Based on a true story, Steven Spielberg's Schindler's List stars Liam Neeson as Oskar Schindler, a German businessman in Poland who sees an opportunity to make money from the Nazis' rise to power. He starts a company to make cookware and utensils, using flattery and bribes to win military contracts, and brings in accountant and financier Itzhak Stern (Ben Kingsley) to help run the factory.
Steven Spielberg directs this moving drama with an incredible amount of uplifting hope, which counteracts the realistically depicted violence revealed on screen. Spielberg maturely presents the film through an honest and sometimes disturbing lens, but it's completely necessary in telling the story with complete authenticity. The horror on display in this film exceeds anything I've ever seen, because of the painful reality. It sickens me as a person to know that this sort of thing actually happened and watching Schindler's List is not only an experience, but a history lesson that we should never forget.
Schindler boasts incredible, convincing performances all across the board. Liam Neeson gives a brave performance as Schindler. Like fellow Oscar nominee Ralph Fiennes, who plays evil Nazi concentration camp commandant Amon Goeth, Neeson is not afraid to play his character as written: in Neeson's case, an arrogant war profiteer who does not realize--until the very end--the enormity of his actions; in Fiennes's case, a human embodiment of pure evil and hate. Lesser actors would try to romanticize their characters to make them more pleasant to the audience. Fiennes and Neeson wisely chose not to take that route, and make an even more favorable impression than they would have had they tried to soften their roles. Ben Kingsley (as Schindler's accountant, Itzhak Stern), Embeth Davidtz (as Goeth's Jewish maid, Helen Hirsch), and Caroline Goodall (as Schindler's wife, Emilie) all turn in the type of performance that is easily taken for granted. They are so convincing that it is easy for the audience to forget that they are actors playing roles, especially since they are in the background. While watching Schindler's, the audience does not see actors acting in a made-up world; it believes it sees real people living in the real world.
Steven Spielberg directs this moving drama with an incredible amount of uplifting hope, which counteracts the realistically depicted violence revealed on screen. Spielberg maturely presents the film through an honest and sometimes disturbing lens, but it's completely necessary in telling the story with complete authenticity. The horror on display in this film exceeds anything I've ever seen, because of the painful reality. It sickens me as a person to know that this sort of thing actually happened and watching Schindler's List is not only an experience, but a history lesson that we should never forget.
Schindler boasts incredible, convincing performances all across the board. Liam Neeson gives a brave performance as Schindler. Like fellow Oscar nominee Ralph Fiennes, who plays evil Nazi concentration camp commandant Amon Goeth, Neeson is not afraid to play his character as written: in Neeson's case, an arrogant war profiteer who does not realize--until the very end--the enormity of his actions; in Fiennes's case, a human embodiment of pure evil and hate. Lesser actors would try to romanticize their characters to make them more pleasant to the audience. Fiennes and Neeson wisely chose not to take that route, and make an even more favorable impression than they would have had they tried to soften their roles. Ben Kingsley (as Schindler's accountant, Itzhak Stern), Embeth Davidtz (as Goeth's Jewish maid, Helen Hirsch), and Caroline Goodall (as Schindler's wife, Emilie) all turn in the type of performance that is easily taken for granted. They are so convincing that it is easy for the audience to forget that they are actors playing roles, especially since they are in the background. While watching Schindler's, the audience does not see actors acting in a made-up world; it believes it sees real people living in the real world.