MovieRob’s Birthday Bash of Favorites 2021 (#24 of 48) – Schindler’s List (1993) – Encore Review 2

January is my birthday month, so I decided that I would try and do something quite unique and special for this milestone in my life. I will be turning 47, so I decided to watch 48 (47+1 for good luck) of my all time favorite movies in a random order over the course of this month. I have reviewed every one of these films already, but I will now give new perspectives on them all. Every one of these films received a 10/10 scoring from me. Some of these reviews will contain spoilers so if you have never seen them before, I recommend that you read some of my previous reviews of the film that were spoiler free before reading on…

Hope you enjoy!

This is film #24 of the 48.

Let’s continue with…

Initial Viewing Memories – This was a film that I saw in the theater not long after it came out and was glued to my seat for the over 3 hour run time. Such a powerful experience that unfortunately can;t be duplicated upon subsequent watches, even though it comes quite close.

“It’s Hebrew, it’s from the Talmud. It says, “Whoever saves one life, saves the world entire.” – Itzhak Stern

Number of Times Seen – Between 5-10 times (Theater in ’93, DVD, 16 Jul 2013, 22 Jul 2018 and 16 Jan 2021)

Link to original review – Here and Here

Brief Synopsis – A German businessman uses his wealth and power to try and save the Jews who work at his factory during World War II.

My Take on it – One of the most powerful films ever made. Steven Spielberg was able to create a masterpiece with this film that remains so poignant and spine chilling no matter how often one watches it. The choice to film in black and white helps make things even more powerful and makes the audience feel as if they are watching a documentary instead of a movie. The music by John Williams is hauntingly superb and helps enhance this story in so many ways. The cast is excellent and both Liam Neeson and Ralph Fiennes gives amazing performances. The realism of this film resonates throughout and knowing that it’s base don real events makes things even more chilling to watch because we can hardly believe that people would act this way which in turns makes things even more socking to watch. This was very deserving of its 7 Oscars including Best Picture and Best Director and none of the other nominees even had a chance of trying to eclipse this film in many of the categories. The end scene of this film always makes me cry because of how powerful it is since it shows many of the real people who this film is all about. Highly Highly Recommended!

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – At his insistence (citing that it would be “blood money”), all royalties and residuals from this movie that would normally have gone to Steven Spielberg instead are given to the Shoah Foundation, which records and preserves written and videotaped testimonies from survivors of genocide worldwide, including the Holocaust. (From IMDB)

Rating – Oscar Worthy (10/10) (no change from original review)