2008 Woodie Awards
Schindler's List
Kyle Martinak
Issue date: 5/2/08 Section: Culture
By Kyle Martinak
Culture Reporter
There is precious little space reserved in this issue of the Journal for what I think about "Schindler's List." I find myself up at night, wondering how my life will continue after seeing this film.
Have you ever had to cover your eyes because of something in a movie? Did someone comfort you by saying, "It's only a movie," and did you feel better? Regrettably, I had no such comfort, as the events in this film were true, and I felt obligated to watch it despite my disgust, pain and real tears.
The film tells the story of Oskar Schindler, a failing business man and member of the Nazi party during World War II. Over the course of the war, Schindler grows rich as a war profiteer who uses enslaved Jews from the ghettos and concentration camps as labor. Soon, Schindler uses his new economic power to try to save his Jewish workers from torture, starvation and death at the hands of his own Nazi comrades.
The film was a living, breathing thing from the very beginning thanks to the acting. Liam Neeson portrays Schindler, and does so as truthfully and accurately as possible. Schindler is not presented as a saint, or even as a savior. Neeson plays him as what he was in reality. Schindler was a smarmy, womanizing, sharp-dressed clown who was amused with himself. The performance from Neeson is astounding as Schindler transforms from a despicable schmoozer into a person with truly nuanced emotions and regrets. A chilling performance also comes from Ralph Fiennes, who played Amon Goeth, the commander of the concentration camp. Fiennes always plays evil men brilliantly, but his turn as Goeth reveals something far more frightening than an evil man. Fiennes gives the film the necessarily chilling hatred and efficient, obedient destruction that gripped me for all 195 minutes.
The script by Steven Zaillian, adapted from the novel by Thomas Keneally, is a work of art. The dialogue is accurate for the time and setting, and yet it shows sophistication that only recent films have developed. It was ambitious of Zaillian to keep running subplots for more than thirty characters, many of which had few or no lines as Jewish prisoners. While such ambition could have confused and confounded an audience, it was very skillfully done from beginning to end.
Culture Reporter
There is precious little space reserved in this issue of the Journal for what I think about "Schindler's List." I find myself up at night, wondering how my life will continue after seeing this film.
Have you ever had to cover your eyes because of something in a movie? Did someone comfort you by saying, "It's only a movie," and did you feel better? Regrettably, I had no such comfort, as the events in this film were true, and I felt obligated to watch it despite my disgust, pain and real tears.
The film tells the story of Oskar Schindler, a failing business man and member of the Nazi party during World War II. Over the course of the war, Schindler grows rich as a war profiteer who uses enslaved Jews from the ghettos and concentration camps as labor. Soon, Schindler uses his new economic power to try to save his Jewish workers from torture, starvation and death at the hands of his own Nazi comrades.
The film was a living, breathing thing from the very beginning thanks to the acting. Liam Neeson portrays Schindler, and does so as truthfully and accurately as possible. Schindler is not presented as a saint, or even as a savior. Neeson plays him as what he was in reality. Schindler was a smarmy, womanizing, sharp-dressed clown who was amused with himself. The performance from Neeson is astounding as Schindler transforms from a despicable schmoozer into a person with truly nuanced emotions and regrets. A chilling performance also comes from Ralph Fiennes, who played Amon Goeth, the commander of the concentration camp. Fiennes always plays evil men brilliantly, but his turn as Goeth reveals something far more frightening than an evil man. Fiennes gives the film the necessarily chilling hatred and efficient, obedient destruction that gripped me for all 195 minutes.
The script by Steven Zaillian, adapted from the novel by Thomas Keneally, is a work of art. The dialogue is accurate for the time and setting, and yet it shows sophistication that only recent films have developed. It was ambitious of Zaillian to keep running subplots for more than thirty characters, many of which had few or no lines as Jewish prisoners. While such ambition could have confused and confounded an audience, it was very skillfully done from beginning to end.
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