I just re-watched Schindler's List on DVD this morning (it's currently five in the morning, and I've been up all night), and I must admit that I find it to be one of the most moving movies that I've ever watched in my life.

The theme and setting is one of the most chilling events in our history, the Holocaust.

This is one of those movies that you have to see, if you want to understand just what went on during those times. I highly recomend this to everyone.

 

Agree, truly brilliant movie. The only bad thing is too sappy ending, but then again, Spielberg always screws up his endings, so it wasn't exactly unexpected.

 

This was the first 'R' rated movie I ever saw.

I recently watched it again with a few friends of mine and I gained a new appreciation for it.

 

this and the pianist are great holocaust movies

 

Mm yea... both are very moving WWII movies, as well as Saving Privite Ryan.

 

Schindler's List was one of the most moving movies I've seen. A bunch of us (all guys) watched it and I think everyone had tears in their eyes at the end.

Not many can compete with it.

 

Slightly OT….

Now, I don’t claim to be an expert in this subject…but does anyone else think that the past few generations have been breed to be Nazi haters? I find it very hard to believe that ALL the concentration camps were as bad as they make them out to be.

(New paragraph to make this next sentence VERY clear to people.)

I do NOT think that the genocide of Jews did not happen in some places, and I definitely think it was one of the worst crimes against humanity in the recent past. I just find it hard to believe that all the Nazis would condone torturing defenseless people.

Not to be a government conspiratist, but I find it much more likely that there were a few camps where this was happening, and the government in an attempt to raise public opinion of the war even further exploited it and made them all out to be monsters. A classic example of victors writing the history in my opinion, because I know for a fact that our government is not above skewing the media to raise public opinion., especially in times of war.

Once again I don’t have any facts to prove this, I just find it hard to believe that all Nazi’s don’t have morals.

 

Nazis are an easy target. They don't have money or some big organisation to back up their interests. Say something false against Catolic/Muslim/any church, US army or some minority group and you get sued/ridiculed/banned/rioted against. Say something false (or true) against nazis and no one gives a shit.

That's why they are general bad-guys in most of the video games being made today - there's no politic risk involved. Think about it - if they had GTA taking place inside a Nazi military camp, instead of US ghetos and minority districts, no one would give a damn about supposed violence and immorality...

Shrugs... besides, Nazis make such a nice bad guys, it's too easy to bash them.

 

Agreed. Nazis have become far more than their politics or even their history. They represent "evil" in the minds of the last 3 generations of Americans, and much of the world. With every issue there's always two sides to it and often a legitimate argument for those opposed to your own view. Nazism has lost much of it's meaning and come to simply represent everything wrong in the world, though I doubt most could even give a decent argument about what nazi's believe in or strive for. Nazis are hate and intolerance, the bad guys. We and everyone else "with a brain" are love and tolerance, the good guys. Someone's simply got to represent the bad guys until history paints them out to be martyrs and misunderstood. But that won't happen until we have a new clear cut bad guys. Maybe if the "terrorists" weren't so religious but instead bathed in the blood of babies and sacrificed their own mothers to the Dark God Klaatu, we might give the nazis a break.

To return to the subject of this thread, I know I'm in the minority here, but this movie did absolutely nothing for me. It didn't stand out as great. I found no fault, agree it was a reasonably accurate reflection of a horrible time in history. It's uplifting and wonderful to find and glorify the bright spots in the darkest moments. Spielberg is a master (and I'm not of the opinion he messes up endings).

I saw this once. Got the point. No desire to ever see it again. If you enjoy watching the History Channel, I'd recommend it for sure. Especially if you haven't seen it. But there was nothing new in this. Classrooms give you the background plot, the trailers give you the rest (Meet Oscar Schindler. He made a list. Yeah Oscar.) But for me, it won't move you in the way a visit to the Holocaust museum will. For a classroom or for a project, it has it's purpose. It tells a small story, but more than that it tries to force a lesson down your throat that history should have already taught you: the holocaust was bad. Message received. Movie recognized and awarded.

But unless there's a class making me watch it again, I'd rather see something crappy like "Armageddon" five times than watch this movie again. I will readily admit Schindler's List is a much better movie than Armageddon. Doesn't mean I'd rather see it. For me a movie is about escape and entertainment. It can be based on a true story, but I like to smile and enjoy watching it. This is more of a history lesson than an entertaining way to spend three hours.

 

It was a good movie - right until we were surrounded by the hordes of holocaust books (Anne Frank, etc etc), movies (It's a Beautiful Life), and the mass amounts of documentaries.

Now it's just "another holocaust film".

I mean, every year in English, we read at least one holocaust book.

Nothing against Jewish people, but it's getting annoying and I'm getting desensitized to it. I feel like it's being pushed on me.

This might be limited to the school system I'm in, however, so I really can't judge for all.

 

Personally, I loved the music to the point where I browsed the internet and found sheet music so I could learn it (I play piano)

 

I agree this movie was very moving, the only disappointment I had was it never mentioned the other victims.
I agree that the holocaust was a tragedy that we must never forget. The only disappointment I had was it forgets to mention the other victims of the holocaust ie gypsies, disabled etc.
One film I would recommend is All Quiet On The Western Front, it's from the view of a conscripted German soldier. I find that films about history should be balanced with more than one perspective, and unfortunately with all the WWII films we don't have enough differing attitudes.

If you like this kind of film Saviour is a good one too, it's about the war in Kosovo and just as disturbing.
Litha