Stars: Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes, Caroline Goodall, Embeth Davidtz, Ben Kingsley, Jonathan Sagalle

Director: Steven Spielberg

Summary: The war finds businessman Oskar Schindler joining the Nazi party to make a profit. His dedication to the cause and his generous bribes see him rewarded with an enamelware plant in Krakow, whose employees are unpaid Jews. As time goes by the atrocities overwhelm Schindler, who is determined to protect his workers at all costs. Adapted from the novel by Thomas Keneally. Academy Award: Best Picture 1993.

Based on a true story, SCHINDLER'S LIST is Steven Spielberg's epic drama of World War II Holocaust survivors and the man who unexpectedly came to be their saviour. Unrepentant womaniser and war profiteer Oskar Schindler uses Polish Jews as cheap labour to produce cookware for the Third Reich. But after witnessing the violent liquidation of the walled ghetto where the Krakow Jews have been forced to live, Schindler slowly begins to realise the immense evil of Nazism. When his own employees are sent to a work camp, they come under the terrorising reign of sadistic Nazi Amon Goeth (Ralph Fiennes). With the help of his accountant, Itzhak Stern (Ben Kingsley), Schindler creates a list of "essential" Jews. Bribing Goeth, Schindler manages to get 1,100 people released from the camp and brought to the safety of his munitions factory in Czechoslovakia. Spielberg's glorious film is wondrously evocative, visually stunning, and emotionally stirring.

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Reviewed by: philreyn
Posted on October 13, 2005 12:28 PM

I'm still not that sure that modern films should be made in black and white, but you can forgive this one. Look out for the one piece of colour, a red coat worm by a little girl. Every person on the planet should watch this film and understand what 'mans inhumanity to man' really means. Spielburg is one of the few directors around who could tell this story so well. I can only explain by saying it's a wonderfully made true story, about one of the most horrific acts in our history. A story that needed telling properly.

Reviewed by: mcdermot7@aol.com
Posted on October 26, 2005 5:04 PM

This film is a masterpiece. The fact that it is made in black & white gives it a darker edge, especially when you see the red coat worn by the little girl on her waye to death. Liam Neeson is outstanding as Schindler. He should have received an Oscar for his portrayal of Oskar Schindler. This is a must see film for everyone who either knows about the Holocaust or still believes it was all a figment of history. You will feel uncomfortable after watching it and if you don't then you should be uncomfortable.

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Steven Spielberg had a banner year in 1993. He scored one of his biggest commercial hits that summer with the mega-hit Jurassic Park, but it was the artistic and critical triumph of Schindler's List that Spielberg called "the most satisfying experience of my career". Adapted from the best-selling book by Thomas Keneally and filmed in Poland with an emphasis on absolute authenticity, Spielberg's masterpiece ranks among the greatest films ever made about the Holocaust during World War II. It's a film about heroism with an unlikely hero at its center--Catholic war profiteer Oskar Schindler (Liam Neeson), who risked his life and went bankrupt to save more than 1,000 Jews from certain death in concentration camps.

By employing Jews in his crockery factory manufacturing goods for the German army, Schindler ensures their survival against terrifying odds. At the same time, he must remain solvent with the help of a Jewish accountant (Ben Kingsley) and negotiate business with a vicious, obstinate Nazi commandant (Ralph Fiennes) who enjoys shooting Jews as target practice from the balcony of his villa overlooking a prison camp. Schindler's List gains much of its power not by trying to explain Schindler's motivations, but by dramatising the delicate diplomacy and determination with which he carried out his generous deeds.

As a drinker and womanizer who thought nothing of associating with Nazis, Schindler was hardly a model of decency; the film is largely about his transformation in response to the horror around him. Spielberg doesn't flinch from that horror, and the result is a film that combines remarkable humanity with abhorrent inhumanity--a film that functions as a powerful history lesson and a testament to the resilience of the human spirit in the context of a living nightmare. --Jeff Shannon

Aspect Ratio:	1.85 Anamorphic Wide Screen
Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Special Features:	Voices From The List, The Shoah Foundation Story With Stephen Spielberg, Cast And Crew, About Oskar Schindler
Year:	1993
Release Date:	April 12, 2004
Runtime:	187 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	822 078 1
Keywords:	General, List, Drama, Historical, Schindler's
Genre:	Drama