Delayed Reaction: Schindler's List

The Pitch: Stephen Spielberg thinks about the holocaust.

Disclaimer: Technically, I have seen this before. It was in college a dozen years ago and my attention was split enough that I knew I didn't get the full impact at the time.

This is the most Oscar-baity movie I can think of. WWII drama, specifically, about the Holocaust. Made in black and white for artistic purposes. Director desperate for industry validation*. I'll often complain about movies that play as though they were reverse engineered to win Oscars. Hell, I still hold a grudge because I heard a rumor once that Crash delayed its release because it thought it had a better chance to win an Oscar in 2005 (also, it's a horrible movie, so it doesn't need any help to make me dislike it). I know now that that's common practice (although, when I think about it, when was the last time that the movie actually did well at the next year's Oscars?). Schindler's List is a case where none of this matters to me. Spielberg wanted to make a great movie and he did.

*Spielberg had been nominated for Best Director a few times before. He still hadn't won and hadn't been nominated since E.T. a decade before.

Yes, the film is bleak and long. It's a little pretentious and emotionally manipulative. It's not like any of that is an accident though. Between Schindler's List and Saving Private Ryan, I don't know why any director even bothers with a WWII movie anymore. Spielberg legitimized the periods as much as possible in the 90s and everything else is doomed to fall short.

Liam Nesson is just terrific. I wish there was a way for Oscar voters that year to have known that Forrest Gump was coming the next year, because maybe in 1993 they would've opted to give Nesson the Oscar rather than give Tom Hanks his first of two consecutive (Philadelphia then Forrest Gump). Nesson's transformation from indifference to caring about the lives of his Jewish workers is terrific, especially as he has to pretend like he doesn't care. I've even seen the movie before, and I was still nervous for him in the scene with the hoses by the train carts filled with confined Jewish people. Ralph Fiennes is such  a raw nerve that he could've turned on Schindler in the moment if he interpreted it at all differently. Speaking of Fiennes, he and Ben Kingsley are great in this too.

This is one of those "Great movies" that I completely believe deserves that distinction. It's obvious in its intent but very worth seeing, even if you can only handle doing so once. Oh god, and that end. Is it just me, or is this room getting a little dusty?

Verdict (?): Strongly Recommend