Steven Spielberg

*****
5/5

This outstanding Holocaust drama, based on Thomas Keneally's bestseller Schindler's Ark, won seven Oscars, including best picture, director (Steven Spielberg), adapted screenplay and score. It tells the story of Second World War entrepreneur Oskar Schindler (played by Liam Neeson), whose operation to supply the German war effort led him to be the unexpected saviour of more than 1,000 Jewish factory workers in Poland. Spielberg uses stark, brutal realism to put over his powerful points about racism and ethnic cleansing, and the use of stunning black-and-white photography and gritty hand-held camera footage give the film a potent documentary style. Ralph Fiennes invokes an awesome mixture of revulsion and sympathy as the inhuman Nazi commandant, Amon Goeth, and Neeson matches him with a heartfelt performance as the enigmatic Schindler. Ben Kingsley is also superb as Schindler's Jewish accountant and conscience.

(1993)
US   Colour   187 mins