Schindler's List (2004, DVD)

I. INTRODUCTION

When looking back at the 90s, there were quite a few good films that were made. In 1991, the horrific, psychological thriller, Silence of the Lambs, was a critical success. Braveheart was an epic film that also gained both critical and commercial success. As much as I dislike to say this, Titanic tied the record for the number of Oscars for a single film. The 90s also saw the implementation of computer graphics into animated films and because of the innovative work in animated features, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences introduced an award for the Best Animated Feature in 2001...

If Steven Spielberg is remembered for only one film, please let it be this one. Adapted from the book by Thomas Kennealy, from the memories and stories told to him by Leopold Page, it's almost four hours of very intense moviemaking. Spielberg poured his heart into this film, and it shows on every sequence in the film. Every time I see this film, I weep. It is my way of sitting shiva for my family, for the dead that I did not have an opportunity to know for themselves, but only as ghosts that my grandmother told me about. They walked the same streets as Oskar Schindler, were no doubt in the...

Even though Steven Spielberg had made some of the most successful -- and profitable -- films in movie history (E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, Jaws, the Indiana Jones series), he was always perceived as a master craftsman but never as a "serious" director capable of making a grown-up film. This is an odd perception, considering that in addition to such crowd-pleasers as Raiders of the Lost Ark and E.T. (along with the plethora of projects he has been involved with as executive producer -- Who Framed Roger Rabbit? and the Back to the Future trilogy), Spielberg had directed such serious fare as...