As soon as I started watching this (which was conveniently on the History Channel two days ago, so I recorded it), I had to post something on Facebook about it. This movie should be required viewing in school - no matter what. Even within the first 5 minutes of the movie it's evident that no other movie should be above this one on AFI's Top 100, or any list.
Which got me thinking about my first post. I was going to rank these movies based on how much I 'enjoyed' them. I obviously did not enjoy this movie. I don't enjoy any aspect of this movie. But at the same time I love this movie. The film making here, for what film making should be - telling a story that people feel need to be told, might never be matched. Holy hell this movie is making me think why I like movies.
Most movies ask the audience to question themselves, and I don't believe that Schindler's List is questioning many things about me per se...it's just telling me a story. It needs to tell a story. There's no point in sugar coating it and that's why Spielberg is the best. This is a true story, these things happened and they need to be remembered.
The use of black and white to tell the story is outstanding, especially juxtaposing it the girl in the red coat halfway through the film. To signify the bleakness of the entire situation.
Hiring a pretty much unknown in Liam Neeson to portray Oskar Schindler (who Spielberg himself had never heard of, but fell in love with the story), and some of the most incredible acting by Ralph Fiennes in any movie add to an already unbelievably real cast. This movie was 30 years in the making through various productions and companies, from MGM to Paramount. From Warren Beatty to Liam Neeson. From Roman Polanski to Spielberg.
Spielberg had to edit Jurassic Park at night in order to stay sane, and even had Robin Williams call him once a week to make him laugh.
Spielberg couldn't bring himself to direct many of the scenes, letting the cameras roll and just sitting back - with no words. Nothing to say.
The stars did align to come to the point where we were able to witness a perfect story being told.
The perfect piece of film making, to somehow depict the worst (and still at the same time, best) side of humanity.
Spielberg wanted the overly vicious scenes (the annexing of Krakow, the shower scene, to name a few) to be so realistic that they were unbearable to watch.
This movie is so 'unbearable to watch' that it comes full circle to the 'need to watch'.
No comments:
Post a Comment