Out of the numerous movies that have graced the silver screens across the globe over the decades there are very few which truly have a sense of’universal appeal’ and fewer still which touch the emotional side of viewers so much that it stays on with them forever.A lot of movies are entertaining but very few of them actually are thought provoking and fewer still are the ones that are truly inspirational for everyone."Schindler’s list" in my opinion is right on top of that list.No wonder it figures in the top 3 Hollywood movies of all times in so many surveys.It’s a tribute to the main protagonist Oskar Schindler by Steven Spielberg, arguably the finest film maker of our times and after having seen it, I feel privilieged.
The story is based in Nazi occupied Poland during the second world war where a Czech born business man Oskar Schindler lands with lots of money and hopes of making a fortune with cheap Jew labour available in plenty.He has a regal demeanour about himself the way he dresses, the way he talks and the way he conducts himself seem to define what "sophisticated" and "suave"mean.But he is far from perfect.In addition to being a womanizer he is very bad at business but doesn’t care much about it as he has a huge amout of wealth left to him by his Father.In spite of being unknown in Krakow(the name of the city) , with the help of his money power he makes friends with all the powerful Nazi officials who are very impressed by his smooth talking and start to admire him.
But these are horrible times for the Jews of the region.They have been made to face a lot of humiliation and have to live under a lot of unreasonable restrictions put on the by the Nazi army who never feel shy of expressing their deep felt hatred for them.The situation only gets worse and worse for them.They are made to leave their houses , all their belongings are looted leaving them penniless and are accomodated in Ghetto camps where they have to live in inhuman conditions.In the meantime Oskar meets Itzakh Stern who is a very adept accountant and is a Jew.Both of them get some people to invest their money along with Oskar and they are successful in restarting an ailing pots and pans factory which employs a lot of jewish labour.
Then things take an even worse turn when all the jews in Ghetto are forcibly put into the concentration camp in Auschwitz which is headed by Amon Goeth.Amon is a Nazi commandant who is cruelty personified.He slaughters the Jews with remorse less pleasure and instills his fear into each and every one of them.Oskar looses all his workers to the camp and the staggering visuals of inhumanity unfolding in front of him prompt him to use all his money and influence and he does his best and ends up penniless having saved around 1100 Jews from certain death.
Liam Nesson as Oskar, Ben Kingsley as Itzakh and Ralph Fiennes as Amon Goeth deliver mind blowing flawless performances.The elegance and eventual show of vulnerabilty of Nesson, the pragmatic emotionless face of Kingsley and the wicked, slow taliking Fiennes breathe life into those characters.In addition to that there are countless others who performing as Jews of all ages keep the viewer glued to the movie at all times with their morbid faces undergoing the horrors of Nazi brutality.
The movie was actually offered to Martin Scorsese but he suggested Spielberg’s name as he thought only a jew could do proper justice to the subject.I have always been a huge Spielberg fan having watched almost all of his movies and there is no doubt in my mind that "Schindler’s list" is his best.The whole movie is shot in black and white save the scene where a little girl is shown wearing a red dress(to highlight her amidst the havoc wreaked by Nazi forces in the scene where Oskar comes to the realisation that he should save them), the dialogues, each and every one of them are meaningful and hard hitting.The scenes depicting the brutalities in the camp are filmed in a way as less as dramatic as possible(at times it almost feels like watching a documentary) yet they make you cringe with horror.The characters are beautifully etched out and the intensity is maintained throughout the length of the movie.
All in all I was very overwhelmed by this movie and I consider it a privilege to have watched it.If you still haven’t watched it waste no more time, you don’t know what you have missed.