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In the years since its release, ''Schindler's List'' has risen in status to be regarded as one of the greatest movies of the 1990's and of all time. It is also considered to be Steven Spielberg's greatest directorial accomplishment by many viewers and critics: the former vote it consistently among the top ten movies on the [[Internet Movie Database|Internet Movie Database Top 250]], while the latter voted it #9 in the [[American Film Institute]]'s [[AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies]] series. In addition, the [[American Film Institute]] voted Liam Neeson's Schindler as the 13th greatest movie hero of all time, while Ralph Fiennes' Göth was voted the 15th greatest villain in the [[AFI's 100 Years... 100 Heroes and Villains]] series. In 2006 it was selected as the 3rd most inspiring movie of all time by AFI's 100 Years... 100 Cheers. In 2004, the [[Library of Congress]] deemed the film "culturally significant" and selected it for preservation in the [[National Film Registry]].
In the years since its release, ''Schindler's List'' has risen in status to be regarded as one of the greatest movies of the 1990's and of all time. It is also considered to be Steven Spielberg's greatest directorial accomplishment by many viewers and critics: the former vote it consistently among the top ten movies on the [[Internet Movie Database|Internet Movie Database Top 250]], while the latter voted it #9 in the [[American Film Institute]]'s [[AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies]] series. (The next highest film from the 1990s on the AFI list was "[[Silence of the Lambs]]" at #65.). In addition, the [[American Film Institute]] voted Liam Neeson's Schindler as the 13th greatest movie hero of all time, while Ralph Fiennes' Göth was voted the 15th greatest villain in the [[AFI's 100 Years... 100 Heroes and Villains]] series. In 2006 it was selected as the 3rd most inspiring movie of all time by AFI's 100 Years... 100 Cheers. In 2004, the [[Library of Congress]] deemed the film "culturally significant" and selected it for preservation in the [[National Film Registry]].


Initial critical reception was overwhelmingly positive, as Schindler's List was widely lauded as not just a rare achievement of movie-making but a significant cultural event. The film was the first to depict the Holocaust in an unblinking, explicit fashion. In addition to its compelling dramatic themes, Schindler's List was viewed by high-school classes throughout the country to impress the horrors of the Holocaust and serve as fodder for discussion of anti-Semitic attitudes ranging from mild suspicion to overt violence. In the United States, the viewing of the movie was often presented as a form of moral obligation among both Gentiles and Jews. The movie's status among American Jews was parodied in an episode of the television program [[Seinfeld]], in which Jerry and his girlfriend, reunited after an absence, cannot keep their hands off each other in a theater screening of Schindler's List. After his parents are informed by a treacherous witness ([[Newman]] played by [[Wayne Knight]]), Jerry's mother incredulously and repeatedly asks: "You were making out during ''Schindler's LIST''?!?"
Initial critical reception was overwhelmingly positive, as Schindler's List was widely lauded as not just a rare achievement of movie-making but a significant cultural event. The film was the first to depict the Holocaust in an unblinking, explicit fashion. In addition to its compelling dramatic themes, Schindler's List was viewed by high-school classes throughout the country to impress the horrors of the Holocaust and serve as fodder for discussion of anti-Semitic attitudes ranging from mild suspicion to overt violence. In the United States, the viewing of the movie was often presented as a form of moral obligation among both Gentiles and Jews. The movie's status among American Jews was parodied in an episode of the television program [[Seinfeld]], in which Jerry and his girlfriend, reunited after an absence, cannot keep their hands off each other in a theater screening of Schindler's List. After his parents are informed by a treacherous witness ([[Newman]] played by [[Wayne Knight]]), Jerry's mother incredulously and repeatedly asks: "You were making out during ''Schindler's LIST''?!?"


Heading into the 1993 Academy Awards (presented in March 1994), Schindler's List was arguably the most solid lock for Best Picture in the history of the Oscars. Schindler's List won seven Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director. Liam Neeson and Ralph Fiennes were nominated for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor, but did not win.
Heading into the 1993 Academy Awards (presented in March 1994), Schindler's List was viewed by Oscar enthusiasts and predictors as a "lock." Schindler's List won seven Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director. Liam Neeson and Ralph Fiennes were nominated for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor, but did not win.


In addition, Schindler's List also featured on a number of other "best of" lists, including the [[Time magazine top 100|''Time'' magazine's Top Hundred]] as selected by critics [[Richard Corliss]] and [[Richard Schickel]], ''[[Time Out]]'' magazine's 100 Greatest Films Centenary Poll conducted in 1995, [[Roger Ebert]]'s "Great Movies"' series, and [[Leonard Maltin]]'s "100 Must See Movies of the Century". In 1998, the American Film Institute placed Schindler's List as number 9 on its list of the 100 best movies in cinematic history. The list did not feature another movie released after 1990 until number 65, 1991's Silence of the Lambs.
In addition, Schindler's List also featured on a number of other "best of" lists, including the [[Time magazine top 100|''Time'' magazine's Top Hundred]] as selected by critics [[Richard Corliss]] and [[Richard Schickel]], ''[[Time Out]]'' magazine's 100 Greatest Films Centenary Poll conducted in 1995, [[Roger Ebert]]'s "Great Movies"' series, and [[Leonard Maltin]]'s "100 Must See Movies of the Century".


As with most movies that receive such acclaim, some critics have attempted to knock Schindler's List from its pedestal. Most criticized, even among fans, was Schindler's final scene, in which he attempts to flee from the encroaching Soviet army, but breaks down upon realizing that he could have sold possessions such as his car and his gold ring in exchange for taking on more "workers" and saving their lives. The scene is conspicuously melodramatic especially as it comes on the heels of a decidedly unsentimental movie, and is often considered to be a weak point.{{Fact|date=February 2007}} Spielberg himself has acknowledged that the scene bordered on the melodramatic, but defended it by explaining that he simply felt that the movie's grimness needed to be mitigated by a heartfelt and emotional scene.{{Fact|date=February 2007}}
Despite the accolades, there have been some critiques of the film. Most criticized, even among fans, was Schindler's final scene, in which he attempts to flee from the encroaching Soviet army, but breaks down upon realizing that he could have sold possessions such as his car and his gold ring in exchange for taking on more "workers" and saving their lives. The scene is conspicuously melodramatic especially as it comes on the heels of a decidedly unsentimental movie, and is often considered to be a weak point.{{Fact|date=February 2007}} Spielberg himself has acknowledged that the scene bordered on the melodramatic, but defended it by explaining that he simply felt that the movie's grimness needed to be mitigated by a heartfelt and emotional scene.{{Fact|date=February 2007}}


Some viewers offered a more extensive criticism of the movie; namely, that despite its graphic depiction of the Holocaust, the premise of Schindler's List was sugarcoated by relying on a story of salvation amid an event in which many more were not saved. Stanley Kubrick notably remarked that "'Schindler's List' is about 1,000 people who lived; the Holocaust is about six million people who died." Kubrick made this remark, however, while still intending to release a Holocaust-related film of his own. Supporters of Schindler's List defended the movie on the grounds that (i) despite the story of Schindler's successful protection of 1,100 Jews, the movie does not flinch from showing both the senselessness and the extent of the Nazi genocide; and (ii) it is debatable whether a movie that focused solely on the six million Jews who died could be compelling without a plot strand featuring individual characters.{{Fact|date=February 2007}}
Some viewers offered a more extensive criticism of the movie; namely, that despite its graphic depiction of the Holocaust, the premise of Schindler's List was sugarcoated by relying on a story of salvation amid an event in which many more were not saved. Stanley Kubrick notably remarked that "'Schindler's List' is about 1,000 people who lived; the Holocaust is about six million people who died." (It should be noted, though, that Kubrick made this remark while still intending to release a Holocaust-related film of his own, though that movie never materialized.) Supporters of Schindler's List defended the movie on the grounds that (i) despite the story of Schindler's successful protection of 1,100 Jews, the movie does not flinch from showing both the senselessness and the extent of the Nazi genocide; and (ii) it is debatable whether a movie that focused solely on the six million Jews who died could be compelling without a plot strand featuring individual characters.{{Fact|date=February 2007}}


Following the critical and box office success of the film, Spielberg founded and continues to finance the [[Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation]], a [[non-profit]] organization with the goal of providing an archive for the filmed testimony of as many survivors of the Holocaust as possible, so that their stories will not be lost in the future.{{Fact|date=February 2007}}
Following the critical and box office success of the film, Spielberg founded and continues to finance the [[Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation]], a [[non-profit]] organization with the goal of providing an archive for the filmed testimony of as many survivors of the Holocaust as possible, so that their stories will not be lost in the future.{{Fact|date=February 2007}}

Revision as of 02:35, 15 February 2007

Schindler's List
Directed bySteven Spielberg
Written byScreenplay by Steven Zaillian Based on Schindler's Ark by Thomas Keneally
Produced bySteven Spielberg
Kathleen Kennedy
Branko Lustig
Gerald R. Molen
Lew Rywin
Irving Glovin
Robert Raymond
StarringLiam Neeson
Ben Kingsley
Ralph Fiennes
Caroline Goodall
Jonathan Sagalle
Embeth Davidtz
CinematographyJanusz Kaminski
Edited byMichael Kahn
Music byJohn Williams
Distributed byUniversal Pictures
Release dates
December 15, 1993
Running time
195 min
CountryUSA
LanguageEnglish
Budget$25,000,000
Box officeDomestic
$96,065,768
Foreign
$225,200,000
Worldwide
$321,265,768

Schindler's List is an Academy Award, Golden Globe, BAFTA and Grammy winning 1993 movie based on the book Schindler's Ark by Thomas Keneally, published in the United States as Schindler's List and subsequently re-issued in Commonwealth countries under that name as well. The movie, adapted by Steven Zaillian and directed by Steven Spielberg, relates the tale of Oskar Schindler, a Sudeten-German Catholic businessman who was instrumental in saving the lives of over one thousand Polish Jews during the Holocaust. The title refers to a list of the names of 1,100 Jews whom Schindler hired to work in his factory and kept from being sent to the Nazi concentration camps.

Schindler's List is consistently ranked amongst the finest movies of all time. It is currently ranked as 9th best film by the American Film Institute [1], and, as of December 21, 2006, rated number seven on the top 250 films on the Internet Movie Database with an 8.8/10 rating [2].

Taglines: "Whoever saves one life, saves the world entire." "The List Is Life."

Plot

Template:Spoiler The movie begins with the lighting of two candles in a dark room. A Hasidic family prays with the father singing the benediction. Following the prayer, the candles burn down completely, with smoke fading and turning into the smoke from a locomotive's smokestack.

It is September, 1939. The Polish Army has been defeated by the Germans in just over a month, starting World War II in Europe. Jews living in occupied Poland are ordered to relocate to population centers. The film's action starts with crowds of Jews from all over the country, Hasidic, assimilated, rich, and poor, being detained in Kraków, and submitting their names to German officials waiting on the station platforms with typewriters and lists.

As this is happening, Oskar Schindler arrives in Kraków as an unsuccessful businessman from Czechoslovakia, and has come with the hope of using the now abundant slave labor force of Jews and Poles to manufacture goods for the German Army. Schindler makes a very good impression with the occupying authorities early on, being a member of the Nazi Party and lavishing gifts and bribes upon the army and SS officials now running southern Poland. He becomes a friend to the SS and Police Leader of Kraków, Julian Scherner, and quickly calls in favors as he begins to establish himself as a businessman in the region.

With military sponsors in his back pocket, he sets out to acquire a factory for the production of enamelware, mainly for cookery. He is told he must manufacture goods such as pots, pans, and cooking materials for the war effort. Because he has no money to buy the factory and its machinery, and his administrative skills are dubious at best, he gains a contact in Itzhak Stern, a functionary in the local Judenrat (Jewish Council) who in turn has contacts with the now underground Jewish business community. Schindler makes the businessmen a deal they cannot refuse: they will loan him the money for the factory, and he will give them a small share of the pots and pans produced, for trade on the black market outside the Kraków ghetto. He takes particular pleasure in telling them that they must take him at his word, and that no court would ever uphold a contract between a German and a Jew.

Schindler gets his money and opens the factory. He pleases the Nazis and enjoys his new-found wealth, while Stern handles all administration and uses his position to help his fellow Jews, who have now been confined to a ghetto within Kraków. Workers in Schindler's factory are allowed outside the ghetto, and are certified as "essential workers", guaranteeing that they will not be rounded up at night by the Gestapo. This last point is key, and Stern uses his considerable skills to make sure as many people as possible are deemed "essential" by the Nazi bureaucracy — even children, the elderly, and the infirmed: people who would otherwise be deported immediately. Schindler becomes aware of what is going on, and seems embarrassed by the whole arrangement, but takes no action to stop it.

Soon after, an SS officer named Amon Göth arrives in Kraków to initiate construction of a labor camp, Płaszów, and to assume control of the ghetto. Goth was memorably portrayed by Ralph Fiennes (in his first widely seen role) as a sociopath who compensates for his paunchy, unfit body, betraying a history of drink, by clinging tight to flattering Nazi notions of superior Aryan stock. Goth mixes his vanity with an attitude towards Jews that does not rise to hatred, as he perceives Jews not as human beings nor even as livestock, but closest to vermin, who can be killed casually for sport. In Goth's only extended monologue, he eagerly appeals to Schindler that the Jewish population is a "virus." In the first of two scenes establishing Goth's character, he is surveying the construction of a new building at a concentration camp, with a group of captive Jews nearby. A female Jewish engineer excitedly breaks the silence, urging that the concrete foundation for the barrack has been improperly laid, and must be redone. Goth silently listens to her advice, but unhesitantly has her shot in the head for her outburst. In the next breath, Göth orders that everything she requested be done, showing that despite his characterization of Jews as a "virus," he can selectively recognize an individual Jew's education and knowledge.

In due course, Göth razes the Kraków ghetto, sending in hundreds of troops to clear the cramped rooms and shooting anyone who cannot or will not leave. Schindler watches the massacre from the hills overlooking the area, and is profoundly affected. However, he now faces the more immediate problem of how to run his factory without his workers. He meets Göth and is careful to befriend him, but is visibly disturbed by Goth's practice of leaning out of his apartment window and firing his rifle to kill Jews at random, in a lazy and emotionless manner that suggests the shooting of vermin. Schindler keeps his disturbance private, and patiently feigns agreement with Goth's rambling statements. Having earned Goth's trust, Schindler convinces Goth to let him keep his workers for considerable bribes and payoffs. Schindler is now, though reluctantly, sheltering people who have very few skills in his factory.

During the liquidation of the ghetto, Schindler sees a little girl in a red coat, which is depicted in colour against the monochrome frame. Film critics and scholars have suggested the appearance of the girl in the red coat is a "marker" used by Spielberg to denote the transformation of Schindler's personality, whilst others believe her apparent indifference to the carnage around her as she walks through the streets to be symbolic of the rest of the world's lack of action over the Holocaust. The girl's first appearance catches Schindler's eye as he presumably confronts the fact that the Nazis seek to kill every Jew, even blameless little girls. Schindler sees the girl for a second time as her lifeless body is piled upon many others. He advances one step towards altruism, beginning to realize that he is obliged to save the lives of his workers. [3], [4]

In the labor camp, Spielberg shows the dehumanization of the Jewish prisoners, as they are made to strip naked and to run around the camp's central square while being assessed by their captors. Young and old are shown running for display, with the clear purpose being to separate those capable of labor from those who are too old, too young, or too frail, and will be gassed and disposed of. Despite this indication that the Jewish prisoners are to be treated similarly to livestock, the film portrays the inability of many Jews to truly believe that the Nazis will kill them, assuming instead that while the Nazi party may raid their wealth, genocide served no purpose. The conflict is evident when a prisoner suggests that the "unessential" Jews have been led off to be killed, but some of her audience rejects the idea claiming that it is ridiculous and illogical. One old woman exclaims, "We are their work force! Why would they want to kill their own work force?" As is supported by numerous accounts, many Jews continued to see their internment as yet another example of animosity towards the Jewish population, but one that would eventually end as the war ended.

File:030929.jpg
Schindler rescues one of his workers

To Amon Göth's considerable consternation, and to Schindler's horror, an order arrives from Berlin commanding Göth to exhume and destroy all bodies of those killed in the ghetto razing, dismantle Płaszów, and to ship the whole population to Auschwitz. He explains to Schindler that he is being asked to do this immediately, and it is the administrative burden that horrifies him, not the thought of having to destroy "every rag": "As soon as I can arrange the shipments, maybe thirty or forty days — that ought to be fun." Schindler prevails upon Göth to let him keep his workers, so that he can move them to a factory in his old home of Zwittau-Brinnlitz, in Moravia (now part of the Czech Republic), away from the Holocaust, now fully underway in Poland. Göth acquiesces, for a payoff of millions of Reichsmark. So that his workers can be kept off the trains to the killing centers, Schindler, with Stern, assembles a list of them.

"Schindler's List" comprises these "skilled" inmates, and for many of those in Płaszów camp, being on it means the difference between life and death. All the people on Schindler's list arrive safely at the new site — except that one of the trains carrying women is accidentally redirected to Auschwitz. Schindler rushes immediately to Auschwitz and stops their gassing. He bribes the camp commander, Rudolf Hoess, with a cache of diamonds. Hoess reluctantly agrees and the women are spared. Once the Schindler women arrive in Zwittau-Brinnlitz, Schindler institutes firm controls on the Nazi guards assigned to the factory, permits the Jews to observe the Sabbath, and spends the rest of his fortune bribing Nazi officials. He runs out of money just as the German army surrenders, ending the war in Europe.

As a German, a Nazi, and a self-described "profiteer of slave labor", Schindler must flee the oncoming Soviet Red Army. After dismissing the Nazi guards to return to their families, he packs a car in the night, and bids farewell to his workers. They give him a letter explaining his actions (and the fact that he is not a criminal), together with a ring engraved with the Talmudic quotation, "Whoever saves one life saves the world entire." Seeing his luxurious car, Schindler is consumed with guilt, realizing he could have bribed Göth for ten more Jews with it. He pulls the Nazi Party pin from his lapel, and cries, "This pin. Two people. This is gold. Two more people. He would have given me two for it, at least one. One more person. A person, Stern. For this." The Jews that he saved surround him, reaching out to comfort him with assuring words, "You have saved so many." He then leaves with his wife and what belongings he can carry, dressed in striped prisoner uniforms to appear like refugees.

The Schindler Jews, having slept outside the factory gates through the night, are awakened by sunlight the next morning. A Russian dragoon arrives and announces to the Jews that they have been liberated. The Jews walk to a nearby town to look for food. As they walk abreast, the frame changes to another of the Schindler Jews in the present day at the grave of Oskar Schindler in Israel.

The film ends by showing a procession of now-aged Jews who worked in Schindler's factory, who reverently set a stone on his grave. The actors portraying the major characters walk hand-in-hand with the actual persons they portrayed, placing stones on Schindler's grave as they pass. The camera pans to the left, revealing a long line of people consisting of not only those portrayed in the film but also their families. Ben Kingsley walks to the grave holding the hand of Itzhak Stern's widow.

The movie then imparts that the survivors and descendents of the approximately 1,100 Jews sheltered by Schindler now number over 6,000. It then mentions that the Jewish population of Poland, once numbering in the millions, was at the time of the film's 1993 release approximately 4,000.

In a final scene, a man places a rose on the grave, and stands contemplatively over it. Though many believe it to be director Steven Spielberg[citation needed], it is actually Liam Neeson, who portrayed Oskar Schindler in the film and is the only actor not present in the aforementioned line of people.

Cast

Actor Role
Liam Neeson Oskar Schindler
Ben Kingsley Itzhak Stern
Ralph Fiennes Amon Göth
Caroline Goodall Emilie Schindler
Jonathan Sagalle Poldek Pfefferberg
Pawel Delag Dolek Horowitz
Embeth Davidtz Helen Hirsch
Malgoscha Gebel Victoria Klonowska
Andrzej Seweryn Julian Scherner
Norbert Weisser Albert Hujar
Daniel Del Ponter Josef Mengele
Harry Nehring Leo John

Production

The girl in red

Roman Polanski was asked to direct the film. However, he passed on it, having survived the Kraków Ghetto himself. He felt it would be too personal, and would bring up too many hard memories that he was not prepared to deal with at the time. In 2002, he did direct a Holocaust-themed movie, The Pianist, which earned him an Oscar for Best Director. Martin Scorsese was another prospective director, but feeling it should be made by a Jewish director, he traded it to Spielberg in exchange for the rights to remake Cape Fear, which Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment produced. When Steven Spielberg finally signed on he refused payment for making this movie, saying that it would be like "taking blood money".

Steven Spielberg later spoke of the making of the movie as affecting him deeply.[citation needed] It is shot almost entirely in black and white (with a color prologue and epilogue, a red coat in two scenes, and color candle flames in another). It stars Liam Neeson as Oskar Schindler, Ben Kingsley as Itzhak Stern and Ralph Fiennes as Amon Göth. The publicity for the film used the tagline "Whoever saves one life saves the world entire" (a quote from the Talmud that is featured toward the end of the film). Critically acclaimed, the film won praise for depicting — often in exceptional, graphic detail — the horrifying brutality of the Holocaust.

Nominated for twelve Academy Awards, it won seven, including the coveted Best Picture and the Best Director award for Spielberg (his first, although he had previously received the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award). Composer and conductor John Williams also won the Academy Award for Original Music Score, which features violin solos by Israeli violinist Itzhak Perlman. Ralph Fiennes' performance earned him a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination. While he didn't get the Oscar, he did win the Best Supporting Actor BAFTA Award, which is the British equivalent.

Response

You must add a |reason= parameter to this Cleanup template – replace it with {{Cleanup|January 2007|reason=<Fill reason here>}}, or remove the Cleanup template.

In the years since its release, Schindler's List has risen in status to be regarded as one of the greatest movies of the 1990's and of all time. It is also considered to be Steven Spielberg's greatest directorial accomplishment by many viewers and critics: the former vote it consistently among the top ten movies on the Internet Movie Database Top 250, while the latter voted it #9 in the American Film Institute's AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies series. (The next highest film from the 1990s on the AFI list was "Silence of the Lambs" at #65.). In addition, the American Film Institute voted Liam Neeson's Schindler as the 13th greatest movie hero of all time, while Ralph Fiennes' Göth was voted the 15th greatest villain in the AFI's 100 Years... 100 Heroes and Villains series. In 2006 it was selected as the 3rd most inspiring movie of all time by AFI's 100 Years... 100 Cheers. In 2004, the Library of Congress deemed the film "culturally significant" and selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry.

Initial critical reception was overwhelmingly positive, as Schindler's List was widely lauded as not just a rare achievement of movie-making but a significant cultural event. The film was the first to depict the Holocaust in an unblinking, explicit fashion. In addition to its compelling dramatic themes, Schindler's List was viewed by high-school classes throughout the country to impress the horrors of the Holocaust and serve as fodder for discussion of anti-Semitic attitudes ranging from mild suspicion to overt violence. In the United States, the viewing of the movie was often presented as a form of moral obligation among both Gentiles and Jews. The movie's status among American Jews was parodied in an episode of the television program Seinfeld, in which Jerry and his girlfriend, reunited after an absence, cannot keep their hands off each other in a theater screening of Schindler's List. After his parents are informed by a treacherous witness (Newman played by Wayne Knight), Jerry's mother incredulously and repeatedly asks: "You were making out during Schindler's LIST?!?"

Heading into the 1993 Academy Awards (presented in March 1994), Schindler's List was viewed by Oscar enthusiasts and predictors as a "lock." Schindler's List won seven Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director. Liam Neeson and Ralph Fiennes were nominated for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor, but did not win.

In addition, Schindler's List also featured on a number of other "best of" lists, including the Time magazine's Top Hundred as selected by critics Richard Corliss and Richard Schickel, Time Out magazine's 100 Greatest Films Centenary Poll conducted in 1995, Roger Ebert's "Great Movies"' series, and Leonard Maltin's "100 Must See Movies of the Century".

Despite the accolades, there have been some critiques of the film. Most criticized, even among fans, was Schindler's final scene, in which he attempts to flee from the encroaching Soviet army, but breaks down upon realizing that he could have sold possessions such as his car and his gold ring in exchange for taking on more "workers" and saving their lives. The scene is conspicuously melodramatic especially as it comes on the heels of a decidedly unsentimental movie, and is often considered to be a weak point.[citation needed] Spielberg himself has acknowledged that the scene bordered on the melodramatic, but defended it by explaining that he simply felt that the movie's grimness needed to be mitigated by a heartfelt and emotional scene.[citation needed]

Some viewers offered a more extensive criticism of the movie; namely, that despite its graphic depiction of the Holocaust, the premise of Schindler's List was sugarcoated by relying on a story of salvation amid an event in which many more were not saved. Stanley Kubrick notably remarked that "'Schindler's List' is about 1,000 people who lived; the Holocaust is about six million people who died." (It should be noted, though, that Kubrick made this remark while still intending to release a Holocaust-related film of his own, though that movie never materialized.) Supporters of Schindler's List defended the movie on the grounds that (i) despite the story of Schindler's successful protection of 1,100 Jews, the movie does not flinch from showing both the senselessness and the extent of the Nazi genocide; and (ii) it is debatable whether a movie that focused solely on the six million Jews who died could be compelling without a plot strand featuring individual characters.[citation needed]

Following the critical and box office success of the film, Spielberg founded and continues to finance the Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation, a non-profit organization with the goal of providing an archive for the filmed testimony of as many survivors of the Holocaust as possible, so that their stories will not be lost in the future.[citation needed]

Differences from the book

There are several notable differences between the book and film:

  • The movie omits any reference to Oskar Schindler collecting guns for the Jews to defend themselves from the SS guards. There were two mentions of it in the book, one of them half a page long. It was described as an "independent arsenal" containing carbines and automatic weapons, some pistols, and hand grenades.
  • The movie places the Jews at the mercy of the guards at the end of the war, with Schindler calling on the humanity of the SS, with the Jews under the guns of the guards, who then turn away. In the book, Schindler had ensured the SS commander was sent away, as he was the only one of the SS detail who believed in the "Final Solution", and when the war was lost, Herr Schindler simply dismissed the guards, and they left.
  • The insane rages and cruelty of Amon Göth were not depicted in the movie to the extent they are in the book. Sometimes Göth would set his two dogs, Ralf and Rolf, upon prisoners, who would be torn apart. He would then shoot the victim in the head when he/she stopped moving.
  • The book describes Schindler's "escape" from a previously Nazi-occupied area soon after the war ends, accompanied by eight Jewish Schindler camp inmates who tag along for his protection. This entire journey is described along with an incident where they encounter a group of American soldiers, among them a rabbi who cries and hugs Schindler after reading the "letter of reference" given to him by those he saved. The book also traces the remainder of his life in Germany, beset by monetary difficulties and poor health. On several occasions he receives financial help from former "Schindler Jews". These sections have been avoided in the movie.
  • The scene in the movie where Schindler breaks down, wishing he could have saved more Jews by trading his remaining wealth, after the camp inmates present him with a memento does not appear in the book.
  • The movie shows Stern accidentally placed on the train, whereas in the book it is actually Bankier and other workers from the DEF.
  • According to a book review in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung of September 25, 2005, Mietek Pemper, an inmate who served as secretary to Amon Göth wrote the list. Historically, unlike the movie, "Schindler's list" was really Pemper's list. Pemper's first hand version of the events are recorded in the book Der rettende Weg (ISBN 3-455-09493-7).

Awards

Academy Awards

  • Best Picture - Kathleen Kennedy, Steven Spielberg, Gerald R. Molen
  • Best Director - Steven Spielberg
  • Best Music, Original Score - John Williams
  • Best Art Direction-Set Decoration - Allan Starski, Ewa Braun
  • Best Cinematography - Janusz Kaminski
  • Best Film Editing - Michael Kahn
  • Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium - Steven Zaillian

BAFTA Awards

  • Best Actor in a Supporting Role - Ralph Fiennes
  • Best Cinematography - Janusz Kaminski
  • Best Editing - Michael Kahn
  • Best Film - Steven Spielberg, Gerald R. Molen, Branko Lustig
  • Best Score - John Williams
  • Best Screenplay, Adapted - Steven Zaillian
  • David Lean Award for Direction - Steven Spielberg

Boston Society of Film Critics Awards

  • Best Cinematography - Janusz Kaminski
  • Best Director - Steven Spielberg
  • Best Film
  • Best Supporting Actor - Ralph Fiennes

Chicago Film Critics Association Awards

  • Best Cinematography - Janusz Kaminski
  • Best Director - Steven Spielberg
  • Best Picture
  • Best Screenplay - Steven Zaillian
  • Best Supporting Actor - Ralph Fiennes

Golden Globes, USA

  • Best Director, Motion Picture - Steven Spielberg
  • Best Motion Picture, Drama
  • Best Screenplay, Motion Picture - Steven Zaillian

Other Awards

  • Amanda Awards, Best Foreign Feature Film
  • Awards of the Japanese Academy, Best Foreign Film
  • BMI Film Music Award - John Williams
  • British Society of Cinematographers, Best Cinematography Award - Janusz Kaminski
  • CEC Award, Best Foreign Film
  • DFWFCA Award, Best Director - Steven Spielberg; Best Picture; Best Supporting Actor - Ralph Fiennes
  • DGA Award, Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures - Steven Spielberg
  • Evening Standard British Film Award, Best Actor - Ben Kingsley
  • Grammy, Best Instrumental Composition Written for a Motion Picture - John William
  • Hochi Film Award , Best Foreign Language Film
  • Humanitas Prize, Feature Film Category - Steven Zaillian
  • KCFCC Award, Best Director - Steven Spielberg; Best Film
  • Kinema Junpo Awards, Best Foreign Language Film
  • London Critics Circle Film Awards, British Actor of the Year - Ralph Fiennes; Director of the Year - Steven Spielberg; Film of the Year
  • LAFCA Award, Best Cinematography - Janusz Kaminski; Best Picture; Best Production Design - Allan Starski
  • Mainichi Film Concours, Best Foreign Language Film
  • Motion Picture Sound Editors, Best Sound Editing
  • NBR Award , Best Picture
  • NSFC Award, Best Cinematography - Janusz Kaminski; Best Director - Steven Spielberg; Best Film; Best Supporting Actor - Ralph Fiennes
  • NYFCC Award, Best Cinematography - Janusz Kaminski; Best Film; Best Supporting Actor - Ralph Fiennes
  • Nikkan Sports Film Award, Best Foreign Film
  • PGA Golden Laurel Awards, Motion Picture Producer of the Year Award
  • PFS Award, Human Rights
  • SEFCA Award, Best Picture
  • USC Scripter Award - Thomas Keneally (author), Steven Zaillian (screenwriter)
  • WGA Award (Screen), Best Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published - Steven Zaillian

1997 TV controversy

On Sunday, February 23, 1997, the film was shown on television in the United States, being carried by NBC with a pair of interrmissions by the Ford Motor Company (they consisted of the Ford logo on a black background, the film's soundtrack playing and a small clock indicating how long before the film resumes). Per Spielberg's insistence, it aired unedited and uncensored. The telecast was the first ever to receive a TV-M (now TV-MA) rating under the TV Parental Guidelines that had been established at the beginning of that year. Many fundamentalist and evangelical Christian groups, which had previously been squeamish about the movie [5], stridently objected to the film's being shown on network television at all, due to scenes of nudity, violence, and the use of vulgar language which were not edited out of the TV production. Senator Tom Coburn, then an Oklahoma congressman, stated that NBC, by airing the film, had brought television "to an all-time low, with full-frontal nudity, violence and profanity," adding that airing the film was an insult to "decent-minded individuals everywhere." Under fire from Democrats as well as fellow Republicans, Coburn apologized for his outrage, saying: "My intentions were good, but I've obviously made an error in judgment in how I've gone about saying what I wanted to say." He said he had reversed his opinion on airing the film, but qualified it ought to have been aired later at night, when, he said, "there are still large numbers of children watching without parental supervision." [6]

The film was re-broadcast on NBC on Sunday, March 14, 1999, also with two intermissions, this time by Metlife. In 2000 some PBS stations ran an uninterrupted broadcast.

MPAA

The film was rated R for "language, some sexuality and actuality violence" by the Motion Picture Association of America, making this the first Spielberg-directed feature film to be given an R rating (all previous Spielberg films were rated PG or PG-13).

See also

Preceded by BAFTA Award for Best Film
1994
Succeeded by