Analyze This is very funny on its first watch, while Hard Eight is an excellent neo-film noir, and Gangster No 1, although capturing its 60 feel greatly, was made for thugs, about thugs, and ultimately, BY thugs. Terry Gillam's Brazil, on the other hand, is, on a first viewing, strictly for Orwellians, and not for the average mainstream cinemagoer. Looking back, though, the impeccable delivery of the dialogue and overall concept of the film is very well delivered. Elsewhere, The Deer Hunter had an amazing rewatch, and is yet another recent addition to my ten-out-of-ten elite. Throne of Blood also got another rewatch, while Philadelphia proved to be too shortcoming in dealing with the emotional side of its issues to gain the credit it receives elsewhere.
Schindler's List
(1993/Spielberg/US)
During World War II, Oskar Schindler (Liam Neeson), an Austrian businessman persuades the Nazis to allow Jewish slave labour in his new factory just outside of the Krakow Ghetto. To help him, he recruits Itzhak Stern (Ben Kingsley), who in turn helps to recruit the many Jews for the factory work. Along the way, Schindler uses the money he has earned to bribe a brutal Nazi into helping him save 1,100 Jews from the concentration camps.
Whether the film is (variably, depending on the viewer) seen as interesting, accurate, vivid, emotional or powerful, one thing is adamantly certain: its brutality. As the monochrome, documentary style filming hovers around the labour camp, Amon Goeth (Ralph Fiennes) picks at random will a helplessly doomed victim to practice his superiority over the Jews, and with shocking abruptness, the ensuing moments of violence are unrelentingly brutal. The viciousness with which the film up to and after that point is delivered is frightening in its documentary, almost fly on the wall, account of an extraordinary true story.
At three hours, the editing had to be spot on to ensure a full flowing pace, and Michael Kahn did a superb job. Although it leaves you exhausted, while it is running the film is utterly absorbing and compelling to watch. Already said earlier, it is presented almost like a documentary, summed up perfectly with the (arguably most moving) final scene, shot in colour. But because of its documentary feel, although harsh and compassionate, the film does, surprisingly, stay fiercely controlled and restrained as regards sentimentality. Only in his final scene does Neeson show the emotions involved in what he has done, and it does seem very misplaced.
Saying that, Neeson does throughout the film play the authoritative figure of Schindler with extreme conviction, and Neeson as his subordinate is fantastic as ever. Fiennes’ performance, meanwhile, is just as resounding, and he holds his own against Neeson in their scenes together with enormous strength and menace. The way he presents the character, both in physical posture (resembling the retarded stance among common Nazis) and mental presence, adding a remarkable complexity to the role.
This epic work of art is both notable in high achievement of professional excellence, but also notable as Spielberg’s coming-of-age as a director. Technically, the film rarely puts a foot wrong. From production design to cinematography to the screenplay, the film is unreservedly one of the highest achievements of the nineties, if not the highest. How Tom Hanks beat Neeson to Best Actor at the Oscars is bewildering, and of the seven Oscars the film did receive are much-deserved.
****
9/10
#32
Mick
