Movie Review: Schindler's List (1993) - A Gripping Tale

I don't do movie reviews, and I haven't done book reviews since a long time ago, as I haven't been reading any fiction (non-fiction has less drama).

But this isn't fiction, this is history. The Holocaust is a non-fictional tale.
And Steven Spielberg is brilliant.

Schindler's List is an old, old movie. Older than I am anyway. 20 years old, and I just watched it. And there was no regret to have spent 3 hours on this movie. I watched it because I went to the Vietnam recently, and I came back all interested about the Vietnam war, and wanting to watch some history movie about war.

And I remembered something about Schindler's List that I've read before, how Spielberg described the eerie atmosphere of Auschwitz when they were there during the shooting of Schindler's List, in an old 1995 film magazine. (don't ask, I really don't know why it's in my house at all)

And so I Googled the movie, and the reviews were so awesome, and scoring like 8-9.5/10 consistently. 
And so I downloaded the movie and watched it. ;)
And I did not regret it.

It is an inspiring non-fictional tale about Oskar Schindler, a German living during the time of the Holocaust (The mass murder of Jews under the German Nazi regime during the period 1941–45). He was a German industrialist and a member of the Nazi party. 

This is the true story:
He is credited with saving the lives of over 1,200 Jews during the Holocaust by employing them in his enamelware and ammunition factories, located in what is now Poland and the Czech Republic. 
The movie highlights how he started off as a businessman initially motivated by an opportunity to make profit from the war when Germany invaded Poland, how he took over an enamelware factory in Krakow and hired around 1000 Jews to work there because they were "cheaper" than Poles, with the aid of a German-speaking Jew, Itzhak Stern, who came to be his accountant.

Schindler, a persuasive man by nature, soon became a respected guest at Nazi SS elite parties, having chats and connections with high-ranking SS officers for his own benefit. At first it was about the money and the fact that Jews cost less, but later he began to protect his workers without caring about the cost. For example, in the movie, he claimed that a one-armed Jew is essential to the factory. 

At a time he witnessed a 1943 raid on the Kraków Ghetto, where soldiers rounded up the Jews to ship to a concentration camp. Schindler was shocked by the massacre of many Jews who had been working for him and how the soldiers killed people without a care. After the raid he increasingly protected and took care of the Jews who worked at his factory, using his persuasion to help his workers get out of difficult situations. To avoid further investigation, he bribed government officials.

As the Red Army drew nearer, Schindler was required to close his factory and move elsewhere, while the remaining Jews were being shipped to other concentration camps. As enamelware was no longer essential to the war, Schindler switched to making grenades in an effort to save the workers. He persuaded the SS officials to allow him to move his Jewish workers to Brünnlitz, sparing them from certain death. The names of those Jews were typed onto a list, hence the name of the movie "Schindler's List".

In Brünnlitz, Schindler gained another former Jewish factory, which was scheduled to produce hand grenades and parts for V-2 rockets. It is unclear how much armament was actually produced there; some of the workers claimed that there had been no production that would have been useful to the German war effort.

Schindler died penniless, but became a hero and a lifesaver of the Jews. 

Review: The filming took place in Poland over the course of 72 days, in Kraków. It is a heartwarming tale told in black and white, save for splashes of colour which made it all the more touching. (don't want to give anything away, but look out for something red!)

It is a gem of a movie, echoing the horror and terrible pain of the tragedy that occured. The vivid scenes depict disturbing but touching moments that moved the audience to tears. It is a brilliantly crafted and acted masterpiece that is an original gripping story all on its own. 

If you like historical movies, go for this. It's not an unfeeling, boring documentary. It's a story of a German who saved over 1000 Jews, bankrupting himself and for nothing but only doing what is morally and humanely right. <3