Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #256 in DVD
• Released on: 2006-02-20
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Black & White, PAL
• Original language: English, Turkish
• 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 womaniser 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

Synopsis
Based on a true story, Schindler's List is Steven Spielberg's epic drama of World War II Holocaust survivors and the man who unexpectedly came to be their saviour. Unrepentant womaniser and war profiteer Oskar Schindler uses Polish Jews as cheap labour to produce cookware for the Third Reich. But after witnessing the violent liquidation of the walled ghetto where the Krakow Jews have been forced to live, Schindler slowly begins to realise the immense evil of Nazism. When his employees are sent to a work camp, they come under the terrorising reign of sadistic Nazi Amon Goeth (Ralph Fiennes). With the help of his accountant, Itzhak Stern (Ben Kingsley), Schindler creates a list of 'essential' Jews. Bribing Goeth, Schindler manages to get 1,100 people released from the camp and brought to the safety of his munitions factory in Czechoslovakia. Spielberg's glorious film is wondrously evocative, visually stunning, and emotionally stirring.

Customer Reviews

A dedication
Oskar Schindler was a maverick Sudeten German industrialist, who put his life and livelihood on the line to save 6,000 Jews from the Nazi death machine.

This is his story, but not his story alone. It is also the story of the 6 million Jews who perished in Hitler's holocaust, and the 6 000 who where saved by Oscar Schindler.
The movie is masterfully portrayed, and was indeed true to the book by Thomas Keneally.
It is three harrowing hours about the unspeakable horrors visited upon the Jewish men, women and children who Hitler and his Nazi Party had decided had to die.
The images that take place in the movie will stay in your mind forever.

The antagonist to the compassion of Oscar Schindler (Liam Neeson) is the sadistic monster, the SS Commandant Amon Goeth. Schindler and Goeth are both members of the Nazi Party in high standing, who mixes in the same circles, and both make splash at the debauched Nazi parties held at Goethe's villa. But their reaction to the merciless slaughter is diametrically opposed. It brings out the man of compassion in Schindler, and the psychopathic demon in Goeth.
During the liquidation of the Warsaw ghetto, we see even the difference in their mistresses. After Schindler and his mistress Ingrid have gone for a morning ride, they observe from a hilltop the horrors the SS are visiting among the Jewish population of the Warsaw ghetto. And Ingrid visibly upset says " Oscar, let's get out of here"

Goeth on the other hand is taking pot-shots at the Jews on the streets below with his hunting rifle. His mistress Majola, simply sighs and says `Amon, you are such a dammn child.' irritated that she has been woken by the gunshots, and that she is not receiving Goeth's attention, but completely cold to the slaughter going on around her.

But two scenes stood out most in my mind.

That of as beautiful Jewish girl child, of about four years of age, in a bright red jacket, which is the only colour plate in the black and white movie. Schindler observes this angelic child making her way through the crowds of Jews who are being herded out the ghetto by the Nazis. We see the little girl hiding under a bed, terrified, and that is the last time we see her, before we see later in the movie, her mangled little body, being wheeled to the crematorium on a trolley, identified by her red jacket.

The story of the little girl in red made me think of another child. A beautiful and vivacious child, who was murdered 60 years later by Arafatian terrorists at Adura in Judea, as she hid terrified under her parent's bed-Danielle Shefi.

G-D bless the lovely souls of the angels - the little girl in red who died at Auschwitz, and of Danielle Shefi, who died at Adura. . G-D bless the souls of all Jewish children murdered by the enemies of the Jews and of Israel.

The other scene that brought tears to my eyes, was at the end of the movie where the Schindlerjuden march in the direction of Israel singing a hauntingly beautiful rendition of Yerushalayem Shel Zahav (Jerusalem of Gold), before we see the Schindlerjuden and their children and grandchildren, in real life, placing stones on the grave of Oscar Schindler at the Christian cemetery in Jerusalem.

This movie must be shown to all high school students, so that they can be equipped to answer so many questions that are thrown at us today: Why did the Jews not rise up? , Why did the Nazis do what they did? Why did the people of Europe allow it to happen? Why do we need the State of Israel?

We are living through a time when the same hatreds are rising again. Hatred of Israel is the new form of anti-Semitism that has shown it's hideous face again. I look at the scene, near the beginning of the movie, where the Jews are being herded into the ghettoes , and a young Polish girl of about 11, is shouting `You bad Jews, you bad Jews'.
And I think of all the anti-Israel demonstrations taking place today, where the same voices of hate, and bloodlust are being raised.

Well worth watching, but lacks emotion for most of the film
It's taken me 15 years to watch this film and I'm pleased that I have, Oskar Schindler (Liam Neeson) essentially puts together a list of 1,100 Jewish people whom he has used his personal fortune to essentially buy from the Nazis.

For me the first 2 hours mainly goes by without much incident and feel that much of this could easily have been cut from the general release at least, after this however this does get better with the final half hour being by far the most interesting and emotional part of the film.

This should have been a very emotional film, but for the best part lacks heart, Liam Neeson puts in an excellent performance, particularly in the final third, Sir Ben Kingsley is effective (if under used), but the letdown was the casting of Ralph Fiennes who just isn't a good enough actor for such an important role and film, he's okay, but that's it.

I'd recommend that you watch this film as it's such an important part of history, millions of Jewish people were slaughtered, Oskar Schindler was responsible for saving 1,100 Jews and deserves respect and our thanks for this act of human kindness, sadly his life after the war both financially and relationship wise were really quite bad.

I know this is a bit picky, but when Oskar Schindler asks for 3 minutes silence to be observed the "silence" in the film did not even last a minute, out of respect I think that this should have been honoured in it's entirety.

I've given this 3 stars, 2 for the first 2 hours and 4 for the last hour.

A tangible realistic portrail of the Holocaust
We all have a concept of the shoal or holocaust, learnt in school from santitised history books. I once visited the concerntration camp at dachau just outside Munchen, even walking through the entrance to the camp with the title 'arbiet macht Frei' emblazoned on the gates, or seeing the cramped bunks or the piles of shoes, hair and suitcases or seeing the massive showers that doubled as a gas chamber, this did not truely bring home fully the horrors of the final solution to me. Your imagination could try and fill the gaps of what is being shown to you, but your mind can not imagine the horror of what happened and how it must have been to find oneself caught up in this.

In reality we don't want to really know. This films fills those reality gaps that we find difficult to take in. The suffering and callousness that is portraed sets our knowledge of the holocasts into stark reality and gives us a realism of what it was like. It gives our learnt concept of the holoocaust a right old reality kick and makes one appraise what it was really about but alligned to that is the uplifting story of the actions of Oskar Schindler, who as a member of the Nazi party, womaniser and a blackmarkteer, become a hero by becoming determined to make a difference by saving over 1100 jews from certain death. It shows that even in the most desperate and forbidding times someone can stand up and make a difference.

If you haven't seen it it should be top of your to see list. The script setting, acting and photography combine to create one the greatest films of all time. I know for one it really created a better understanding of what occured