- Actors: Liam Neeson, Ben Kingsley, Ralph Fiennes, Caroline Goodall, Jonathan Sagalle
- Director: Steven Spielberg
- Writer: Steven Zaillian
- Producers: Steven Spielberg, Gerald R. Molen, Branko Lustig
- Disc Format: 4K, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
- Language: English (DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1), French (DTS 5.1), Spanish (DTS 5.1)
- Subtitles: French, Spanish, English
- Region: Region A/1
- Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
- Rated: R
- Studio: Universal Pictures Home Entertainment
- Release Date: December 18, 2018
- Run Time: 196 minutes
There’s a quote
that I like to refer to when discussing the purpose of watching movies, which
is something I am inclined to do in order to justify the amount of time spent
in front of a screen. There is debate over its origins (I first heard it said
by David Foster Wallace) and the quote discusses art in general, claiming the
function, “is to comfort the disturbed, and disturb the comfortable.” More and
more, it feels like a majority of the films made in America
Anniversary
editions of films are released all of the time, but few are given the treatment
that Schindler’s List has been given.
Restored from the original negative and supervised by Steven Spielberg himself,
even the DVD or Blu-ray release of this 25th Anniversary Edition
would be worthwhile, but the 4K is absolutely pristine, and the film looks as
though it hasn’t aged at all. One might assume that a black-and-white film with
few special effects and/or action would be a poor choice for 4K, but this would
be an incorrect assumption in regards to Schindler’s
List. Janusz Kaminski won Best Cinematography at the 1994 Academy Awards;
this is one of the marvels of Spielberg’s film, and of the 4K release as well.
Though plot description
feels as if it should be unnecessary at this point, Schindler’s List is about the efforts made during the Holocaust by
Oskar Schindler (Liam Neeson), a German businessman whose opportunism saved
over a thousand Jewish lives. What started as a way to utilize a cheap
workforce awakened a type of redemption in the man as he witnessed the Nazi
atrocities and realized that his greedy employment methods could actually save
lives. Amazingly, Neeson is able to show a believable transformation of
Schindler’s character over the course of the film, which earned him a Best
Actor nomination. The remainder of the film’s power comes from a frightening
supporting performance from Ralph Fiennes as Nazi officer Amon Göth, and
seemingly endless scenes of brutality in the concentration camps. It is a
painful, difficult film, worth watching multiple times even if once is enough
not to forget.
As the winner of
seven Academy Awards and countless others, it shouldn’t be a surprise that
there are plenty of special features for the 25th Anniversary
release, although all but one have previously been released. There are many
fantastic and respectful extras carried over from the original Special Edition
DVD release, including a feature-length documentary with real testimonies from
Holocaust survivors and a featurette about the USC Shoah Foundation, and the
footage they filmed during the making of this film for their Visual History
Archive. There are several featurettes with material from or about the Shoah
Foundation in the special features. The one new extra is a retrospective,
“Schindler’s List: 25 Years Later,” which has Spielberg joined in a reunion and
interviews with actors Liam Neeson, Ben Kingsley, Embeth Davidtz and Caroline
Goodall at the Tribeca Film Festival this past year. While it might not be
worthwhile to upgrade for special features alone, the 4K restoration is
certainly reason enough. The package also comes with two Blu-ray discs (one
with the film and another for the special features) and a digital copy of the film.
Entertainment Value:
8/10
Quality of
Filmmaking: 10/10
Historical
Significance: 10/10
Special Features: 8/10
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