Search - Schindler's List 20th Anniversary Limited Edition (DVD + Digital Copy + UltraViolet) on DVD

B.J. W. (analogkid01) from CHICAGO, IL
Reviewed on 7/5/2025...

I normally don't post reviews of movies I've watched in the past, but I feel compelled today. This will also serve as evidence of a rather controversial view I hold.

I don't like Schindler's List.

(Massive spoilers ahead.)

Winner of seven Oscars and countless other awards, Steven Spielberg's 1993 film is considered the gold standard by which all other Holocaust films are judged. I'd argue there are better ones. (Skip to the end if you just want my #1 recommendation.)

Just to give you an idea of my frame of reference, here's a list of Holocaust movies and documentaries I've seen, taken from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Holocaust_films :

- Judgment at Nuremberg
- The Pawnbroker
- Cabaret
- The Night Porter
- Marathon Man
- The Tin Drum
- Sophie's Choice
- Come and See
- Europa Europa
- Life is Beautiful
- The Devil's Arithmetic
- The Grey Zone
- The Pianist
- The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
- The Reader
- Inglourious Basterds
- Son of Saul
- Jojo Rabbit
- The Zone of Interest
- The Brutalist
- Memory of the Camps
- Shoah
- Mr. Death: The Rise and Fall of Fred Leuchter Jr.

(Some of these I wouldn't classify as "Holocaust movies"...some of the characters may have been affected by their experiences, but like...Inglourious Basterds? Cabaret? Not really Holocaust movies in my mind. But anyway.)

So, Schindler's List. Oskar Schindler owns a factory making munitions for the German war effort. Not only does he ensure that none of his munitions will be effective on the battlefield, he also compiles the titular list of Jews who work in his factory and therefore can and should be protected from the ongoing genocide. He does this through a ceaseless string of bribes and ruses until the Allies are victorious. Everyone knows the story, it's not too complex and that's fine, good stories don't have to be.

Here's the problem: Spielberg is a notoriously manipulative storyteller, has been since his early days, and he's able to make extremely effective films because of his skill at manipulating the audience's emotions. Consider this: how many times has Spielberg killed or endangered an innocent child in his films? I can think of several right off the bat: Alex Kintner gets eaten by a shark in front of his mother's horrified eyes; Barry Guiler gets snatched up by aliens (also in front of his panicked, screaming mother); Elliott gets sick and almost dies along with his extra-terrestrial friend; and I can think of at least two children who are killed in Schindler, probably more if I watched it again.

I've heard Spielberg express regret about his treatment of children in his early films, but that didn't stop him from drawing from that well again with Schindler. And - it fucking works. "Take this shit seriously," he tells his audience, and of course we sit up and take notice. We fear the shark, and the aliens, and the Nazis.

So my question is this: is emotional manipulation necessary to tell a good story? No, and if you have to manipulate in order to get your audience to pay attention, maybe it's not a story worth telling in the first place. There have to be stakes, of course, there needs to be a conflict (even in a comedy), but it's not necessary to be artificially maudlin. Quentin Tarantino's "Pulp Fiction" is extremely manipulative as well, but only temporally - he uses nonlinear storytelling to hide certain information from the viewer, but he never outright *lies*.

We're introduced to Schindler (Liam Neeson) as a suave, put-together titan of industry. He rubs elbows with middle managers of the Nazi party and is doing all right for himself. Meanwhile, Jews are being rounded up and herded into ghettos. Schindler is sympathetic, but not too willing just yet to stick his neck out. Most of the people on the List are initially rescued and protected by his assistant, Itzhak Stern (Ben Kingsley). But Schindler eventually comes around (while literally riding a horse like some sort of cowboy) and does his part in helping protect the Jews. There are manipulative scenes throughout (mostly of Amon Goeth twirling his moustache as he torments his captives), but the most egregious example is toward the end when the Jewish men and women are separated and moved by train to Schindler's factory. Except - uh oh, the women have been accidentally sent to Auschwitz! They're given the full treatment - stripped, heads shaved, possessions taken, and herded into the "shower"...oh except it's a real shower after all and not a gas chamber. Gotcha!! 😉 Then they're put back on the train and sent to Schindler's factory for realsies.

Give me a goddamn break. Shameless.

Schindler's List isn't a *bad* film by any means, but I get the feeling it's the Holocaust film that introduced a lot of people *to* the Holocaust (or to Holocaust movies at least) and it's the wire mother they imprinted on. They're unwilling or unable to see its striking flaws, which is not to say other Holocaust films aren't also flawed: "Life is Beautiful" is too sanitary, "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" too unrealistic, and "Son of Saul" too unbelievable.

In my opinion, the absolute best film from the list above is Claude Lanzmann's 1985 epic masterpiece "Shoah." It is a nine-and-a-half hour documentary split into four parts, and it is a towering achievement. Filmed and edited over an 11-year period, Shoah features none of the old black-and-white footage you've seen from countless other Holocaust documentaries. Shoah is comprised entirely of contemporary interviews with people who were actually there - Jewish prisoners, Nazi guards, local townspeople, anyone Lanzmann could find alive in the mid-1970s. Shoah is the first, last, and only Holocaust film you really need to see. Everything else pales in comparison.

Why did I bother writing this? I suppose it's because I read a thought-provoking quote a week or so ago that's been on my mind ever since:

"If you've ever wondered what you'd have done during the rise of fascism in Germany...it's whatever you're doing right now."