Editorial Review:

Amazon.com essential video:
Steven Spielberg had a banner year in 1993. He scored one of his biggest commercial hits that summer with the mega-hit Jurassic Park, but it was the artistic and critical triumph of Schindler's List that Spielberg called "the most satisfying experience of my career." Adapted from the best-selling book by Thomas Keneally and filmed in Poland with an emphasis on absolute authenticity, Spielberg's masterpiece ranks among the greatest films ever made about the Holocaust during World War II. It's a film about heroism with an unlikely hero at its center--Catholic war profiteer Oskar Schindler (Liam Neeson), who risked his life and went bankrupt to save more than 1,000 Jews from certain death in concentration camps.

By employing Jews in his crockery factory manufacturing goods for the German army, Schindler ensures their survival against terrifying odds. At the same time, he must remain solvent with the help of a Jewish accountant (Ben Kingsley) and negotiate business with a vicious, obstinate Nazi commandant (Ralph Fiennes) who enjoys shooting Jews as target practice from the balcony of his villa overlooking a prison camp. Schindler's List gains much of its power not by trying to explain Schindler's motivations, but by dramatizing the delicate diplomacy and determination with which he carried out his generous deeds.

As a drinker and womanizer who thought nothing of associating with Nazis, Schindler was hardly a model of decency; the film is largely about his transformation in response to the horror around him. Spielberg doesn't flinch from that horror, and the result is a film that combines remarkable humanity with abhorrent inhumanity--a film that functions as a powerful history lesson and a testament to the resilience of the human spirit in the context of a living nightmare. --Jeff Shannon

This movie needs to be seen by everyone, and the special features are just as good and informative as the movie. The movie is probably the highly of Spielberg's career. It is about Oscar Schindler who was a Nazi and who saved many Jews during the Holocaust. This movie is shown in black and white, which really draws the audience into the movie and the feel of the 1940s. The only color is a red coat on a little girl, which Spielberg does intentionally so pay attention to that. This is emotionally charged and I usually cry a great deal during this movie. It is an absolute must see by everyone. It is long but is worth it. If you only get one movie this year it should be this one! Amazing from start to finish.

Average Rating:

Rating: - A Classic and Must See
This movie needs to be seen by everyone, and the special features are just as good and informative as the movie. The movie is probably the highly of Spielberg's career. It is about Oscar Schindler who was a Nazi and who saved many Jews during the Holocaust. This movie is shown in black and white, which really draws the audience into the movie and the feel of the 1940s. The only color is a red coat on a little girl, which Spielberg does intentionally so pay attention to that. This is emotionally charged and I usually cry a great deal during this movie. It is an absolute must see by everyone. It is long but is worth it. If you only get one movie this year it should be this one! Amazing from start to finish.

Rating: - Review of Schindler's List
Schindler's List is a rarity in contemporary filmmaking. It delivers a heart-wrenching story with Oscar-worthy performances, while demanding a soul-examining response from the viewer. How many movies can make that claim? And while not overtly addressing religious themes, the film leaves no doubt as to the answer to that age-old question: Does evil exist?

Set against the backdrop of World War II Poland, and based on a true story, the movie follows the life of German businessman Oscar Schindler (Liam Neeson). Always the entrepreneur, Schindler hatches a plan to start a factory and outfit it with cheap, Jewish slave labor. His idea, while bankrupt in one sense, was anything but in a financial sense as he becomes quite wealthy. Along the way, however, Schindler begins to question the brutality and depravity of the German captors overseeing the prison camp. Spurred on by a silent, inner awakening, he begins a campaign to personally see to the safety of "his" Jews, those who worked in the factory for him. Aided by his loyal accountant Itzhak Stern (Ben Kingsley), Oscar figures a way to "buy" all 1100 of the workers from the camp Commandant Amon Goeth (Ralph Fiennes) and move them to safety. The plan ultimately is successful and the area is liberated by the Red Army soon after.

It must be noted of the cast how moving and riveting the performances are from top to bottom, but particularly that of Neeson as Oscar Schindler. His portrayal is instantly believable on all levels, as you feel personally involved in the events that transpire. Never before have I sat in such rapt attention, waiting to see where he would take me next.

One question that inevitably comes up amid any discussion of the Holocaust is that of where was God during this atrocity? How could He let so many of His people die? Among Jews in particular, the topic is especially sensitive. Some feel, such as survivor and noted author Eli Wiesel, that God abandoned the Jews, allowing the Holocaust in fact as some sort of punishment. Others though insist that God is still sovereign and that it is all part of his plan for the Jewish people.

In any event, Schindler's List is a must-see film that deals with a depressing and horrifying subject in the best way possible. Having reservations about it before I watched it, I can honestly say that I am glad I saw it and am a better person for it.

---

Rating: - Schindler's List
Schindler's List

Schindler's List was a very compelling film of how a man saved 1,100 Jews from being put to death in the gas chambers in Auschwitz Germany. The three main characters are Liam Neeson as Oskar Schindler, Ralph Fiennes as Amon Goeth and Ben Kingsley as the accountant for Oskar Schindler.
In 1939 the Germans defeated the Polish Army. Jews were ordered out of their homes and told to register all family members. Thousands of Jews arrived in Krakow daily. The Germans treated the Jews as if they were animals. They were shot, sexually abused, beaten, paraded around nude, laughed at and put to death in gas chambers. Schindler came in wanting to make money, knowing that he would profit immensely, for he could work the Jews and not have to pay them a dime. Throughout the movie you could tell that Schindler did not approve of what was happening and appeared to be growing fonder of his workers. He fought for and stood up for the Jews many times. In 1944 Amon Goeth was ordered to exhume and incinerate the bodies of more than ten thousand Jews. Once Schindler became aware of this atrocious act, he then asked to buy all the factory workers. Schindler made his list, fought for the lives of the women and children, and then he spent all the money he made to keep his factory running. At the end all the Jews had written a letter on his behalf telling what had happened and how Schindler saved their lives. With the letter, they gave him a silver band with an inscription from the Hebrew Bible, "Whoever saves one life, save the world entire". They told him, "There will be more generations because of what you did". Schindler sobbed for he felt he didn't do enough. There are more than six thousand descendants of the Schindler Jews. In 1958 Schindler was declared a righteous person by the council of Yad Vashem in Jerusalem and invited to plant a tree in the Avenue of the Righteous. It grows there still today. Schindler died September 10, 1974 and his grave is visited by the Schindler Jews and their descendants yearly.
During the Holocaust there were almost six million European Jews murdered by the Nazi leadership of Germany during the World War II. In the culture of Greco-Roman, anti-Semitism has played a part in Europe since the Roman Empire adopted Christianity as its state religion in the fourth century CE (Fisher 264). After the defeat of Germany in World War I, Adolf Hitler's Nazi Party blamed the Jews for all of their problems. From 1939 to 1942 the Jews was deprived of all human rights. By the end of the Holocaust they were being starved, worked to death as slaves, tortured, "experimented" on and shipped to extermination camps where they were placed in industrial size gas chambers (Fisher 265). To the Jewish belief it poses the question, "Is God omnipotent and caring?"(Fisher 266).

*Fisher, Mary Pat. "Living Religions". New Jersey: Pearson Education Inc, 2008.

---

Rating: - Schindler's List
This was the first time I ever saw this movie. It is a heartfelt enigmatic story about a man who chose differently in a time of monotony. Oskar Schindler's story is one that became lost in the shuffle of Nazi Germany. With his effort to promote his enamelware company in Poland he was able to house and save the lives of hundreds of Jews that became victim to the clutches of Hitler's reign. This movie is a slight glimpse of the horrors faced by the Jewish people during the holocaust. The movie portrays the heartless, bloodthirsty, brainwashed heart of Germany during the holocaust in the form of Amon Goeth, the General who led one of the Jewish labor camps. It is a vivid description of the soulless torture that took place during that time, and how Oskar Schindler was driven to save the lives of hundreds of Jewish laborers without once thinking about his personal gains.
This movie is related to World Religions because it highlights the period of the holocaust. It also shows the Jewish culture which is rich with tradition. Oskar Schindler, however, was tolerant, he promoted that the Jews carried on their traditions while they worked under him, he encouraged that they carry on the Sabbath tradition, chant hymns and pray according to their faith. There is even a scene with a Jewish marriage being carried on in one of the camps. The movie also portrays the misfortunes that the Jews faced; the untimely deaths, the crippling tortures, the loss of lives, loves, and traditions.
This story however, merely scratches the surface of the depressing tortures that came to be during the holocaust, or the Cleansing of Germany. Oskar Schindler's tale is enamoring and very inspirational. It teaches us to have hope in times when there is none.

---

Rating: - Wonderful Movie
Kristi Chilton

Schindler List was a documentary released in 1993 which recreated the events that occurred in the Holocaust. The movie is about a business man named Oskar Schindler who inatiaonally was all about making money for himself. He began hiring Jews to work for him with little pay so he would profit more. However as WWII continued he realized what the Nazis were doing was inhumane and had a change of heart. The whole movie was very sad and will remain in my thoughts but a couple of scene really had me choked up more than the rest. The movie obviously was made in black and white however there was a little girl in the red coat throughout the movie that I believe represented the Jews innocence's. The little girl should not have been seen as a threat to the Nazis but eventually her red coat was also seen among the bodies. This scene to me displayed the Nazis as having no empathy toward other human beings. The second scene was in the end when the actual Jews that had survived with the help of Schindler were placing rocks on his grave. When I watched this movie I was amazed at the effect it had on me. I have always seen Steven Spielberg movies as excellent but he really did a wonderful job recreating the events on the Holocaust. I would have to say it defiantly will give even the hardest individual a new perspective on the tragic events that occurred throughout history. A main focus point for me was although Schindler came from different cultural background than the Jews he dedicated his life trying to save them regardless of the differences.

see more

Related Items:

Saving Private Ryan (Special Limited Edition)

The Pianist

Forrest Gump (Two-Disc Special Collector's Edition)

Life Is Beautiful

Browse for similar items by category:

• By Theme - Drama - Genres - VHS - Video - Biography
• By Theme - Drama - Genres - VHS - Video - Jewish Heritage
• By Theme - Drama - Genres - VHS - Video - Redemption
• Drama - Genres - VHS - Video - Classics
• Drama - Genres - VHS - Video - General AAS