Long film, short review

Schindler’s List (1993)

Adam’s rating: ★★★★  (out of 5)

Director: Steven Spielberg

Rated: R. 195 min.

No. 9 on AFI 100

No. 8 on AFI 100 reissue

No. 6 on IMDB Top 250

Starring: Liam Neeson, Ben Kingsley,
Ralph Fiennes

"Schindler's List": No. 9 on AFI 100;
No. 8 on AFI 100 (2007); No. 6 on IMDB Top 250

Eighteen years later and a movie that pretty much everyone has seen, there’s not much I can say about this film. It’s my opinion that this is one of Steven Spielberg’s two masterpieces in filmmaking and a very important landmark culturally and historically as the film serves as a graphic and best portrayal of the atrocities the Nazis committed in World War II.

It’s a very somber and serious film that is extremely moving and stirs up several emotions in me when I watch it. The film can be very emotionally draining and is one that should not be taken lightly. And for that I applaud the film.

However, the only criticism I can come up with for this film is asking the question(s): Is this film held in such high regard because of its subject matter and the seriousness of the film? Is this film truly deserving of such praise and a high ranking on “the lists”? Because critically speaking, I feel that aspects of this film are overlooked because everyone has seen it; everyone has liked it; and it is held in such high regard because of its serious subject matter – and because it’s quite possibly the greatest depiction of genocide, which thankfully the vast majority of us have never been exposed to first-hand. 

While I believe this film is offered a free pass, to some extents, because of the subject matter it deals with and the seriousness of it all, I also feel strongly that this is one of the best, and most powerful films, I have ever seen. 

And, it’s one of the more important films made in American cinema and for that reason, it is a must see for everyone.