Statement of intent: My purpose of this film review is to convey the valuable elements of the film Schindler’s List such as the characters, the director and the facts behind the film. I also want to convey why people should watch Schindler’s List. My audience is the Wanaka Sun. I will convey this through a descriptive review on the film.

Schindler’s List

Directed by Steven Spielberg

Review by James Glynn

Have you ever heard the name Oskar Schindler? You’ve probably made out that he was a hero who saved 1200 Jews, but you probably didn’t hear that he was driven by greed, drank scads of alcohol and had a new woman every night, knowing that he had a devoted wife at home. To him World War II was an opportunity to make his fortune off Jewish people who didn’t have a good chance of seeing out the end of the war.

Liam Neeson who played Oskar Schindler did an outstanding job of portraying all the greed and self-obsessive attributes that the original Schindler had. Interestingly, Steven Spielberg (director) said that Mel Gibson and Kevin Costner had auditioned for the role but he felt that the film did not need some big-shot Hollywood star, rather a very composed actor. Hoping to find the perfect actor for the role, Spielberg found Neeson in a broadway play called Annie Christie, he even said to the New York times that Neeson and Schindler had a lot in common, the women loved them, he made it clear that they were even the same height.

The film was set in the 1940s during World War II, Schindler was a german business man who decided to move to German occupied Poland to take a factory and hire Jewish workers from the Ghetto to make pots and similar metal items. The reason behind hiring Jewish workers was because they were cheap to pay, almost free. None of the Jews ever saw the money they were being paid.

Steven Spielberg did a sublime job of casting all characters. Whilst viewing the film we felt as an audience that the true events that happened couldn’t have been acted out better in a film. Amon Goeth was an Austrian SS captain who took command of the Krakow Plaszow camp in German occupied Poland. The reason this was so important in the film was because all of Oskar Schindler’s factory workers (Jews) were held in this camp. Goeth was the very definition of a pig headed man, in the film you see him half naked at the balcony of his mansion shooting Jews who have stopped to take a break from working. One of the Jews he snipes was merely kneeling down and tying up his shoe laces. The actor playing the role was Ralph Fiennes, Fiennes had to put excessive amounts of weight on for the film because Goeth was overweight, in the film the audience can see that Goeth’s body size looks very unproportional. Goeth hires a Jewish maid that he fell deeply in love with but took no shame in beating her when she had done nothing wrong, he said ” These Jews they are dangerous, they cast a spell on you.”

Another main character was Itzhak Stern, a Jewish accountant. Because of his occupation Schindler felt that Stern was very much indeed valuable to him to make his business successful, One could also argue that Stern was the hero in this piece of history. Funnily enough, Stern pretty much organised everything for Schindler to keep his business sustainable so therefore more Jewish lives were being saved because they were working in Schindler’s business and not in the Nazi slave camps.By the end of the film Schindler’s company was making bullets and artillery shells, Schindler and Stern made sure none of the bullets or artillery shells worked, therefore they produced faulty bullets and artillery shells out of the business, Schindler and Stern did this because they wanted to see an end to the war through Nazi defeat. At one point in the film Stern almost gets transferred to another concentration camp because there was a mix up of paperwork, Oskar was furious, he saved Stern from going on the trains by threatening the nazi guards.

Steven Spielberg uses symbols very well in the film, the film is in black and white to show the depression of world war 2.During the black and white film a little girl is running around in the heat of the moment whilst the nazis are massacring the Jews, everything else is in black and white but the little girl in the red dress is in colour, this film technique is used to show the innocence of the little girl. The angle Spielberg had on the film was a sad dark world, which was the sad reality of the time period. Spielberg used parallel editing in the film, an example of this is when the film cuts from the SS soldiers partying and having a great time to the Jews labouring and trying to survive.Wanting to give a clear portrayal of the time in history, Spielberg uses a variety of different shots, such as a wide shot to show a line of jews being shot (to show a whole scene in one shot.), close up shot of jewish people crying (to show the intensity and the feelings of the person or object in the shot.) and a mid shot when people are talking to each other, for example when Schindler and Stern are discussing buisness whilst Stern is on the typewriter (this is like the wide shot but has more detail and less content in the shot.).Significantly, the music in the film has a soundtrack that reoccurs during the sad and heroic moments of the film the sound is a violin and piano playing together to create a intense and memorable sound.

Remarkably, the film was so sterling it received many awards such as the Golden Globe, and it received Academy Awards for best picture, best director, best writing, best music and best editing. Spielberg tried to get other directors to make the film before Spielberg decided himself he would make it. Devotedly, He did not take a salary from the film, he said taking any financial gains from the film would be “blood money.” Wanting to help the survivors, Spielberg used the profits of the film to found the Shoah Foundation (established to remember the survivors of the holocaust by collecting personal recollections.)

I would recommend Schindler’s List to viewers who are so fond of a great true story film.The film is 184 minutes long; it is worth every minute. I believe the film is a masterpiece and gives people a great insight into what Jewish people have endured, it also gives people a better understanding of the Holocaust. I rate this film 5/5 and I believe Steven Spielberg and everyone who helped to produce the film have done an outstanding Job on making what will be known throughout history as one of the best films made in the film industry.