- 余辉
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*** This comment may contain spoilers ***
The Holocaust is undoubtedly one of the most significant and horrifying events of the twentieth century. Between 1938 and 1945, the Jewish population was segregated and persecuted, culminating in the merciless slaughter of approximately six million Jews (this figure is quoted in the film, though most historical estimates vary between five and seven million). Amidst all this butchery, one man decided to make a difference, famously saving the lives of more than 1100 Jews- men, women and children who would otherwise have been killed.
Oskar Schindler (played brilliantly by Liam Neeson, "Batman Begins") was a Sudeten German industrialist, a wealthy womanizer who wasn"t afraid to throw his money around. Always bearing his Nazi Party badge proudly, Schindler would often frequent nightclubs, extravagantly showering high-ranked Nazi officers and their girlfriends with champagne and caviar. With impeccable connections in the black-market, there was little that he couldn"t get his hands on, and he was a good person to know. Buying friends was something that Schindler could do well, and he would often use these newfound alliances to aid his own business ventures. When thousands of the Polish Jew population was relegated to the Kraków Ghetto in 1941, Schindler saw an opportunity for further success, enlisting desperate Jewish investors and employing Jewish workers (who were substantially cheaper to employ) to open an enamelware factory. His connections in high places ensured lucrative army contracts, and Schindler need only have watched as his personal fortune grew, despite doing little to run the company beyond offering it "a certain panache."
It is clear from the beginning that Oskar Schindler does not harbour any racial prejudices. When Schindler requests the services of Itzhak Stern (a superb Ben Kingsley, "Gandhi"), a clever, humanitarian Jewish accountant, Stern declares that, "By law I have to tell you, sir, I"m a Jew." "Well, I"m a German, so there we are," replies Schindler indifferently, before getting straight to business. It is not race that he is concerned with, it is himself… and, of course, his money. Stern does not enjoy running Schindler"s business, and he initially acquires little satisfaction from it. When Schindler attempts to convey his genuine gratitude for his profitable services with a glass of whiskey, Stern absentmindedly refuses to drink it, and an embittered Schindler drinks it himself before ordering Stern to leave.
With the arrival of Amon Goeth (played as the epitome of evil by Ralph Fiennes, "Red Dragon"), a Hauptsturmführer of the SS, the hopeless plight of the Jews grows darker. In a harrowing extended sequence, largely based on the testimonies of Holocaust survivors, the Jews are mercilessly "liquidated" from the Krakow Ghetto, many simply shot on the spot. "Today is history," proclaims Goeth. "Today will be remembered. Years from now the young will ask with wonder about this day. Today is history and you are part of it…. For six centuries there has been a Jewish Krakow. By this evening those six centuries will be a rumor. They never happened. Today is history."
This sequence also marks the celebrated appearance of the little girl in the red coat. An ingenious plot device, the character was based upon a real girl named Roma Ligocka who, unlike her film counterpart, survived the war, and wrote a memoir entitled "The Girl in the Red Coat: A Memoir". The embodiment of innocence, Schindler spots the small girl wandering amongst the black-and-white chaos of the Krakow Ghetto, and we follow her as she retreats into a building and takes shelter under a bed. When Schindler later notices her disheveled corpse carted past him to be incinerated, he is understandably horrified, unable to understand how the soldiers could possibly destroy something so innocent. This event memorably signifies the turning-point of Schindler"s attitudes towards the carnage, fuelling his desire to save as many Jews as possible.
Long known as a "blockbuster" filmmaker – with such adventure classics as "Jaws," "E.T. The Extra Terrestrial" and "Raiders of the Lost Ark" to his name - "Schindler"s List" was - and remains - Steven Spielberg"s most mature directorial effort. Working with a screenplay that Steven Zaillian adapted from Thomas Keneally"s Booker Prize-winning "Schindler"s Ark," Spielberg treats the subject matter with the respect it deserves. Wisely choosing to depict the events as realistically as possible, Spielberg allows the images to speak for themselves. Flawless acting, stunning cinematography and a haunting John Williams score excel this film above all others of the 1990s. This is the powerful story of the difference that just one man can make, and it is a story that deserves to be seen by all. We can only feel grateful that it was Steven Spielberg who chose to be at the helm.
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Rather than impress you (the reader) with a grandeur review of the movie, I will sum up what the people are saying about this movie called Schindler"s List.
It"s brilliant, beautifully shot in black and white, but it"s a Spielberg film, it did have it"s share of flaws.
Despite the many rants from other users saying that "if it"s Spielberg, it mustn"t be that good," I still can"t understand why people would rate this film with the lowest rating possible(1 out of 10, which = awful movie).
I rated this film a 10 out of 10. Why? "Now come on, Dude, it"s a Hollywood Movie" I was told by a fellow student in school. Yes, but when was the last time any Hollywood made a movie like this? When was the last time you saw a Hollywood Movie that was actually worth watching for 3 whole hours? I appreciate that any kind of film that is anything as dramatic as this can actually get made in Hollywood today, let alone get made way back in 1993. I find this film great for the fact that this doesn"t stick to every Hollywood stereotype, cliche, bullsh**, and lie that seems to fill most Hollywood Movies.
Flaws. Let"s face it, pretty much every film has them, even a huge movie loving geek like myself knows that. Yes, the ending is a bit pretentious(but I felt that the ending for Saving Private Ryan was a bit pretentious too, though I still think that it"s also an excellent film). Having seen this a few times already I can see where the arguments over the character lacking enough depth and being rather 2-dimensional have some truth in them.
Schindler"s List, like any other film, has flaws. Truth is that any film, whether it be directed by Kubrick, Stone, Tarantino, Malick, or Spielberg, will most likely have flaws no matter how noticeable or unnoticeable they are.
What I feel after several viewings. Despite the films flaws, it stands out as a very moving, well-intentioned, strong, excellent, and remarkable film. See if you want to, nobody is forcing you to see this movie. I, like many others who haven"t fallen into the "Everything that is Spielberg sucks" crowd, can"t deny what a powerful film this is and what a great contribution to movie cinema history it is.
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Many people have told me how devastated they were when they saw this movie. But I was just bored. We talked about it and, in the discussions that followed, I was accused of not caring about the victims of the Holocaust. One person even said I was denying the Holocaust happened!
And that soured me on the movie even more. The fact is, Holocaust movies have insurance against criticism: if you say the movie is a waste of time, someone might attribute your opinion to the Holocaust itself. I don"t understand it, but that weird emotional blackmail made me really uncomfortable with Schindler"s List.
I thought Liam Neeson was horrible. His acting is very stiff and unconvincing. The use of hand-held cameras and black-and-white cinematography *should* work, but ultimately they amounted to subtle special effects.
I thought the movie was emotionally flat, as well. I watched each character go through the motions, wondering when something unexpected would happen. The horror of the Holocaust is shown in an almost clinical way.
I don"t know. I just felt that this movie would feel less like a bid for an Oscar and more like a personal film.
At the risk of being a complete jerk, I"ll give Spielberg this advice: Do it again. Make another Holocaust movie. Why not? He finished Kubrick"s "AI." Kubrick had another movie in the planning stages, a Holocaust film called "Aryan Papers" (aka "Wartime Lies"). I hope he"ll finish *that* Kubrick movie, too, and create a better Holocaust film, something I can sink into and be surprised by, something that feels much more personal.
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I mean, has enough time passed? Or has the release of *Schindler"s List* on DVD fueled a new hushed awe towards the picture?
Spielberg"s critic-proof Holocaust film has several problems, the biggest of which is the way it turns a horrible real-life tragedy into a three-hanky melodrama. I continue to maintain that the Holocaust is generally unfilmable, in terms of what we might call a standard movie. Generally unfilmable, but not inevitably unfilmable. Off the top of my head, I can recommend two recent films on this subject: Francesco Rosi"s *The Truce*, and Costa-Gavras" *Amen". Both films approach this material with far more nuance than Spielberg"s film, which, I repeat, is weepy melodrama. (And as such, treads a fine line between reverence and tastelessness.) For that matter, Polanski"s *The Pianist* gives us a more unique approach than what we get here, which is a movie that features a hero whom your average American multiplex popcorn-tub-muncher can easily identify with: a gregarious capitalist named Oskar Schindler (Liam Neeson) who, despite all the war-profiteering (read: "initiative"), turns out to have a heart of gold. Or marshmallow mush. Please don"t bother pointing out that this is a "true story": those who"ve read the actual book by Thomas Kenneally on which the movie is based will be rather shocked by the movie"s willingness to sacrifice verisimilitude for "dramatic license". The biggest example of this is the "villain" of the piece, SS-Kommandant Amon Goeth (Ralph Fiennes in a career-making performance). The screenplay ladles all sorts of Freudian syrup over this character, meaning: he"s crazy as a loon. So much for the "banality of evil": instead, we get, via Fiennes" Method-y performance, a study in mere neurosis instead of a rigorous examination of the murderous pathology that"s inherent in humanity. Spielberg can"t resist having Herr Goeth develop a crush on one of his Jewish housemaids, and we get the requisite "Hath not a Jew eyes" speech, delivered with what is supposed to be irony by Fiennes. Then he beats the crap out of her. Change the plot particulars, and you"ve got your standard "Lifetime Channel" movie about an abusive husband.
Don"t get me wrong, the film is not a total waste of time: even melodrama has cumulative virtues, and many of the scenes in *Schindler"s List* are quite affecting, particularly the very last sequence in which the surviving "Schindler Jews" appear (in color), accompanied by the actors who portrayed them. They pay tribute to Schindler by laying stones on his grave. Moving stuff. Ben Kingsley, who portrays the worry-wart Itzhak Stern, must also receive special mention. And Spielberg"s technical mastery is never open to question: this is one beautifully mounted film, impeccably photographed. The set-design, which is called upon to perform the daunting task of replicating Nazi labor camps and so forth, is beyond reproach. Proving that he"s still the same guy who directed *Jaws*, Spielberg is able to send chills up our spines when a train full of Jewish women & girls is accidentally routed to Auschwitz: it"s a night-scene, replete with a light-tower that approximates a beacon from Hell.
But, all-in-all, the movie remains an elementary approach to the Holocaust genre. It"s tailor-made for desultory viewings by 12th-graders: "Hey mom, we learned about the Holocaust in class today." Nothing wrong with that, but aren"t the kids better served by a FACTUAL documentary about this subject, rather than an Oscar-baited exercise in self-importance? You decide.
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已经尽量找了四篇比较长的影评了,希望楼主能满意.
- 苏州马小云
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Schindler"s List is a long and tough movie to watch. But it pays dividends.
We"re all pretty familiar with the story - a German businessman enlists Jews to work in his factory. At first, I believe, as an opportunist, for the Jews are cheap, readily available labour. He does, however, become gradually aware that his factory means the difference between life and death.
And so his "list" is born. A list of Jews that he requires to "work" for him. It is, in reality, a list of life and Schindler knows it.
Liam Neeson fills Schindler"s boots well. You soon forget he is Neeson at all. Ben Kingsley is, ofcourse, his ever-reliable brilliant self. And Ralph Fiennes easily creates one of the screens most hateful villians (sadly, a villian who actually existed).
There are some tough scenes (most notably, the liquidation of the ghetto, Goeth"s (Fiennes) brutality in the camp) and it"s all filmed in beautiful black & white - except for the highlighted girl in the red dress, which has a brilliant symbolic meaning later in the film.
A terrible chapter in humanity"s history but one told so well by Spielberg and co.
It has a powerful and lasting effect - just as it should.
- 真可
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还要英文的。。。汗