Schindler's List

In German-occupied Poland during World War II, industrialist Oskar Schindler gradually becomes concerned for his Jewish workforce after witnessing their persecution by the Nazis.
IMDb Rating: 9.0
Metascore: 95
Storyline: Oskar Schindler is a vain and greedy German businessman who becomes an unlikely humanitarian amid the barbaric German Nazi reign when he feels compelled to turn his factory into a refuge for Jews. Based on the true story of Oskar Schindler who managed to save about 1100 Jews from being gassed at the Auschwitz concentration camp, it is a testament to the good in all of us.

8. Schindler's List (1993). Probably the best dramatic depiction of the horrors of the Nazi extermination regime. Director Steven Spielberg avoids preachiness by showing a dramatic story of one "righteous gentile" who helped save Jews from Auschwitz. Best libertarian moment: Oskar Schindler, played by Liam Neeson, is horseback riding near Krakow, Poland, and comes upon Nazis mistreating Jews and he realizes the Jews' humanity. From then on, he uses all his talents, resources, and cunning to save every person he can.

I haven't seen either Schindler's List or Philadelphia ... While Thomas Keneally's novel was fiction loosely based on fact, the Spielberg movie is far more loosely grounded fiction on the shaky foundation of a novel: fiction-squared, so to speak. Also, the idea that a German concentration camp commandant would shoot prisoners at random with a rifle, just for the sport, goes against everything we know about German military discipline or about the way any large concentration camp has to be run. These dramatic scenes in the movie, of course, have no grounding in historical fact whatever.

As much a history of the Holocaust as a story about Oskar Schindler ... Schindler was, like most entrepreneurs, motivated by a desire to effect positive change. The positive change he ultimately brought about was to spare hundreds from the Holocaust. This is a good example of one person making a difference in the face of authoritarian rule and probably one of the few even marginally happy stories to come out of the Nazi period ... In artistic terms, this is a well-assembled film with a moving John Williams musical score and inspired acting.