Perplexing Reviews

[Bojangles]

Post the criticker reviews that you don't understand or would like an explanation of.

My entry:

Schindler's List

This unique score reflects its unique status: as a film I have decided to rank, even though I haven't seen it.

Does this mean he finds the idea of a holocaust film exploitative and refuses to watch it?

[TheDenizen]

I don't think that's a simple case of a dropped zero...siegfriedwa hasn't rated any other film a 100. His top rating is 87. I stand by my theory that he was thinking "Tier 10" and just put in 10 by mistake.

[djross]

Schindler's List

This unique score reflects its unique status: as a film I have decided to rank, even though I haven't seen it.

Does this mean he finds the idea of a holocaust film exploitative and refuses to watch it?

A question about this review arose on an earlier occasion, in the course of a discussion about Steven Spielberg that took place in October 2011. My response at the time was as follows:

In relation to Schindler's List, no I have not seen the film. The "score" I've given it is really just an opportunity to leave a comment indicating that I have avoided viewing the movie. My feelings about this are related to the well-known views expressed by Stanley Kubrick and Claude Lanzmann, as well as those of the Jewish-Australian historian, Robert Manne (in a discussion actually of Benigni's Life is Beautiful, which I also have not seen; see the Manne citation in the following review of Benigni: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_h ... n28726858/). Of course, the aforementioned all chose to see the film, but I feel no need to do so.

In relation to the more general question asked on this occasion, I would note that I consider Claude Lanzmann's 1985 documentary, Shoah, for example, and Lina Wertmüller's 1975 feature, Seven Beauties, for another example, to be masterpieces.

[ShogunRua]

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_h ... n28726858/

Dead link.

[djross]

Apologies. Here is the link to the 1994 article by Robert Manne on Schindler's List that I was in fact originally thinking of:
http://newsstore.theage.com.au/apps/viewDocument.ac?docID=news940216_0127_4104

Claude Lanzmann on Schindler's List:
http://www.phil.uu.nl/~rob/2007/hum291/lanzmannschindler.shtml
And more recently:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/07/movies/07shoah.html?_r=2&adxnnl=1&pagewanted=all&adxnnlx=1355884751-CLAP02KnqkweXgMBHeoxtw

Stanley Kubrick's comment about Schindler's List can be found in this article:
http://www.visual-memory.co.uk/sk/page12a.htm

Manne's 1999 article on Life is Beautiful, a film that as mentioned above I also have not seen (but have not rated), can be found here:
http://newsstore.theage.com.au/apps/viewDocument.ac?docID=news990215_0367_9539

The following article by another author might also be referred to by readers interested in critiques of Life is Beautiful:
http://www.thefreelibrary.com/LIFE+IS+BEAUTIFUL.-a053985645

[ShogunRua]

Apologies. Here is the link to the 1994 article by Robert Manne on Schindler's List that I was in fact originally thinking of:
http://newsstore.theage.com.au/apps/viewDocument.ac?docID=news940216_0127_4104

A very foolish review, to be honest. The story of Schindler's Jews is an atypical one? Yeah, no kidding. The film makes this basic fact abundantly clear. And it's not like the story was conjured up by a screenwriter, either; it's actual documented history.

Similarly, I don't understand the problem with the ending being a moderately hopeful one. (Calling it "happy", like the review did, is an absurd stretch) After all, Hitler did fail in his quest to exterminate all the Jews. And the Schindler story is about thousands of people being saved that would have perished otherwise.

He is not criticizing the film on its merits, but rather, on his own ideal of what a great movie on the Holocaust should be like.

Yes, like djross, I loved "Seven Beauties", and it's actually my second favorite film of all time. And while I thought it was good, I didn't feel "Schindler's List" was great, either. However, that review above is just plain stupid.

[djross]

I don't understand the problem with the ending being a moderately hopeful one. [...] After all, Hitler did fail in his quest to exterminate all the Jews.

I can only say that this response seems to me to itself constitute strong evidence in favour of the kind of arguments being put by Manne, Lanzmann and Kubrick.

[Filligan]

Say what you want, hold what opinions you may dear, but even scoring the film simply to state you're avoiding it is still, in a sense, a review. You've formed an opinion of a film you haven't seen based on reviews and other opinions, and this about as shallow thinking as you can get. It is, to be sadly cliche, judging a book by its cover. At least those who dislike the film for this reason hold the credibility of actually watching it.

Schindler's List is a film - a Spielberg film no less - and so I find it strange that someone like this Robert Manne is unable to reconcile the difference between that and a documentary. It's almost like he's blaming Spielberg for not widening the scope of the film to focus on everything and avoid the story of Schindler, because that leads to sentimentality and, arguably, a not-so sad ending. But it's not like through this story we don't witness horrifying things, and though I wouldn't call the film's ending melancholy, it is most sober. No one finishes watching this film feeling good.

[ShogunRua]

You've formed an opinion of a film you haven't seen based on reviews and other opinions, and this about as shallow thinking as you can get.

It's astonishing how many people substitute the views of "critics" and/or some nameless, faceless "majority" in place of their own thought. They don't want to think and make a decision for themselves; they would rather mindlessly go with some expert. In this case, it's especially absurd; djross hasn't seen a second of the film, and yet, he arrogantly and proudly proclaims someone else's interpretation as accurate!

[CMonster]

I would just like to say that quoting Lanzmann on how to treat the Holocaust is also kinda dickish because I watched him in his film Shoah berate a Holocaust survivor until he broke down and cried. I haven't finished Shoah because it's like 8 hours long and even though what I saw was good and moving stuff, he kinda has a high and mighty opinion of himself and how he went about it.