The Best Film of the 1990s
Well here we are ... for the past eight weeks, I've discussed 24 films which were the best achievements in cinema in my opinion from the 1990s decade, and that finally brings us to number one ... and I now conclude this special nine part series looking back at the 90s' best films with a discussion of the film I chose as the best of the entire 1990's decade ... Steven Spielberg's immortal classic, the Oscar winning Best Picture of 1993, and one of the top choices by the American Film Institute as the best films of all time ...
AND THE GREATEST FILM OF THE 1990s DECADE IS ...
#1. SCHINDLER'S LIST
Directed by Steven Spielberg
Starring Liam Neeson, Ben Kingsley, Ralph Fiennes
Steven Spielberg's Holocaust epic affirms the worth of ethical conduct even in seemingly hopeless circumstances. Liam Neeson stars as Oskar Schindler, a gentile businessman who opened a munitions factory in Nazi-occupied Poland and employed Jews at starvation wages. His ostensible goal was to become rich. By the end of the war, he had saved the lives of hundreds of Jews and defrauded the Nazis with a factory that never produced a single usable shell. Those he saved were a small number compared with the millions who died, but his act affirmed humanity in the midst of evil. Spielberg's 1993 film shows the Holocaust in vivid and terrible detail, extracts a small story of hope and ends with the overwhelming emotional impact of those who survived because of Schindler, and their descendants, visiting his grave.
What is most amazing about this film is how completely Spielberg serves his story. The movie is brilliantly acted, written, directed and seen. Individual scenes are masterpieces of art direction, cinematography, special effects, crowd control. Yet Spielberg, the stylist whose films often have gloried in shots we are intended to notice and remember, disappears into his work. Neeson, Kingsley and the other actors are devoid of acting flourishes. There is a single-mindedness to the enterprise that is awesome. There is such a stark reality to this film that we instantly forget we're watching a film, we're watching a testament to history. Spielberg depicts the evil of the Holocaust, and he tells an incredible story of how it was robbed of some of its intended victims. He does so without the tricks of his trade, the directorial and dramatic contrivances that would inspire the usual melodramatic payoffs. Spielberg is not visible in this film. But his restraint and passion are present in every shot.
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