Krakow Kracker. Review on Schindler's List Movie

A very famous french philosopher once casually remarked that there is nothing as, a completed piece of art. Meaning if an artist says, '' I have finished the painting'', It is strictly for the birds. The painter can still add on to the painting. Ab initio.

I used to be a militant supporter of this theory. Then I saw Schindler's List. Then the theory took a summersault. Then it flew off, from the nearest window.

Having seen the movie umpteen number of times (and in the process analyzing it mercilessly) I always arrive at the same forgone conclusion. All aspects of this movie comfortably hugged the zenith of the art of movie making, as we know it. Each sequence, each shot flits seamlessly into the next. Like a ballerina pirouetting. Every scene has thousands of stories to tell. Remember the beginning dinner-cabaret party?

Only three scenes in the movie contain color. Beginning shot, the ending part and the famous girl in red scene. As to why the director chose to restrict his choice of colors, two main theories abound.

One, he would not have been able to show the actual crimes perpetrated in true light had he been liberal with his choice of colors.

Second, initially Spielberg was told to dissuade himself from this project. He being a jew, the detractors might have called 'SL' another piece of propaganda trash. Therefore, to stick as close to reality as was possible Spielberg chose the medium of black white.

The scenes that I liked best have Ralph Fiennes doing most of the talking. I have become a major fan of his after this movie. He plays the role of Untersturmfuhrer Amon Goeth (pronounced 'gert') a rogue SS commander, almost to perfection. (After thought: 'rogue SS' is a classic oxymoron). His freshly scrubbed school-boy face with aquiline features, a long slender aryan

nose, add to that his blonde mane and crisp nasal voice with a twang and it seems he was born with a sole purpose of rendering his services in taking this role to dizzying perfection.

Another thing, his eyes. I am at a loss to describe them but they reflected an eerie quality about them. They sure gave me the jeepers.

One shot goes like this. After a particularly debilitating hedonistic orgy Schindler drums into Amon that real power lies not in killing but in letting the other person go scot free. Only a real king is able to do this. This gets Amon thinking. What comes now is pure caviar. Amon, convinced that there is more to him than meets the casual eye takes a soulful look in the mirror, traces the contours of his face, admires his classic nose and sees in mirror not his own self but probably the reflection of God.

Brilliant. Conclusion - some of the best scenes in my favourite movies are devoid of any talking. Remember 'Almost Famous'?,the scene where the kid-journalist is propped on the bed in his bare necessities and couple of co-eds are running around him throwing confetti. Kate Hudson hides her eyes and then looking from in between the fingers gives him a to-die-for smile....all in slow motion! One hell of a movie.

Back on track.

The girl in a red dress scene. One of the most touching scenes in the movie. Sounds like rhetoric but there is no other way to put it. Storm troopers are in a killing frenzy and there is chaos everywhere. Spielberg is terrifyingly authentic when he shows bullets spraying -> clothes tattering and -> blood spurting out in jets. In the ensuing melee, Schindler spots a young girl with a red frock - a small speck of drab color on the otherwise large black- white panaroma. Evidently Schindler is mesmerized by her hapless plight to slaughter all around. Scene is set with an angst ridden back-ground score which gets occasionally interrupted by the impertinent blips of machine-gun fire. Extremely heart wrenching.

This scene marks the change in Oskar Schindler, that from being a war-profiteer to the one saving as many jewish lives as possible.

Last scene. It aptly gives a pointer to the bitter irony, of what it means to be a jew. A grim reminder of their bleak past and bare-knuckled future.

Germany is finally defeated. In the movie, Churchill's voice is heard on the radio reading the instrument of Germany's surrender. Jews are finally set free but they have no clue about where to go, being totally uprooted.

When the remaining jews ask their rescuer, a lone tattered russian army officer on horse back,'' Where should we go?'',

this is what he replies,

''I wouldn't go to the east, they hate us there. I wouldn't go to the west either, if I were you.''

Grunge 'W' thinks : This movie shoould be translated into our shudh matra bhasha and shown to all the idiots who call themselves RSS, VHP types and commit all sorts of crimes in the name of religion, country et al.

PS: Folks I 'll be taking extra care about my editing habits. It's just that I have been writing & posting while at work-station and whenever am about to finish and submit, my project leader starts buzzing around. Won't give a good impression for a fresh-out-of-college, wet behind the ears trainee, will it?. So the blunders-mismatches and other typos.

Glad for your time though.