The Factory: Schindler's List

After such summer smashes as Jaws, Raiders of the Lost Ark, E.T., and Jurassic Park, and the success of his primitive but utterly fun TV movie Duel, Steven Spielberg finally makes a serious and gratifying movie that still stands to this day as his magnum opus. This may not be the 8th greatest American film of all time (as said by the AFI), but it deserves a spot in at least the Top 50, as it is fearless in taking on one of history's most difficult subjects, the Holocaust. (As a friend said) save Liam Neeson's emotional "I should've saved one more" breakdown towards the end, this film is note-perfect. Neeson plays Oskar Schindler, a industrial member of the Nazi party who is focused on one thing: money. He decides to hire an accountant (Ben Kingsley) and start a business of assembling pots and pans that Jews can work in. We see early on that Schindler is not at all caring about his workers. But this all changes with a new mindset later. Another factor: Amon Goeth (Ralph Fiennes), a faux-enigmatic Nazi who snipes Jews in his spare time from just killing them on the streets of Krakow. Why do I say faux-enigmatic? Well, how do you explain the fact that after hearing a thought from Schindler about pardoning Jews he releases a Jewish servant and then momentarily kills him after a change of mind? The straight truth is that he is a devoted killer of Jewish people, but he is also helping Schindler out a bit in his cause of freeing some Jews. The similarities that these two very different men bare are strange and eery. Anyways, between the folds of the main quest are mini-stories about Jews who are on the run from the Nazis. These are extremely compelling, and within minutes you are familiarized and acquainted with these people. Also, beneath the lead idea are some of the most violent scenes of all time, in which many Jews are executed and it is very disturbing. There are also other very memorable but disturbing scenes scattered through the movie as well. Speaking of memorable, this movie is unforgettable and is a cinematic wonderland, filled with sparing amounts of color in the majority of black and white, such as the red dress that a girl is wearing which Schindler sees in the stages of running through the streets and dying. Also, a final scene shows the real life survivors alongside the actors, in a brilliant and great touch. Now, to the acting: Neeson is pretty good, but is memorable for his stern and heroic presence. Fiennes, though, plays Goeth with flare and does a great job. All the minor performances are also spectacular. Bottom line: a near-flawless, no-nonsense movie that is flat-out outstanding. A

Man Alive: The Third Man

Film noir at its absolute best. This is a poster movie for the genre and it is the perfect mystery flick, rivaling the likes of Orson Welles' great work Touch of Evil. Which is to say that Carol Reed is an outstanding director and can make a spectacular film. His film is a story of murder unlike most noir flicks, as it involves an American who is not a detective but actually an author of many westerns. This man is Holly Martins (Joseph Cotton), and he comes to Vienna to see Harry Lime. When he arrives, he finds that Lime has been accidentally run over by a car. He hears this from a porter in Lime's building. He also meets a friend of Lime's, Kurtz (Ernst Deutsch), but he has a totally different story. When Martins hears this, he starts to become suspicious. He decides to dig deeper and meets Anna Schmidt (Valli), Lime's lover. At this point, most noirs tend to fall into romance, but this movie doesn't, as the relationship between Martins and Schmidt seems pretty business only. Anyways, the two interact and sort of flirt and go to see the porter again. How is this significant? Well, a little boy sees the porter and Martins arguing. When the porter ends up murdered the next day, he tells the police to go after Martins as he thinks he's the one. This ends up not really mattering, as the police are not really concerned with Martins. Meanwhile, Schmidt's passport is being checked and it is found that the passport is foraged and she must go back to Czechoslovakia. At this point, the movie is falling into the realm of a typical film noir, as it is just kind of only a whodunit. Enter Lime (Orson Welles), who steps out of the shadows and shakes things up. Significance? Lime has been giving out bad penicillin to hospital patients and deeply damaging their health conditions. So the police are after him. The only person Lime can trust is his good friend Holly, and this is the way that Major Calloway (Trevor Howard) wants to catch him. So Lime is chased into the sewers and is pursued in one of the best scenes in cinema history. Let me sum it up. The camerawork is masterful, the setting is priceless, and the possibilities are endless. Best of all, it actually makes Lime look human, as he is, in the end, defeated, as he is trying to crawl up through a sewer grate and is executed by his good friend Holly (in a nice Hitchcockian shot). Peter Bogdanovich said in a Criterion introduction for this film that color distracts the viewers from the beauty of a film. It especially applies to this scene. This long section in the sewers needs black and white to reveal its full potential. The rest of the film after this is a set of beautiful shots, especially a long shot of Schmidt walking briskly past Martins, rather than even say a word. It is totally priceless. Now to the technicalities: the acting is great. Cotton is not the most interesting of actors, but he does his job nicely. Anyways, he has Valli and Welles to help him. They both turn in great performances. The script is sharp, adapted by Graham Greene from his own novel. The cinematography is stellar, especially in the sewer sequence. And finally, the music ("The Third Man Theme", which plays throughout the movie, with Anton Karas on zither) is what it's all about. It is a genius composition and is perfect for this film. Bottom line: most film noir films fall into the same drowsy structure. But this great is alive, amplified, and one for the ages. A