European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 25, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse But will the Oscar Steven Spielberg directs Liam Nelson on location in Poland while filming the epic Schindler a list. Universal to the nazis he managed to save More than 1,000 jews by keeping them under employment and also to run an arms factory that produced no arms. A i just loved How complicated Oskar Schindler was Spielberg said. Quot he Wasny to a jew saving jews. He Wasny to an american intelligence officer. He was a German Catholic Industrial War profiteer interested in making a lot of Money to have a lot of women and drink a lot of Cognac. Quot then in the Middle of All that he discovered there was no difference Between himself and the jews the nazis were exterminating and he rescued them and that to me was a very intriguing Way for me accepting a holocaust movie As opposed to a barrage of imagery of nothing but while Spielberg says he never has Felt prouder of his heritage the making of Schindler a list was not without an element of atonement. Its not so much because he largely stayed away from Judaism or any ethnicity in his previous work but because of How he avoided it in his private life. The eldest of four children Spielberg was born in Cincinnati in 1947. His father an electronics and computer expert moved the family All Over the county from Ohio to new Jersey to Arizona to California. Spielberg deny knowing where he came from. For most of his Early years he attended an orthodox synagogue and lived in a Kosher Home. With several relatives having been killed in the holocaust Spielberg never stopped hearing stories about what the nazis had done to the jews a whenever you re 6 years old and hear the word a murder a As a kid you perk up when you hear your father and Mother talking about the murderers Quot he said. A there was the concert pianist who had All his fingers broken by the nazis because he was a jew and he played so Well. Just stories like that would come out one after another. 1 never listened to the stories like they really happened they were just Grimm fairy tales that you would but in the outside world he spent his time in schools and neighbourhoods that were virtually All Gentile. One incident still Shames him in High school he was approached by a bully who asked him How he spelled his last name a a Spielberg meant he was jewish a Spielburg Quot would make him a German. A i said a Well its sort of dissembled and 1 said a its by re a and 1 lied to him a Spielberg recalled. A i went Home and i said a any parents 1 said a is it True that by re Means to Are German and be re Means you Are jewish a a my mom cried when i first told her this she cried. And i Felt she was very sorry that there was even a subconscious attempt for them to assimilate into the majority world. My dad was upwardly Mobile with computers and All his friends were in computers and they were mainly gentiles Quot had Spielberg a would be attacker Laid a hand on the movie camera he was fond of carrying around the myth of David and Goliath might have been lived out again. When it came to movies he was a giant killer Gutsy enough As a teen Ager to Bluff his Way onto the set of an Alfred Hitchcock film. Operating for years As his family so official photographer a Spielberg developed an almost primal connection to filmmaking. He quickly progressed from simply aiming the Lens at his subject a reproducing reality a to experimenting with trick shots and intricate camera angles a a improving Quot reality. A i wallowed in magic a he said a and i wallowed in fantasy because that in effect was an escape from growing up alone and growing up unpopular and basically ashamed of being jewish because i was raised in Gentile neighbourhoods where i was a spectacle because of both my semitic looks and my last his grades were too poor to make it into film school so Spielberg studied English at California n state Etc Gillege at Long Beach. In his spare time he made a Sadr film ambling that brought him a seven year Deal with Universal pictures to division. He directed Joan Crawford in the Pilot of Rod scaling a a night gallery As Wellas episodes of afar Cus Welby and Columbo and acclaimed made for to movie Dud. After flopping in 1974 with his first feature the sugar land express Spielberg followed with jaws the biggest Box office sue Cess of its time. He broke the record again with . In 1982 and most recently with Jurassic Park. But when he has tried to break that magic spell to prove he has something to say Spielberg Only has reaffirmed his critics Contention he does no to Cut it in the adult world. He admitted to holding Back in he past when dealing with More serious material an example being the color purple his much criticized adaptation of the Alice Walker novel. Quot i did soften the Book because i could not bring myself in 1985 around to shooting some of the scenes Quot he said. A i could t shoot the scene where Shug shows Celie her genitals in the Mirror and describes the gifts she has a woman. Because it embarrassed me. Would it Embarrass me today no 1 could have filmed it today As Alice Walker wrote Spielberg remembered a conversation he had with his wife a year ago. He was comparing his life to the plot of Preston Sturgest Sullivan s travels in which a popular director vows to film a a message Quot picture called of brother where Art thou laughing As he summed up the plot of Sturgest film Spielberg spoke of How Sullivan dressed up like a tramp to find out who the a people Quot really were How he ended up in a prison work Camp and watched his fellow prisoners howl with laughter at a Disney cartoon. Spielberg noted the most important difference be tween himself and Sullivan. In the end Sturgest character decides he a better off sticking to comedies. Spielberg has gone ahead and made his of brother where Art thou. The kicker is he does no to have a clue How to follow it up. A ill the most successful filmmaker in history again be snubbed by Academy award voters three critics groups have announced their annual awards. All named Schindler a list its the years Best picture All chose someone other than Steven Spielberg As Best director. Critics have split their votes before but ifs a bad sign for Spielberg. His 1985 the color purple re Sci cd 11 Oscar nominations including one for Best picture but the director was left out. He has been nominated just three times and his Only Oscar is a lifetime achievement award Given in 1987. Quot i think he s been skunked More than once Quot said Playboy critic Bruce Williamson a member of the new York film critics Circle which chose the piano director Jane Campion Over Spielberg for Best director. A i think its really Peculiar. It makes me wonder if he a just too Rich and Oscar followers have offered a couple of theories on Spielberg a failure to score with Academy award voters. Over the past 20 years the Academy has come to prefer slow a a serious works such As dances with Wolf Sci the last emperor and Gandhi rather than big commercial films especially adventures Spielberg a specially. Also it has Long been believed that the Industry resents Spielberg a astonishing Success. He was not even 30 when he made jaws. By age 40, he had i acc cd . The extra terrestrial and raiders of the lost Ark. The los Angeles film critics association also so. Inc cd Spielberg. Association president Henry Sheehan a critic with the Orange Coli qty Register said his Peers have no grudge against Spielberg. A people say we deliberately went out of our Way to shun Spielberg but we re not trying to put Dawn anybody we re trying to Honor someone Quot Sheehan said. Quot the critics Are not a Bunch of boobs. They. Know Schindler a list was Best picture and that Spielberg directed the Best picture. That does t mean the Best director is the one who directed the Best one other group of critics also bypassed Spielberg. The National Board of review voted Schindler a list Best picture but cited Martin Scorsese of the age of innocence As the Best director. Spielberg a film is the sort of movie the Academy likes. It is a three hour mostly Black and White drama about Oskar Schindler,1 a German industrialist who saved 1,300 jews from the nazis. It stars Liam Neeson. Never has Spielberg received such a favourable response for a a serious movie. The new York times Janet Maslin praised his a electrifying creative intelligence Quot while the new yorker s Terrence Rafferty compared Schindler a list to Dav. Griffith a classic the birth of a nation. President Clinton even digressed during a speech about aids to offer a plug. Spielberg whose publicist did not return a Call for comment has denied making the film to get an Oscar in the Washington Post he noted that Alfred Hitchcock also never won for Best director though he admitted he would t object to winning. The Academy of motion picture arts and sciences which votes for the oscars has u membership of 5,300 directors actors technicians and others in the movie Industry. There Are 4,698 voting members. A major test for Spielberg and the oscars which will be presented at the end of March could come March 5 when the Winner of the directors Guild award is announced. In the award s 45-year history Only three directors have been cited without going on to win the Oscar. One of them was Spielberg chosen for the color purple. Hillel ita1.ie december 26, 1g93 sun0ay Page 19
