Schindler's List (1993)

User Rating:

8.9/10   

Director:

Steven Spielberg

Writers (WGA):

Thomas Keneally (book)
Steven Zaillian (screenplay)

Release Date:

15 December 1993 (USA)

Genre:

Biography | Drama | History | War

Tagline:

Whoever saves one life, saves the world entire.

Plot:

Oskar Schindler uses Jews to start a factory in Poland during the war. He witnesses the horrors endured by the Jews, and starts to save them.

Plot Keywords:

Haircut | Swastika | Cigarette Smoking | Righteous Among The Nations | Male Nudity

Awards:

Won 7 Oscars. Another 63 wins & 21 nominations

Cast

Liam Neeson	...	Oskar Schindler
Ben Kingsley	...	Itzhak Stern
Ralph Fiennes	...	Amon Goeth
Caroline Goodall	...	Emilie Schindler
Jonathan Sagall	...	Poldek Pfefferberg (as Jonathan Sagalle)
Embeth Davidtz	...	Helen Hirsch
Malgoscha Gebel	...	Wiktoria Klonowska
Shmuel Levy	...	Wilek Chilowicz (as Shmulik Levy)
Mark Ivanir	...	Marcel Goldberg
Béatrice Macola	...	Ingrid
Andrzej Seweryn	...	Julian Scherner
Friedrich von Thun	...	Rolf Czurda
Krzysztof Luft	...	Herman Toffel
Harry Nehring	...	Leo John
Norbert Weisser	...	Albert Hujar

MPAA:

Rated R for language, some sexuality and actuality violence.

Runtime:

195 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Hebrew | German | Polish

Color:

Black and White | Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS-Stereo | DTS

Certification:

Finland:K-13 (re-rating) | Finland:K-14 (original rating) | Malaysia:18PL (re-rating) | Malaysia:(Banned) (original rating) | Brazil:14 | Brazil:12 (DVD re-rating) | Canada:AA (Ontario) | Canada:PA (Manitoba) | Canada:R (Nova Scotia) | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Chile:TE | Denmark:15 | France:U | Germany:12 | Hong Kong:IIB | Iceland:16 | Israel:PG | Italy:T | Netherlands:12 | Norway:15 | Peru:14 | Portugal:M/12 | Singapore:R(A) | South Korea:15 | Spain:13 | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | USA:R | Singapore:M18 (DVD rating) | Canada:13+ (Quebec)

Filming Locations:

Auschwitz, Poland

Company:

Universal Pictures

Trivia:

The Krakow ghetto "liquidation" scene was only a page of action in the script, but Steven Spielberg turned it into 20 pages and 20 minutes of screen action "based on living witness testimony". For example, the scene in which the young man escapes capture by German soldiers by telling them he was ordered to clear the luggage from the street was taken directly from a survivor's story.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: Yerushalayim shel Zahav was not written until twenty years after WWII

Quotes:

[first lines]
[a Hebrew prayer is chanted, followed by a flashback to 1940s Poland]
Krakow registrar: Name?

Movie Connections:

Featured in AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies: Against the Grain (1998) (TV)

A perfect film

To sum up Spielberg's masterwork in one word is a nearly impossible task, but I have come to the conclusion that Schindler's List is perfect. Liam Neeson as Oskar Schindler is truly great in recreating the role of a modern day Moses. Making this film all the more compelling is John Williams' perfectly composed original musical score. This film deserves all the awards bestowed upon it, especially best picture by the National Board of Review and the Academy and the Academy Award for best director Steven Spielberg. It deserves all these awards and more. Schindler's List is a film that everyone should see and appreciate to its fullest extent. Spielberg will remain an immortal filmmaker through the work he put into this film.