Up to this point, he was known as a thrilling blockbuster director. With Schindler's List, Spielberg turned his attention to darker, conflicted characters and shifted his focus to bigger themes of good and evil, heroism in adversity and the human cost of war.
Schindler's List, though, is the film that comes closest to breaking that pattern — and Spielberg's ability to treat the Holocaust dramatically while rarely succumbing to the traps of melodrama or sentimentality surprised many. (The final scenes, however, do often face justified criticism of over-gilding the lily.)
Often listed among the greatest films ever made, the film received widespread critical acclaim for its tone, acting (particularly Neeson, Fiennes, and Kingsley), atmosphere, score, cinematography, and Spielberg's direction; it was also a box office success, earning $322.2 million worldwide on a $22 million budget.
Positive Role Models. The film follows Schindler's transformation from greedy war profiteer to humanitarian who eventually saves the lives of 1,100 people destined for death at Auschwitz. He learns and demonstrates compassion, integrity, and perseverance.
Production Design that puts you in the era. Black and white cinematography that makes every frame gorgeous to look at. Acting performances that make every major and minor character feel like living breathing people. It's up there for the best made movie ever.
What did Steven Spielberg say about Schindler's List?
Mr. Spielberg said of Oskar Schindler: "He changed from a great Gatsby to a great rescuer, and it fascinated me. He was like an agent, like a Michael Ovitz, on top of the mountain pulling strings in every fiefdom down below. And one of my role models for Schindler was Steve Ross."
The banning and subsequent withholding of Schindler's List occurred because of a number of important differences between the cultures of Malaysia and the US, including different attitudes regarding freedom of expression, the rights and powers of the state versus those of the individual, and different attitudes toward ...
It's been said he cried repeatedly during the filming and there were certain scenes he literally couldn't watch. “Schindler's List” is a great movie yet understandably hard to watch. It's disturbing and emotionally draining. But it's also a film of immense power and deep sincerity.
Schindler's List, released 30 years ago, remains Steven Spielberg's most highly acclaimed and emotionally sapping film. Winning seven Academy Awards, including best picture and best director, it was widely praised for its portrayal of the horrors of the Holocaust.
To prepare for the viewing of Schindler's List, this lesson asks students to consider a key theme embodied in a quote from the film—“Whoever saves one life, saves the world entire.” This phrase is dedicated to Schindler towards the end of the film by a group of Jewish men, women and children whom he saved.
Schindler's List also won Academy Awards for Art Direction-Set Decoration (Allan Starski and Ewa Braun), Cinematography (Janusz Kaminski), Directing (Steven Spielberg), Film Editing (Michael Kahn), Music – Original Score (John Williams), and Writing – Screenplay based on material previously produced or published ( ...
They are shot at point blank range, children are slaughtered, many more are killed in gas chambers. It is the kind of violence that stays with one for a long time. It is VERY, very disturbing because it is not only graphic, but also very realistic.
Though Keneally used documentation available at the time, as well as interviews with multiple Holocaust survivors to research his book, it is a work of historical fiction.
Her red coat suggests the “red flag” the Jews waved at the Allied powers during World War II as a cry for help. The little girl walks through the violence of the evacuation as if she can't see it, ignoring the carnage around her. Her oblivion mirrors the inaction of the Allied powers in helping to save the Jews.
This film as a whole pulls absolutely no punches in its graphic depiction of the Holocaust, not to mention that it delves deeply into the horrors of war. Because of its grisly subject matter and hauntingly tragic tone, it can be emotionally taxing and difficult to watch.
“Whoever saves one life, saves the world entire.” Schindler's List is to be considered a classic and definitely worth reading, especially if you are interested in the history of the Second World War.
Spielberg insisted on shooting Schindler's List in monochrome as he did not want to beautify the Holocaust in any way. In a 2024 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, he recalled the backlash he received from Universal Pictures, who were already concerned about the film's box office prospects due to its grim subject.
(Ostensibly “cheap labour,” Schindler paid their salaries to the SS.) In the fall of that year the Płaszów work camp opened nearby, and by February 1943 it was under the command of the notoriously sadistic SS officer Amon Göth, who would be executed after the war.
In a recent interview, Spielberg spoke about the poignant ending, in which the action moves to the present day and shows some of the real people helped by Schindler, and the actors portraying them, visiting Schindler's grave in Jerusalem and placing stones upon it as a mark of respect.
The horrifying scene where human corpses are cremated at the Hujova Gorka in Płaszów, and Schindler, shocked, wipes the ashes off the wheel of his car as if they were falling snow. One of the SS men makes scary faces at the Jews carrying the corpses to the fire and laughs.
In an unprecedented move, when this film was broadcast on US television by NBC in 1997, it was, at Steven Spielberg's insistence, shown nearly uncensored (a sex scene was slightly edited) with all violence and nudity intact. It was the first program to air with the then new "TV-M" (now "TV-MA") rating.
Schindler's List won seven awards, including Best Picture. Other winners included Jurassic Park and The Piano with three awards, Philadelphia with two, and The Age of Innocence, Belle Époque, Defending Our Lives, The Fugitive, I Am a Promise: The Children of Stanton Elementary School, Mrs.
Harrison Ford was the first choice for the title role, but declined, saying that some people would not be able to look past his Indiana Jones persona to see the importance of the film.
Thirty years ago, Schindler's List, directed by the illustrious Steven Spielberg, debuted in theaters across the United States. It not only was the most consequential English-language movie about the Holocaust up to that point but also shaped filmmaking and public consciousness of the genocide for years to come.
