I have not seen SCHINDLER'S LIST but from what I know about it I can't
help but be reminded of Stanley Kramer's JUDGEMENT AT NUREMBERG (1961)
another very long, very mainstream Hollywood movie about the Holocaust.
JUDGEMENT's plot is sort of the opposite of the SCHINDLER's plot.  A
"good" man (a highly respected German judge, played by a miscast Burt
Lancaster) is suspected of being a "bad" man (a willing Nazi
collaborator).  I have heard that Spielberg recreates death camp scenes in
SCHINDLER'S LIST.  Kramer used actual newsreel footage in JUDGEMENT.  It
is used as evidence against the Lancaster character.  JUDGEMENT AT
NUREMBERG got mostly praise from critics and was nominated for 11 Oscars
but won only two (Max. Schell for Best Actor, Abby Mann for Best
Screenplay).  Mann, by the way, accepted his Award "on behalf of all
intellectuals."  I suspect SCHINDLER'S LIST will win the Best Picture
Oscar and then fade from memory just as many such earnest "important"
Best Picture winners have been mostly forgotten (GANDHI, GENTLEMEN'S
AGREEMENT, THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES, MRS MINIVER).
 
Mary Kalfatovic,
Washington, D.C.