I remember leaving the movie theater when I saw this film for the first time. The last part of the film with the real Holocaust survivors was very moving. But leaving the theater, I was angry. I knew that there was a spiritual darkness that drove the ugliness during that time period. I hated the ugliness. I hated the hate.
When young people today get a bad attitude and try out their own version of arrogant ugliness, I want to show them this film. I want to show them what ugliness can do. Forget detention after school. Show them this film and other like it that portray the bad people as bad. When films come out that show a bad guy as the hero that everyone wants to cheer for, I shudder. This film showed a character who found out he had a heart. He turned from evil and used what he had for good. Kind of basic, I think. But some people today aren’t getting that.
This film is about 195 minutes long or 3.25 hours. Hollywood produced a lot of long movies in the 1960s, including: Cleopatra, from 1963, which ran 243 minutes; Lawrence of Arabia, from 1962, which ran 216 minutes; Hamlet, from 1964, which ran 191 minutes; The Good The Bad And The Ugly, from 1966, which ran 179 minutes; and The Longest Day, from 1962, which ran 178 minutes.
According to imdb.com, Schindler’s List was “The most expensive black & white film ever made to date. The previous record was held for over 30 years by another film about World War II, The Longest Day (1962).” The same site also stated, “Without adjusting for inflation, this is the highest-grossing black-and-white film of all time (taking in $96 million domestically and $321 million worldwide).”
Schindler’s List won seven Oscars: Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing, Best Music - Original Score, Best Writing of a Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium, Best Director, and Best Picture.
