The epic and visually telling chronicle of a hedonist turned guardian angel once he witnessed the atrocities of the Final Solution.
Say what you will about me not being a diligent enough film student to have watched this film yet, but tonight all that changes, leaving me still a rolling long list of seminal films to watch before I could ever hope to call myself a “good film student”. After reading Schindler’s Ark, it was only natural for me to watch Schindler’s List, so in the small hours of the night while restless and eating chips and gravy, I wrenched my stomach at the atrocities I studied of so long ago in high school.
I confess, I’ve never watched a Holocaust film, and no the opening scenes of X-Men First Class don’t make it a Holocaust film, so witnessing a cinematic representation of a horror that remains unimaginable save from the spine-twisting descriptions of a history book was quite a cocktail of terror and poignancy. The generous runtime of 3 and a quarter hours, in my opinion captures a great deal from the book, some rather unforgettable moments slipping through the net however but I’ll let that slide. Plus, I couldn’t help but perk up in bed whenever I’d see a location in Krakow that I’ve visited with my girlfriend, next time I’m there I’ll delve even deeper in this cinematic immersion.
Alright let’s cut to the formal elements of this behemoth, shall we? I love the fact that it’s in black/white, no better aesthetic would’ve fit this film better, with very picky strokes of colour for overt symbolism like the candles and the girl in the red coat. Makes it pretty damn easy for your average movie-goer to pay attention to those specific elements, and however much it may seem a bit on the nose, I’ll nod in its favour because not everyone wants to dedicate weeks of their short-lived life poring frame by frame over the whole film looking for meaning where there really isn’t. Some very beautiful framing throughout the film and at no point was I bored or at all tired of the camera work despite me teetering on the precipice of sleepiness. I would’ve liked a bit more native Polish and German rather than English because it’s a bit daunting when characters would respond with “Ja” or “Dzien Dobry” and then continue to verbalise the rest of the sentence in English, but I am fully aware of the marketing and accessibility reasons behind this language choice. The melancholic violin soundtrack along with master John Williams creating this violent and blood chilling soundscape that’s often quite comedic in its melody at times when there it’s the pall of a concentration camp chimney hanging above our characters. Married to all of these stylistic elements, the acting was sublime, with intense and visceral emotions spilling out of the pores of the actors faces, all of them had me sold on their trepidation. Ralph Fiennes of course stole the show for me and he totally filled in the visual image of Amon I had while reading the book (maybe he could’ve done with a stockier frame but hey man I can’t make unscrupulous demands such as these decades after the film comes out).
This film kept me awake for hours and I don’t regret a single moment of it for it not only reawakened the long-forgotten gravity of shame and anger I had at humans for fucking up this badly but did so with such a marvellous grace and exquisite crystalline melancholia that I can’t recommend this film enough to the small rank of people who for some reason or another also haven’t seen this film.
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