Announcements in 1992 and '93 that Spielberg was following up the dino-disaster movie Jurassic Park with a drama about the Holocaust were met by hoots of derision from the less-discerning, while those who admired Spielberg's past serious work were filled with shivers of anticipation. Was this, at long last, to be the Holocaust drama that Hollywood had not yet produced? Some were hoping for such a film from Stanley Kubrick rather than Spielberg, however. Announcements that Schindler's List was to be filmed in black and white were met with mixed responses. The nay-sayers were quick to call Spielberg pretentious, while the more thoughful realized that a color film about the Holocaust would be far too gory. Black and white film was to be a medium of distancing.
When the film was finally released, those who came to mock remained to pray. The film was met with virtually unprecedented critical praise, appearing at the head of nearly every critic's top-10 list. It swept the critics' awards, the first film in a decade to do so, and took home several Oscars. In 1997, it aired virtually uncut in network television, the first R-rated film ever to do so, and very likely the last.
What hath Spielberg wrought? There has been a minor critical backlash since 1993, but it was a relatively small one. The consensus among those who view it unfavorably is that Spielberg shamelessly panders to the audience, and that the whole film is calculated to have a happy ending. Most damning of all is the accusation which is also commonly flung at movies about apartheid: the victims are portrayed as passive and helpless, while it is the Aryans who control everyone's fate.
The critics do have something of a point. The leading Jewish character, Itzhak Stern (Ben Kingsley) is second-billed, but third in importance to beneficent Oskar Schindler (Liam Neeson) and evil Amon Goeth (Ralph Fiennes). However, the historical record shows us that the Germans did indeed control the destiny of at least six million Jews. To show some Jews in this film as relatively unable to control their fate is no crime.
Is the film an example of Spielberg pandering to his audience? I would absolutely disagree. I see it as a portrait of an imperfect man, Schindler, who brings himself to redemption, despite his own imperfections of greed, vanity, and womanizing. This is a man who sacrifices nearly everything even though he previously "stuck his neck out for nobody." Essentially, it's the kind of movie that Humphrey Bogart would star in if he had been born fifty years later.
Only in one scene, where Schindler babbles to himself about being able to save "more...just one more," does the film become sentimental. This scene, however, is balanced by the closing one, where current-day survivors and descendents of survivors decorate Schindler's grave, moving in its simplicity.
Speielberg does not have to stack the deck for or against any characters, as history has already done that for him. The Nazis are portrayed as greedy, self-centered, and deranged, just as they really were. Schindler's conversion from war profiteer to Jewish savior does not come quickly or unrealistically It is not until a truly hellish scene in which Jewish corpses are incinerated that Schindler is driven over completely from the Nazi cause.
The screenplay by Steven Zaillian is above approach (with the exception of the "I could have saved more" scene). The acting is strong, and established major careers for Neeson and Fiennes. Janusz Kaminski's cinematography and Allan Starski's production design (both Oscar winners) turn 1940's-era Poland into a Dantean inferno. The brief scene in Auschwitz chills through its use of harsh light and falling ash. John Williams's score is one of his finest for Spielberg, with violin solos by Itzhak Perlman in the Auschwitz scene.
The film is deservedly a classic, easily the best of 1993 and one of the best of the decade, rivaled only by JFK and Lone Star. For once and all, it established Spielberg as a serious filmmaker, no longer a figure of derision.
Four stars
Copyright 1998 by Dale G. Abersold
