"Whoever saves one life, saves the world entire."
Finally managed to finish Schindler's List. Actually, by having gotten through the first disc, I made it through the most soul-crushing parts of the film. Everything on disc 2 was practically happy in comparison. Nothing really awful happens, and for that my nervous system thanks whoever decided to break the film up that way.
The first half is... the awful half. The uninspiring, soul-crushing reminder that people are terrible sometimes for no good reason. Or good by an insane kind of logic that we should all fear falling victim to one day, because by nature we are prone to it. I'm not saying that we are all prone to believe insanity; but that no small part of us fears that insanity and will cower before it. I have no illusions: I know that I would live in fear to save myself before I did something courageous at the risk of dying. And even if not all of us would do so, there's a significant part of each of us that would.
The acting is quite phenomenal. I find it interesting(?) that big names play the major characters - Oskar Schindler, Itzak Stern, and Amon Goethe are all played by pretty major actors. Everyone else, however, had what appears to be a Jewish or German last name. The storytelling is comfortably subtle. While the end is a bit "preachy" - as it has a right to be, given it's subject matter - the story flows well and isn't overdone. You don't watch Oskar Schindler have his epiphany that leads to his decision to save 1,100 people from Auschwitz. It just happens. On the one hand you question it, because we're so used to seeing catalysts in stories that spur the protagonist's development. But in this film it happens over time and quietly, such that in one scene Schindler is trying to assure Stern that he will receive preferential treatment at Auschwitz and then in the next is buying people's freedom from Goethe.
I still maintain that it is not a movie for the faint-hearted, as it is aggressive in creating anxiety and fear in the viewer, and relentless in its re-creation of violence and betrayal. I could barely get through the first disc, but once I did, the second disc was much easier.
The first half is... the awful half. The uninspiring, soul-crushing reminder that people are terrible sometimes for no good reason. Or good by an insane kind of logic that we should all fear falling victim to one day, because by nature we are prone to it. I'm not saying that we are all prone to believe insanity; but that no small part of us fears that insanity and will cower before it. I have no illusions: I know that I would live in fear to save myself before I did something courageous at the risk of dying. And even if not all of us would do so, there's a significant part of each of us that would.
The acting is quite phenomenal. I find it interesting(?) that big names play the major characters - Oskar Schindler, Itzak Stern, and Amon Goethe are all played by pretty major actors. Everyone else, however, had what appears to be a Jewish or German last name. The storytelling is comfortably subtle. While the end is a bit "preachy" - as it has a right to be, given it's subject matter - the story flows well and isn't overdone. You don't watch Oskar Schindler have his epiphany that leads to his decision to save 1,100 people from Auschwitz. It just happens. On the one hand you question it, because we're so used to seeing catalysts in stories that spur the protagonist's development. But in this film it happens over time and quietly, such that in one scene Schindler is trying to assure Stern that he will receive preferential treatment at Auschwitz and then in the next is buying people's freedom from Goethe.
I still maintain that it is not a movie for the faint-hearted, as it is aggressive in creating anxiety and fear in the viewer, and relentless in its re-creation of violence and betrayal. I could barely get through the first disc, but once I did, the second disc was much easier.