European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 25, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse                                A Schindler a list pm both Davidz portrays Helen Hirsch and Ralph Fiennes is is Boss Amon goeth in Schindler s list Spielberg a touch produces just the right tone by Jack Mathews new Day a a few years ago people in Hollywood f were chuckling Over the comment by Steven Spielberg that he had read Alice. Walkers the color purple Only because it was a Little Book meaning that there weren to so darn Many pages to muddle through. The admission confirmed what most of his detractors had Felt All along that the Wunderkind of the Box office a Genius at creating film action and manipulating audience emotions was an intellectual lightweight when dealing with real subjects and they could Only shudder at the Prospect of his doing to Thomas Mcneally s historical novel Schindler a list what he did to the color purple. With the arrival in Heaters of Schindler a Hist the True Story of a German industrialist played by Liam Neeson who saved More than 1,300 jews from the nazi death Camps it is As if no one else could have done it. The 3-hour and 15-minute, Black and White film is a Masterwork measured against any Standard and by far the most important movie event of 1993. If Spielberg is not rewarded with an Academy award for this piece his color purple fans can break into their old a it s a conspiracy refrain and we can All sing along. Spielberg said from the beginning that he intended to make Schindler s list for himself which we took to mean he would not Compromise the material in order to please the broadest possible audience an urge As Strong in him As a cat having to scratch a Couch. He does overplay one Lute emotional scene but it is an otherwise remarkably unsentimental picture. In retrospect it would have been difficult even for the old Spielberg to treat the holocaust As entertainment but there was Norway of anticipating How Blunt a Story he would Tell. Using Hund held cameras for almost half the action Spielberg has Given his Camp and jewish ghetto scenes the look of a documentary and intercut them in such seamless fashion with the dramatic Story you feel you Are being sucked in As a heartsick witness to a Man made catastrophe. 1 i cannot recall a fictional film where death was treated with such jolting realism. The random murders of jews most of them shot in Back of the head occur full on in front of the camera and the victims bodies hurtle to the ground like sacks of wheat dropped from a truck. Blood spurts from their wounds with each weakening heart beat an spreads in pools around them. There is no campfire Story telling Security to this horror Story which was adapted by Steven Zaillian from the novel. Spielberg knew that for us to be truly revolted by the holocaust we had to see it for ourselves he also knew that what would elevate the film and keep the ghouls away was that the madness of nazi anti semitism was counterbalanced by the humanity of one German who worked against if. Oskar Schindler is a wonderfully Rich and ambivalent character an apolitical Hustler when we meet him an opportunist wanting Only to use the Var to make Money and live the Good life which he defines As having Fine clothes Fine food and wine and plenteous pretty women. Neeson the tall engaging Irish actor who stands out in any crowd makes Schindler immediately likable even while schmoozing the nazis in a nightclub and cheating in Earnest on his wife Caroline Goodall. This is a Story not about a Saint though the Schindler jews and their descendants 6,000 in All May disagree but about a Man turned extraordinary by events that pushed the boundaries of his conscience. The first Section of the film deals with the contrast Between the lives of Schindler with All of his privileges and the polish jews who were in March 1940, being ripped from their Homes and herded into a 16-Square Block ghetto near Krakow. Spielberg accomplishes this with the first of several sequences of intercut scenes moving Back and Forth from Schindler dressing for a night on the town and jews Rich and poor being checked in by nazi clerks at the Entrance to the ghetto. Later Spielberg uses the technique to switch the focus of the Story to the contrast Between Schindler the decent German and Amon goeth Ralph Fiennes the sadistic commander of a Krakow labor Camp. A fascinating relationship develops Between these two men Kindred spirits As hustlers and Womanizer but moral opposites nonetheless. There Are other Strong performances Here chief among them the remarkably balance portrait of res int and fear accomplished by Ben Kingsley As. Itzhak Stem the quietly Brave accountant who turned Schindler s factory into a Haven for doomed jews and triggered Schindler a conscience. If you re looking for pure heroism i nominate Stern. But the Star of this Enterprise is Spielberg who had the vision and let s face it the Power to bring the Story to the screen in such unblinking terms. Whatever else Spielberg does in the rest of his amazing career 1993 is going to be hard to top. First a Jurassic Park sets the world record for Box office grosses. Now this perhaps the strongest film Ever made about the 20th Century s darkest event. Director focuses on by Hillel Italie the associated press 1 e is Middle aged now twice married his. T town hair speckled with Gray. He was born just a year after president Clinton and his films have raised enough Revenue to finance the annual budget of the food and drug  there remains Soni ething innocent oddly touching about Steven Spielberg. Is watching him walk with his arms stiffened and close to his sides. Its seeing his body buried under layers of Corduroy and Wool the Way he presses his clasped hands against his stomach and leans his head Forward As if to Tell you the scariest Story you be Ever heard. Spielberg who will turn 46 by the end of the year is the most successful director in movie history with worldwide grosses Topping $1 billion in a medium that thrives on invention and imagination he is our reigning Rube Goldberg maker of such fantastic contraptions As . The extra terrestrial and close encounters of the third kind squeezed into the Corner of a tiny hotel room sniffling from a cold Spielberg rejects All the hype about being Peter pan the boy who never grew up. That does no to mean however he no longer counts himself among the believers. What has changed is that instead of spaceships or cuddly aliens its Judaism that has him feeling like a kid again. A once Max was born 1 really wanted him to be raised jewish. Even though i did no to have the happiest jewish childhood i thought it would be irresponsible of me not to give him a Choice by showing him a said Spielberg who Liscs with his second wife actress Kate Capshaw and whose three children include a son Max from his marriage to actress Amy Irving. A and i began Reading him books. The children a books i was Reading to him kind of reawakened an. Interest in myself also a nostalgia for what i had been exposed to As a 5 and 6 and 7 and 8-year-old." Schindler a list his new film is both his first feature with an overtly jewish theme and his most am. Bilious Effort yet to break Down that door marked a serious artists  based on a True Story Schindler a list stars Liam Neeson As Oskar Schindler a German profiteer who set up a factory in Poland during world War ii. As the jews first were pushed into ghettos and then shipped off to death Camps Schindler helped them out. Practically bankrupting himself with bribes cafes says in is Loo Early to determine when Schindler s list will reach its Heaters. A. Universal Liam Neeson and Ben Kingsley assemble the list. Pace 18 sunday december 26. 1993