Until now!
Yes, I know! I know, I know! I have never seen Steven Spielberg's masterpiece, Schindler's List. This is my secret shame. Maybe I told myself that I didn't want to "put myself through that" or it was too hard to watch. Then I realized something: I bitched at the very same reasoning when people refused to watch this year's Oscar-winning 12 Years a Slave. I was being a hypocrite.
Funnily enough, I own Schindler's List. It stared at me from my living room bookshelf every time I went to select something to watch. How in the living hell have I not seen this movie?!
I'm not going to try and impose my opinion about this classic and important film on anyone. Schindler's List gave me nightmares. Films that deal with man's humanity against other man is a common theme in epic, sweeping cinema, but Schindler's List was so upsetting that I had to watch it in segments (I usually watch movies and television before bed, so the imagery from Spielberg's opus haunted me for a few nights).
How the hell did Tommy Lee Jones beat Ralph Fiennes for Best Supporting Actor at the Oscars that year? Tom Hanks was amazing in Philadelphia (and walked away with Best Actor in a Leading Role), but Liam Neeson had the harder role as Schindler. The way he acts with Fiennes and then acts with the workers of his factory is nothing short of astonishing. In one of the final scenes, Schindler breaks down, remorseful that he didn't save more lives (despite saving 1200 people)...my Goooooddddd It's one of the most heart-wrenching things I've ever seen. I also loved the relationship between Neeson and Ben Kingsley.
I can't believe it took me so long to see it. On to the next neglected masterpiece!
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