Review

In his boldest attempt to create a "cinematic masterpiece" and finally get noticed by a stubbornly disinterested Academy, Spielberg bypasses the heart and goes right for the jugular in this drama on the Holocaust. Undeniably driven by sincerity, Spielberg's Oscar-winning Best Picture is alternately impressive, maudlin, focused and well-acted. Filmed in black and white, the film deals with the Nazi extermination of Polish Jews and how one man, Oskar Schindler, transformed from a philandering opportunist (and Nazi profiteer) to a capitalist savior to 1,200 imprisoned Jews. With fluid camerawork, Spielberg re-creates life for Krakow's Jews during Nazi occupation -- from resettlements in the ghetto to their internment in the camps. Spielberg's scenes of Nazi atrocities are emotionally wrenching, but the film's pacing, the director's trademark sentimentality and an artificial ending keep Schindler's List from being the classic the director so fervently strived for.