down in history as one of the very best films ever made.

It is wonderful and also sad that this, Spielberg's greatest work, has already been done. He will probably never equal it -- I hope I'm wrong! See also my review of "Saving Private Ryan", where I contrast that film with "Schindler's List."

For those who enjoy "Schindler's List", I also recommend "Judgment at Nuremberg", and "Diary of Anne Frank" other fine films concerning the Holocaust.