Schindler's List

1993 was a good year of Steven Spielberg.  After having 7 movies nominated for Best Picture and 6 nominations for Best Director he finally won both with Schindler’s List.  In addition to that he had one of his most successful movies with Jurassic Park which in my opinion should have been nominated for Best Picture also.

Schindler’s List is about Polish Jews during the Holocaust.  The movie starts with the Jews first being round up and put in ghettos.  During this time a manufacturer Oscar Schindler(Liam Neeson) hires a Jewish  accountant Itzhak Stern(Ben Kingsley) to fix his books and hire him some staff. Itzhak helps his friends who would otherwise been killed for not having any “useful” skills and gives them fake papers so they can work at the factory.  At first Schindler doesn’t care as long as he is making money.  After he witnesses the destruction of the ghetto with senseless killing he begins to care for the workers.  He then regards them as his Jews and does everything in his power to help them.  He becomes friends with Amon Goeth (Ralph Fiennes) the man who oversees the labor camp where his Jews are kept.  Despite hating the man he is very convincing and becomes a trusted friend of his.  When the labor camp is being shut down and the Jews are being sent to a concentration camp Schindler uses his own money and purchases as many Jews as he can and sets up special arrangement for them. He uses the excuse that they are vital to the war effort as they help him manufacture bombs (it turns out the bombs weren’t made very well).  He manages to keep the façade up long enough for the war to end and the Jews were set free.

The three hour long movie is a very powerful and moving movie.  It had twelve nominations and seven wins. Everything in this movie is so good from the acting to the directing.  Liam Neeson and Ralph Fiennes were nominated for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor and Ben Kingsley should have been nominated for Best Supporting Actor. Neither of the two nominated actors won. Liam Neeson lost to Tom Hanks in his first of two consecutive wins for Philadelphia.   Ralph Fiennes surprisingly lost to Tommy Lee Jones for The Fugitive. John Williams won for the haunting score(he also should have been nominated for the score of Jurassic Park but wasn’t).

Jane Campion became the first female to be nominated for Best Director and have a movie nominated for Best Picture for The Piano.  Holly Hunter and Anna Paquin won acting awards for the Piano. Hunter winning Best Actress and Paquin winning Best Supporting Actress.  Holly Hunter was also nominated for Best Supporting Actress for The Firm. Also that year Emma Thompson was nominated for Best Actress (The Remains of the Day) and Best Supporting Actress (In the Name of the Father) marking the first time two actresses had to compete with each other in both categories.  At age 11 Paquin became the second youngest actress to receive the supporting award Tatum O’Neal won in 1973 for Paper Moon at age 10.

Biggest snub in my opinion was Jurassic Park being left out of the big awards.  It was nominated and won 3 technical awards including Special Effects but no other awards.  But the action movie The Fugitive was nominated for Best Picture and 6  other awards and even won Best Supporting Actor for Tommy Lee Jones. Maybe it’s just me but Jurassic Park deserved that nomination over The Fugitive.  Also, I don’t think Tommy Lee Jones should have been nominated for Best Supporting Actor let alone win.  Denzel Washington should have been nominated for Best Supporting Actor alongside Tom Hanks for Philadelphia.

Other Random Facts
Schindler’s List is Spielberg’s first Rated R film
Besides a few scenes the movie is in Black and White making it the first black and white movie to win since 1960’s The Apartment(which is still the last FULL black and white movie to win Best Picture).
The Wrong Trousers won Best Animated Short and is the first Wallace and Gromit movie to win.
Leonardo DiCaprio got his first Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor in What’s Eating Gilbert Grape.
Robert Altman was nominated for Best Director the second year in a row for a movie that was not nominated for Best Picture (The Player in 1992 and Short Cuts in 1993)