Schindler's List [DVD]

This film is much longer than most movies out there, but scarcely a minute is wasted. Being a student of history adds so much context to the film, which I worry that some may not understand today.Spielberg has admittedly changed the characterization of some of the key figures, Schindler included; who right from the start knew full well what was happening in Germany and in Poland. With the aid of Stern, who is a vital figure in Schindler's effort, but also in real life Admiral Carusi and other sympathetic figures, Schindler would do more than what is pictured here to save what lives he could. Some omissions are to the film's credit, as knowing the full depth of the Nazi's cruelty, even in the figure of Amon Goethe, who was more terrible yet just as capricious in the flesh, would make what is already an emotional roller-coaster that much more difficult to watch.Knowing that was has transpired in a film is fictional can often dull the impact; making even gruesome events remote, mere spectacle or thrilling, allowing you space to think through what it means for the story. Here, you have little such luxury. While the interactions between characters are a dramatization, the knowledge that each event is almost blow for blow what did happen a little over eighty years prior makes Schindler's List a critical film to watch. Critical, not just for its history, but in the care and craft that Spielberg turns past terror into a narrative that gives you full appreciation for not just the events, but the people involved. It places you in their shoes, even if the transitions between the luxury the Nazis enjoyed with the pit-in-stomach knowledge that yes, it can get much worse, even if the characters don't realize it yet, can be harrowing. Yet it makes you care each step of the way.However difficult it may be to watch this film, I urge you to do so. It is said that the message of this film is that war reveals not the worst in people, but their true selves. Think carefully, given the shadow of war currently facing us, what truth you may express, should the worst happen.

This black & white movie tells a story that is horrifying, chilling and yet it is a must-see.. The cinematography has great contrasts and there is that singular color image of the young girl with her red jacket... Liam Neeson and Ben Kingsley are excellent as the "good guys." Ralph Fiennes as the evil Amon Goth Nazi with his sniper rifle is chilling. The lovely Embeth Davidtz as Helen Hirsch is a standout! Best I've ever seen her! / John Williams composed a brilliant score with the incredible Itzhak Perelman soloing on violin. Thank you, Mr. Spielberg!

All these descriptions fit Oskar Schindler, who saved 1100 Polish Jews from the Auschwitz ovens during the second World War.Before we get into a critique of the 20th Anniversary DVD of the 1993 movie, let's deal a bit in fact and fiction.Fiction: In his overly-sentimental, romantic way, director Steven Spielberg fudges some facts of the way the list developed and deals in some fantasies about the man Schindler himself.Fact: If you want a realistic account of the man Oskar Schindler and his wife Emile Schindler (whose role in all of this got short shrift from Spielberg in the movie) you should read the book: "Oskar Schindler: The Untold Account....................." by David Crowe. Crowe deals with the real Schindler and the real source of the list, plus Mrs. Schindler's outstanding role in affairs, both during and after the war.And now to a critique of the 20th Anniversary DVD movie.In the movie, Spielberg creates a legend of the saviour, Oskar Schindler, because he deserves it. (Schindler is portrayed by Liam Neeson.) The movie is shot in black and white without the brilliance of colour so that our sense of the stark, heart-rending facts are not diverted by our sense of colour. Only one scene shows any colour whatsoever, at the time the Krakow ghetto was being violently cleared out. A beautiful little girl is trotting along the side of the people being cruelly evacuated. Her coat is coloured red. This is a symbol of the blood shed on all of the innocents. The girl herself, although appearing as an innocent child just trotting along unknowingly, proves not to be that unknowing. She goes into a vacated apartment building, ascending to the top apartment, and hides under a bed. The innocence of the girl, then the knowledge of her destination, makes this a chilling scene.Oskar Schindler was born in Brinnlitz,, Czechoslovakia (now Czech Republic) just south of the Polish border. When the war broke out (September 1, 1939) and the Germans overran Poland, he made his way to Krakow, Poland, and opened a business which produced pots and pans and cutlery, his market being the German forces. In order to achieve his market,he goes through a lot of bribery with black market goods for the German higher-ups, a lot of procurement of willing women for them, a lot of orgies, a lot of bottles of excellent wines, and the procurement of other rare goods only available through the black market.After the Germans send residents of the Krakow ghetto to be gassed systematically in the death camp, Auschwitz, those still fit to work are sent to a concentration camp set up at Plawitz. The overseer is the sadistic Armon Goeth, who has a villa built on a hill above the camp and just for fun, sits up there on his balcony, randomly shooting unsuspecting Jewish interns walking around the camp. Following the war, Goeth was hung for war crimes. But while he was commandant, his greatest enjoyment - other than attending Oskar's orgiastic drunken parties - was random shooting of Jew, and/or beating up his Jewish maid.When the Germans were losing, with the Russians advancing from the East and the Allies advancing from the West, the concentration camp was closed down and all workers sent to Auschwitz. These were meant to include the Schindler Jews, who lived in the camp and worked at the Schindler factory during the day.Schindler and his erstwhile Jewish accountant, Isaac Stern, make up a list of all the workers in his factory, and include Goeth's maid. With a lot of bribing, Schindler gets his Jewish work force sent to him. However, through a cruel twist of fate, the women, in a separate train from the men, are sent to Auschwitz. Just as the Marines save the community at the last moment, Schindler, through more bribing (this time with diamonds) gets the women out of there and sent back to his factory. But because of the retreat of the Germans, Schindler's business is to be liquidated.So he returns to his home town of Brinnlitz, Czechoslovakia, and opens a plant there, producing munitions for the Germans. He is aware that the war is nearly over and tells Isaac Stern that if the plant ever produces ammunition, he will be sadly disappointed. At this point, Mrs. Schindler reappears in his life (she had left because he wouldn't give up his womanizing), a clinic is opened for the ill, and she does outstanding work in it (which is only alluded to in the movie).You'll want to see what happens to Schindler and the workers once the war ends and the Jews reward him in their everlasting gratitude.Oskar Schindler is saviour and hero to the 1100 survivors and, in 1993, their 6,000 descendants. This DVD includes interviews with some of those survivors, which is a feature which should not be missed.The very end of the movie switches to full colour. Scene: Israel; Oskar Schindler's grave; a parade to put a stone on his grave (an honour) by some of the 1100 whose lives were alluded to in the movie. Emile Schindler is there. The widow of Isaac Stern is there, accompanied by Ben Kingsley, who brilliantly portrays Isaac Stern in the movie. At the end of this scene, a tall, bearded shadow of a man places two roses on Schindler's grave. It is Steven Spielberg.If this scene does not bring tears to your eyes nothing ever will.I gave this movie five stars since the movie in itself is brilliant, one of the greats of all time. Through the story of the Krakow ghetto and the Schindler Jews (as they called themselves) Steven Spielberg presents a brilliant microcosm of the macrocosm of Jewish suffering at the hands of the Germans during the second World War. The elimination of six million Jews was the result of technology gone stark raving mad, the evil vision of one madmen which infected a whole nation.And Schindler, a deeply flawed human being, was still and always will be, a saviour.

a very good movie that highlights important things that went on during the holocaust. would recommend watching.

This is one of my favorite movies. I enjoy the way it was shot and put together. Basically it is about Oskar Schindler, a man who used enterprise and ended up saving the lives of many Jews during the Holocaust. Although seemingly motivated by money, Schindler's ingenuity for putting people to work in his industries and saving them from camps resulted in much more than profit. This movie has many wonderful characters. Ralph Fiennes was so chilling as Amon Goeth, if he were anymore in that character it may seem that the real person came back to life. It shows the horror of the Holocaust without sparing the details. I don't see too many Holocaust films that can encompass so many aspects in one film. I thought that was done very well and that the story remained interesting.

100 % OK Goede verzending van besteld item beantwoorde volledig aan de beschrijvingvan de verkoper ( uiterst tevreden ):-):-):-)

Steven Spielberg's most personal film about the attempt of a German industrialist to save 1,100 Jews from the gas chambers by cajoling, bribing, and manipulating the greedy, preening officers of the SS camp in which they worked. There are few subjects so in need of honourable treatment than the Holocaust of WWII and that might explain why there are precious few cinematic accounts out there. That one of the most moving came from the master of the big screen adventure is both unlikely and likely. Yes, he is better known for movies aimed at younger audiences that leave little if anything to the imagination (because he succeeds so completely in getting it all up there on screen) but by the early 90's, Steven Spielberg had already shown us he was capable of crafting touching broad-scale dramas with the likes of The Colour Purple. He had also demonstrated a cultured understanding of moviemaking with masterpieces like Jaws. That said, his experience with the 'in-your-face' cinematic techniques of the Hollywood emotional payoff is as much responsible for the effectiveness of this film as his more deft qualities. For the holocaust is a piece of history that requires in-your-face type confrontation. The cruelty and horror of what happened to the Jews needs to be shoved down our throats every now and then so we truly don't forget. Yes, the artistry of the more subtle scenes elevates this film to the echelons of cinematic greatness and that is edifying for its status as a film, and yes, the more mature examination of the complexities of cruelty, guilt, and mass hatred can culture our understanding of humanity. But it's the refusal to shy away from the raw horror of what happened that gives this film it's universal resonance and that is imperative.The result is a gruelling watch that will turn your face to stone yet in some small way do justice the suffering. Technically, there's barely a false note played from the set and costume design to the sound production. But standing out is without doubt Janusz Kaminisk's stunningly lit monochromatic photography. Spielberg's use of his work here is nothing short of sublime from the moment he introduces his main character to the his final scene. In retrospect it seems now that nobody could inhabit this carefully constructed space better than Liam Neeson. He brings all the gravitas of an A-lister to the film but with the daring of an actor who has had to work for a living. It's a tightrope of a turn that requires capturing all the ego, manipulation, caring, and bravery of the man. As his right hand man, Itzhak Stern, Ben Kingsley is beyond praise. Ralph Fiennes is to be eternally commended too for giving what could've (and may well have been in reality) a mono-dimensionally evil character enough layers to not excuse his actions (and those of many others like him), but to attempt to explain them.However, whether the conversation be the acting, the editing, or John Williams deeply moving score, one always comes back to the director. It may have been a personal project but that in no way comprises his clarity. Despite the broad scale of both the story and the emotions it evokes, Schindler's List is as focused a work as anything that has graced the medium and made with a level of skill that at times is breathtaking. The varied manner and innumerable methods that Spielberg uses to lay bare the cruelty and indignity with which the Jews were treated is as chilling as it is ingenious and it's through these contrasts or critical junctures between the surreal and real that this indictment and essential analysis of one race's inhumanity to another is enacted. And while one race in particular will be forever under scrutiny for these actions, the film's greatest achievement is that it rises above the primal tendency to point fingers. That Spielberg chooses a German to be the hero in this tale is of course his essential message – the Jewish Holocaust was and is a human problem not a German one.

Danke

Un ottimo film che racconta in maniera estremamente realista la tragedia della Shoah, che però vide episodi pure molto peggiori ed anche se in questo caso un Tedesco, un industriale avventuriero, ma di certo anche molto arguto e coraggioso, Oscar Schindler, ne salvò 1.100 in Polonia durante la Seconda Guerra Mondiale e che oggi con i loro discendenti, circa 6.000, superano tutti gli Ebrei tuttora esistenti in Polonia, circa 4.000! Un capolavoro da 7 Premi Oscar del solito ottimo ed eclettico Regista Spielberg, restituito con un perfetto video ed audio in formato DVD, in questo caso anche con una preziosa custodia esternamente metallica. Un film storico di guerra sull'episodio più tragico della Seconda Guerra Mondiale, senza per questo dimenticare lo sterminio anche, e non solo, di 12.000.000 di Civili Russi, oltre che di 12.000.000 di Soldati Russi in parte morti in combattimento ed in parte morti in disumana sterminatrice prigionia! Un film immancabile nella propria cineteca riguardo ai film storici sulla Seconda Guerra Mondiale.

Great movie