Spring Break
Schindler's List Released on DVD
Schindler's List - Four Triangles
Mike Kopena
Issue date: 3/12/04 Section: Entertainment
- Page 1 of 1
I often find it difficult to pick films that stand out from the foggy depths of my sleep-deprived memory.
I wouldn't say Steven Spielberg's Schindler's List is a favorite. It's not the sort of film that one favors. A favorite is something comfortable that you can slip into at the end of the day to wind down. Spielberg's labor of love is much more like an old wine. It is bitter, complex, flavorful and somewhat hard on the palate; not something you want with dinner every night, but some of the best wine you'll ever taste.
Set in World War II, the film begins with Oskar Schindler (Liam Neeson), an aspiring and ambitious Czechoslovakian entrepreneur and black-marketeer, as he networks amongst high-ranking members of the Nazi party. The initial scene takes place in a somewhat burlesque nightclub and involves quite a bit of good old-fashioned debauchery.
Oskar Schindler has been described as a womanizing, profiteering drunk of the worst degree, and from the outset of the film, Spielberg spares him none of his faults.
He employs Jews in his enameled crockery factory because it's cheaper to pay the dues to the Nazis for the Jew's indenture than it would have been to hire Polish workers.
As the war drags on, however, he risks more and more of his life and livelihood to keep his Jewish employees.
The heroism inherent in his actions begins to infect his character as Schindler eschews his profiteering and burns through his fortunes to protect his wards.
He continuously retrieves his Jewish accountant and confidant, Itzhak Stern (Ben Kingsley), from the maw of the Nazi eugenic machine and drains his personal assets and accoutrement to bargain with the sadistic commander of the brutal Jewish internment camp (Ralph Fiennes) and other officials for the lives of his employees.
They are the names on Schindler's list. His efforts and humanity grow throughout the film, culminating with a gut-wrenchingly sorrowful farewell to Oskar Schindler, Nazi and hero to 1,100 Jews, as he flees from Allied occupation forces.
In affect, Schindler's List is terribly brutal, excruciatingly beautiful and entirely engrossing. The cast, Leeson and Kingsley in particular, take to their roles heroically and deliver performances indescribable in emotional depth and complexity of characterization.
The lush tones of the black and white film and the poetic compositions complete the job and draw one in completely. I spent three hours watching Schindler's List not in the living room of my squalid West Philly apartment, but in Warsaw and Czechoslovakia with Schindler and Stern. The level to which the film engrosses the viewer makes the horrors, trepidations and triumphs of Schindler's List all the more heartfelt.
Spielberg ends the film with a moving memorial to Oskar Schindler, as performed by the survivors and the actors who portrayed them. When it was over I felt physically and emotionally drained, but glad, nonetheless, that I had seen it again. Schindler's List is a film that everyone should see at least once, if not more. The release of the DVD slated for March 9 is the perfect opportunity. If you need more incentive, the bonus features can give you that. Included on the discs are two documentaries.
The Shoah Foundation Story details Spielberg's creation of The Survivors of the Shoah foundation. The foundation is dedicated to providing youths access to the testimonies of holocaust survivors to educate them about hatred and bigotry and to eradicate those things.
Voices from the List is a 77-minute documentary made up of testimony from survivors who were on Schindler's list. It is a perfect foil to the film. It provides a variety of deeply moving and interesting, first-hand perspectives regarding the events on which the movie is based.
See this film. It is a masterpiece. You won't regret it, and now you have no excuse not to.
I wouldn't say Steven Spielberg's Schindler's List is a favorite. It's not the sort of film that one favors. A favorite is something comfortable that you can slip into at the end of the day to wind down. Spielberg's labor of love is much more like an old wine. It is bitter, complex, flavorful and somewhat hard on the palate; not something you want with dinner every night, but some of the best wine you'll ever taste.
Set in World War II, the film begins with Oskar Schindler (Liam Neeson), an aspiring and ambitious Czechoslovakian entrepreneur and black-marketeer, as he networks amongst high-ranking members of the Nazi party. The initial scene takes place in a somewhat burlesque nightclub and involves quite a bit of good old-fashioned debauchery.
Oskar Schindler has been described as a womanizing, profiteering drunk of the worst degree, and from the outset of the film, Spielberg spares him none of his faults.
He employs Jews in his enameled crockery factory because it's cheaper to pay the dues to the Nazis for the Jew's indenture than it would have been to hire Polish workers.
As the war drags on, however, he risks more and more of his life and livelihood to keep his Jewish employees.
The heroism inherent in his actions begins to infect his character as Schindler eschews his profiteering and burns through his fortunes to protect his wards.
He continuously retrieves his Jewish accountant and confidant, Itzhak Stern (Ben Kingsley), from the maw of the Nazi eugenic machine and drains his personal assets and accoutrement to bargain with the sadistic commander of the brutal Jewish internment camp (Ralph Fiennes) and other officials for the lives of his employees.
They are the names on Schindler's list. His efforts and humanity grow throughout the film, culminating with a gut-wrenchingly sorrowful farewell to Oskar Schindler, Nazi and hero to 1,100 Jews, as he flees from Allied occupation forces.
In affect, Schindler's List is terribly brutal, excruciatingly beautiful and entirely engrossing. The cast, Leeson and Kingsley in particular, take to their roles heroically and deliver performances indescribable in emotional depth and complexity of characterization.
The lush tones of the black and white film and the poetic compositions complete the job and draw one in completely. I spent three hours watching Schindler's List not in the living room of my squalid West Philly apartment, but in Warsaw and Czechoslovakia with Schindler and Stern. The level to which the film engrosses the viewer makes the horrors, trepidations and triumphs of Schindler's List all the more heartfelt.
Spielberg ends the film with a moving memorial to Oskar Schindler, as performed by the survivors and the actors who portrayed them. When it was over I felt physically and emotionally drained, but glad, nonetheless, that I had seen it again. Schindler's List is a film that everyone should see at least once, if not more. The release of the DVD slated for March 9 is the perfect opportunity. If you need more incentive, the bonus features can give you that. Included on the discs are two documentaries.
The Shoah Foundation Story details Spielberg's creation of The Survivors of the Shoah foundation. The foundation is dedicated to providing youths access to the testimonies of holocaust survivors to educate them about hatred and bigotry and to eradicate those things.
Voices from the List is a 77-minute documentary made up of testimony from survivors who were on Schindler's list. It is a perfect foil to the film. It provides a variety of deeply moving and interesting, first-hand perspectives regarding the events on which the movie is based.
See this film. It is a masterpiece. You won't regret it, and now you have no excuse not to.
