Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #20824 in DVD
• Released on: 2004-04-12
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 2
• Formats: Anamorphic, Black & White, PAL
• Original language: English, German, Hebrew, Polish
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 187 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Steven Spielberg had a banner year in 1993. He scored one of his biggest commercial hits that summer with the mega-hit Jurassic Park, but it was the artistic and critical triumph of Schindler's List that Spielberg called "the most satisfying experience of my career". Adapted from the best-selling book by Thomas Keneally and filmed in Poland with an emphasis on absolute authenticity, Spielberg's masterpiece ranks among the greatest films ever made about the Holocaust during World War II. It's a film about heroism with an unlikely hero at its center--Catholic war profiteer Oskar Schindler (Liam Neeson), who risked his life and went bankrupt to save more than 1,000 Jews from certain death in concentration camps.

By employing Jews in his crockery factory manufacturing goods for the German army, Schindler ensures their survival against terrifying odds. At the same time, he must remain solvent with the help of a Jewish accountant (Ben Kingsley) and negotiate business with a vicious, obstinate Nazi commandant (Ralph Fiennes) who enjoys shooting Jews as target practice from the balcony of his villa overlooking a prison camp. Schindler's List gains much of its power not by trying to explain Schindler's motivations, but by dramatising the delicate diplomacy and determination with which he carried out his generous deeds.

As a drinker and womanizer who thought nothing of associating with Nazis, Schindler was hardly a model of decency; the film is largely about his transformation in response to the horror around him. Spielberg doesn't flinch from that horror, and the result is a film that combines remarkable humanity with abhorrent inhumanity--a film that functions as a powerful history lesson and a testament to the resilience of the human spirit in the context of a living nightmare. --Jeff Shannon

Amazon.co.uk Review
Both an artistic and a commercial triumph, Steven Spielberg's Schindler's List manages to find some small glimmer of hope for the human spirit amid the abomination that was the Holocaust. The true story of flamboyant entrepreneur Oskar Schindler (Liam Neeson) and his attempts to save Jewish lives under the very noses of his Nazi associates gives Spielberg a focal point of conscience and humanity in an otherwise unrelentingly grim depiction of mankind's worst traits, here memorably embodied by Ralph Fiennes as the sadistic Nazi commandant Amon Goeth.

Spielberg's determined and unflinching vision is supported by a dignified score from regular collaborator John Williams, and evocative black-and-white cinematography by Janusz Kaminski, which alternates a semi-documentary feel for the harrowing ghetto and concentration camp sequences with an altogether more decadent sensibility for the Nazis. The single use of colour tells of horror more shocking than any words could convey. It's true that towards the end Spielberg lets his sentimental streak off the leash when he chooses to focus on Schindler's grief, but otherwise this is filmmaking of the highest kind: compellingly dramatic, profoundly educational, and unfailingly emotive in the very best sense.

On the DVD: Schindler's List is thinly spread across two discs, with a break at just over two hours into this three-hour movie. It's a little surprising that the feature could not have fitted onto one disc, especially given the absence of commentary or other additional tracks. The 1.85:1 anamorphic picture is fine, though displaying the graininess of the original film stock. Sound is available in highly detailed DTS. Extras on the second disc are limited to Voices from the List, a 77-minute documentary featuring the personal testimony of Schindler survivors, and an 11-minute feature on Spielberg's Shoah Foundation. There's nothing at all about the making of the movie. --Mark Walker

Special Features

• Voices From The List documentary
  
• The Shoah Foundation Story With Steven Spielberg
  
• Cast and crew
  
• About Oskar Schindler

DVD Technical Information:

• Region Code: 2, 4
  
• Running Time: 187 mins
  
• Subtitles: English for the hearing impaired
  
• Language: English
  
• Audio: DTS 5.1/Dolby Digital 5.1
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85 Anamorphic Wide Screen

Customer Reviews

Five stars for the film but this boxed set is only worth 2
Important note - this review is of the boxed set contents for this limited edition release of Schindler's List and not for the film itself, which is an absolutely essential buy.

The boxed set really adds nothing to the standard release of Schindler's List on DVD, which is beautifully packaged and has some interesting extras. On top of this standard release you also get:

Soundtrack of the CD - John Williams' excellent score is strong enough to be listened to aside from the film but can be found separately and doesn't justify the additional cost.

A book containing stills from the movie - whilst the book is beautifully produced and the stills are evocative, the question has to be - what is the point? The images within the book mean far more as part of the movie itself. A more sensible approach would surely have been to produce a book containing real documentary evidence of the Holocaust.

A "limited edition" stenotype of a scene from the film - one of Universal's favourite extras in their limited edition DVD releases. Everybody gets the same film still, and the number on the back of mine was 188843, which suggests the limited edition isn't particularly limited. This sort of thing only has any value if it is genuinely scarce.

A "certificate of authenticity" - somewhat tackily containing a quote from Roger Ebert about the film, moderate quality printing on thin paper. Very cheap indeed.

It's a shame that a film as important as Schindler's List receives the same treatment from Universal's marketing department as usual and this boxed set is definitely not worth the extra money that you'll pay over the price of the standard release which, ironically, does show genuine effort having been made to match the product to the quality of the film within.

We can never forget!
Schindler's List is a very important movie chronicling the Holocaust. This is probably the best film ever made about this terrible period in 20th Century history.

Speilburg did a superlative job in directing this true story about one man's attempt to save as many Jews as possible from the gas chambers of Hitler's Final Solution.

Filmed in black and white, the full horror and desperation of these innocent people is brought to the screen, etching it onto the mind. Speilburg started to chronicle as many surviving Jews as he could from this film, so that their stories would always be there as a warning to us all.

In an age where we let some questionable things into our minds, it seems fitting to let something aweful yet necessary into our conciousness. There is a sense of duty in watching this film.

It's harsh, raw, beautiful and harrowing. Speilburg's most important film, in my opinion.

I've been waiting a long time for this film to be released on DVD.

I urge those who haven't seen it to do so!

Excellent movie -- "limited" extra value
A perfect edition for a perfect motion picture: I expected no less afterwaiting for such a long time for "Schindler's List" to be released. Sincethe film itself needs no further comments, I would just like to say a fewwords about the DVD editions.
The Limited Edition Box contains about75% air - the size of the box is apparently meant to justify its price, asthe contents itself is no larger than the DVD box itself. The bookcontains mostly stills from the movie, the soundtrack comes in anunimpressive cardboard sleeve, and the "senitype" is - don't be fooled -of course NOT an actual piece of film (it just looks like it). So, youhave to decide whether you want to go with the standard edition or pay thebalance and get the Limited Edition with its "limited" added value.