Schindler's List (1993)

It's the twenty-fifth anniversary of Schindler's List and Steven Spielberg introduces his masterwork as a story for modern times. And it is a behemoth of a movie, running over three hours. I'm glad to have seen it, but I never have to see it again. It is hard to watch. Not an easy movie to revisit, but now is as good a time as any as anti-semitism seems to never go away.

I find it daunting to comment on such epic films. I could maybe tackle small parts of it. John Williams's score, brought to life by Itzakh Perlman, is hauntingly beautiful. The liquidation of the Warsaw ghetto is a brutal scene, filmed with such horror and control. The scene in the showers at Auschwitz is extremely powerful for turning the audience's anticipatory expectations on its head. And there is so much emotion in the final scene when the war finally comes to an end. The directorial choice to close the film with the Schindlerjuden at Schindler's grave at Yad Veshem is striking, pulling the audience to the "present". It continues to evoke emotion twenty-five years later, during which I'm sure many of the film's characters have since passed away. Holocaust survivors are few today, but it's important for their stories to live on. The black-and-white cinematography contributes to the documentary-feel of the movie. It tells the audience that even the most unbelievable atrocities are not exaggerations.