Schindler's List

I'm not sure how to review this, for two reasons. First, how does one analyze a movie based on such horrific, inhuman, real events. This isn't some musician's life story. I don't want to parse out the accuracy or the efficacy of portraying the Holocaust and the people who both inflicted and suffered from it. That seems crass. And second, what more is there to say about this that hasn't been said? What could I possibly add to the discourse? All I can really say is that this movie's message is as resonant today as it has ever been. This is a harrowing, heart-wrenching movie, not because it is saccharine or manipulative, but because it is REAL. Because these men and women existed, for better and for worse. This movie's refusal to flinch from the horrors inflicted by one set of humans on another, and to show how even the smallest resistance against the darkness matters, is a stunning reminder humanity needs right now. This is not an entertaining movie. This is not a fun movie. This is not a movie one puts on to kill time while folding the laundry or cooking dinner. This is an emotional investment. A movie that one watches not to see history unfold or experience the drama, but to be slapped in the face with the understanding that this is what the human race -- all of us, any of us -- is capable of to one another. This is a movie everybody needs to see once. It is brutal, harsh, unforgiving, but absolutely crucial, and it most definitely deserved the Academy Award for Best Picture.