Schindler's List

The movie Schindler's List (1993) was a Steven Spielberg's award-winning masterpiece. It was a shocking, fact-based epic of the nightmarish Holocaust. The movie itself was three hours long. [Italian-American catholic Martin Scorsese was originally slated to direct the film, but turned down the chance - claiming the film needed a director of Jewish descent - before turning it over to Spielberg.] Its documentary authenticity vividly re-creates a dark, frightening period during World War II, when Jews in Krakow, occupied by the Nazis, were first dispossessed of their families and homes, then placed in ghettos and forced labor camps in Plaszow, and finally put in concentration camps to die. The violence of their treatment in a series of horrific incidents is brilliantly played and well thought out.

Except for the opening and closing scenes and two other brief shots (the little girl in a red coat and candles burning with orange flames), the entire film in-between is shot in black and white. The film is marvelous for the way in which it crafts its story without manipulative Hollywood-type add-ons. it is also skillfully contains with overlapping dialogue, parallel editing, sharp and bold characterizations, contrasting performances of the two main characters (Schindler and Goeth), details of shadows and light, jerky hand-held cameras, a beautifully selected and composed musical score, and touching performances.

The screenplay by Steven Zaillian was adapted from Thomas Keneally's 1982 biographic novel, Schindler's Ark, constructed by interviews with 50 Schindler survivors found in many nations, and other wartime associates of the title character, as well as other written testimonies and sources.