#01 - SCHINDLER'S LIST
The list is life.
Schindler's List
1993
Director: Steven Spielberg
Starring: Liam Neeson, Ben Kingsley, Ralph Fiennes
Ah, we have come to the end. Counted the films down, one by one, day by day, finally getting to the #1 movie on my list... which might come as a surprise to some, given my penchant for fangirly flailing over other movies. Bergman, Kubrick, film noir, IKWIG, LOTR - I flail over these. I don't really flail over Schindler's List. And yet, nothing, no film could ever possibly replace Schindler's List as my #1 All-Time Favorite Movie Forever and Ever.
Pourquoi? Why does this movie have an irrevocable spot at the top? It's all because it was The Right Movie at The Right Time.
In early 1994, I was a freshman in high school, just 14 years old. My dad's a movie buff, and he routinely took my sister and I to the cinemas, sometimes she and I together, sometimes just me and my dad. I have fond memories of seeing Benny and Joon with my dad over the summer. The next year, he even took me to see Pulp Fiction - that's right, my DAD took me to see a Tarantino flick when I was 15! He firmly believed that ratings shouldn't be blindly adhered to, but used as a guideline instead. He knew there was a difference between an R-rated movie that was appropriate for younger kids and an R-rated movie that should be avoided until someone's 17.
I give my father all the credit in the world. He knew that, despite the graphic nature of the film, the violence in Schindler's List was of a different nature than a random action movie. He knew that I could handle it, he knew that I could deal with the subject material. He knew it would be alright to take his 14-year-old daughter and her friend to see Schindler's List.
It wasn't before long that I realized this movie was no MGM musical. It was harsh. It was shocking. It was graphic. It was horrifying. It was everything I had never seen in movies before. And then, by the end of the film, it was uplifting. It was sad, but it was celebratory in the finale.
I had never - NEVER - seen a movie like this.
I cried, really cried, in the theater. By the time the movie got to Oskar Schindler's farewell speech - "This pin - two people. I could have gotten more people!" - I was a wreck, I mean seriously, a wreck.
The whole car ride home I was silent. I was thinking, thinking, thinking about what I had just seen. It was the only time in my life where I wanted to write to a celebrity. I wanted to write to Steven Spielberg and thank him for making the movie. I almost did, too, I just didn't know where to send the letter. It was all I could think about for a solid three days. Nothing got the images from the film out of my mind.
Prior to Schindler's List movies were movies. They were entertainment of the MGM Musical variety. No offense to MGM Musicals, but they aren't exactly soul-wrenching commentaries on the ills of all humanity.
I thought movies were just for fun.
Schindler's List was the first movie that showed me that movies - films, actually - can be so much more.
Everything changed after Schindler's List. I started seeking out "heavier" films, started appreciating dramas more. It single-handedly paved the way for me to understand why Pulp Fiction was a more worthy film than Forrest Gump. I would never have been able to get into film if the right movie hadn't hit at the right time. Schindler's List was the right movie at the right time.
Schindler's List got me into the Oscars. I was so passionate about the film that I watched the awards for the first time ever that year. I was overjoyed when it won Best Picture. I have faithfully watched the Oscars every year since; Schindler's List was the first. I don't know if I would be so Oscar-crazy if it wasn't for that movie and that experience.
I've only seen this movie three times, and not for about seven years now. I want to watch it again, but it's a difficult movie to watch. There's so much it's almost too much, and the weight of the depravity is only made greater by the fact that this was all real, this all really happened. It's not a happy movie. The performances are amazing; I still think Ralph Fiennes was robbed of a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his psychotic turn as Amon Goeth. Ben Kingsley as Itzhak Stern was amazing, and Liam Neeson as Oskar Schindler broke my heart. The black and white photography is gorgeous and frightening. It's a fantastic film.
Perhaps another movie would have come along at a later point and had a similar effect on me. Perhaps. Perhaps not. There's no telling, really, because it WAS Schindler's List, the movie that blew my mind and opened my eyes to what art could really accomplish.
I truly consider my love of film to be Pre-Schindler's List and Post-Schindler's List. It was a defining point for me, not only in my love of cinema, but in my life. Nothing else, no other movie, no other movie experience can dethrone it.
Schindler's List, always and forever #1.
Schindler's List
1993
Director: Steven Spielberg
Starring: Liam Neeson, Ben Kingsley, Ralph Fiennes
Ah, we have come to the end. Counted the films down, one by one, day by day, finally getting to the #1 movie on my list... which might come as a surprise to some, given my penchant for fangirly flailing over other movies. Bergman, Kubrick, film noir, IKWIG, LOTR - I flail over these. I don't really flail over Schindler's List. And yet, nothing, no film could ever possibly replace Schindler's List as my #1 All-Time Favorite Movie Forever and Ever.
Pourquoi? Why does this movie have an irrevocable spot at the top? It's all because it was The Right Movie at The Right Time.
In early 1994, I was a freshman in high school, just 14 years old. My dad's a movie buff, and he routinely took my sister and I to the cinemas, sometimes she and I together, sometimes just me and my dad. I have fond memories of seeing Benny and Joon with my dad over the summer. The next year, he even took me to see Pulp Fiction - that's right, my DAD took me to see a Tarantino flick when I was 15! He firmly believed that ratings shouldn't be blindly adhered to, but used as a guideline instead. He knew there was a difference between an R-rated movie that was appropriate for younger kids and an R-rated movie that should be avoided until someone's 17.
I give my father all the credit in the world. He knew that, despite the graphic nature of the film, the violence in Schindler's List was of a different nature than a random action movie. He knew that I could handle it, he knew that I could deal with the subject material. He knew it would be alright to take his 14-year-old daughter and her friend to see Schindler's List.
It wasn't before long that I realized this movie was no MGM musical. It was harsh. It was shocking. It was graphic. It was horrifying. It was everything I had never seen in movies before. And then, by the end of the film, it was uplifting. It was sad, but it was celebratory in the finale.
I had never - NEVER - seen a movie like this.
I cried, really cried, in the theater. By the time the movie got to Oskar Schindler's farewell speech - "This pin - two people. I could have gotten more people!" - I was a wreck, I mean seriously, a wreck.
The whole car ride home I was silent. I was thinking, thinking, thinking about what I had just seen. It was the only time in my life where I wanted to write to a celebrity. I wanted to write to Steven Spielberg and thank him for making the movie. I almost did, too, I just didn't know where to send the letter. It was all I could think about for a solid three days. Nothing got the images from the film out of my mind.
Prior to Schindler's List movies were movies. They were entertainment of the MGM Musical variety. No offense to MGM Musicals, but they aren't exactly soul-wrenching commentaries on the ills of all humanity.
I thought movies were just for fun.
Schindler's List was the first movie that showed me that movies - films, actually - can be so much more.
Everything changed after Schindler's List. I started seeking out "heavier" films, started appreciating dramas more. It single-handedly paved the way for me to understand why Pulp Fiction was a more worthy film than Forrest Gump. I would never have been able to get into film if the right movie hadn't hit at the right time. Schindler's List was the right movie at the right time.
Schindler's List got me into the Oscars. I was so passionate about the film that I watched the awards for the first time ever that year. I was overjoyed when it won Best Picture. I have faithfully watched the Oscars every year since; Schindler's List was the first. I don't know if I would be so Oscar-crazy if it wasn't for that movie and that experience.
I've only seen this movie three times, and not for about seven years now. I want to watch it again, but it's a difficult movie to watch. There's so much it's almost too much, and the weight of the depravity is only made greater by the fact that this was all real, this all really happened. It's not a happy movie. The performances are amazing; I still think Ralph Fiennes was robbed of a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his psychotic turn as Amon Goeth. Ben Kingsley as Itzhak Stern was amazing, and Liam Neeson as Oskar Schindler broke my heart. The black and white photography is gorgeous and frightening. It's a fantastic film.
Perhaps another movie would have come along at a later point and had a similar effect on me. Perhaps. Perhaps not. There's no telling, really, because it WAS Schindler's List, the movie that blew my mind and opened my eyes to what art could really accomplish.
I truly consider my love of film to be Pre-Schindler's List and Post-Schindler's List. It was a defining point for me, not only in my love of cinema, but in my life. Nothing else, no other movie, no other movie experience can dethrone it.
Schindler's List, always and forever #1.
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