Few people who have seen the movie can forget the experiences and depth to which humanity can sink (and rise). For people who are not so aware of what the Holocaust was about, or about the horrors perpetrated by the Nazis on the Jews (and on Russians, Homosexuals, Gypsies, and others), the movie brought details in great detail. Using Black & White almost throughout the movie somehow seemed to convey scenes of horror and despair more brutally and clearly.
The film was first offered to Martin Scorcese, and then Roman Polanksi, but then it came to Steven Spielberg, for whom this sort of movie was very different. Steve Spielberg was already known as a gifted and accomplished director, but his movies were more thrillers or science oriented movies (such as Jaws, ET, Indian Jones, Close Encounters of the Third Kind); and here was this subject (based on the book Schindler’s Ark by Thomas Keneally) about the Holocaust and the genocide directed by the Nazis, primarily at the Jewish population of Europe.

It is calculated that the ‘Final Solution‘ propounded by the Nazis (Hitler, Himmler, Heydrich, Eichmann, etc) in the early stages of the War killed 6 million Jews in Europe during the course of the war. The Nazis were very systematic and documented everything that they did, and their solution of identifying Jews, separating from the rest of the population, and the concentration camps (that used industrial efficiency mass gas chambers) were a solution for mass murder that humankind was not able to visualize. Even though Western Europe and America knew that Jews were being victimized, the level of killings became known only when the concentration camps were over-run by Russian and American soldiers after the fall of the Nazis, and the true story came to light.
In the midst of this state-directed terror where the civilian population mostly stood by and let mass-murder happen (and Europe had gone through repeated bursts of anti-semitism including mass pogroms in Russia), there are stories of people who shed their normal beliefs and played heroic parts in saving people. One of them was Oskar Schindler. His role in saving around 1,100 Jews from being murdered was recognized and he was in fact feted in Israel in 1958, but the story was never very famous. And then came this movie. The movie did not shy away from presenting his negative points; he was a womanizer and unfaithful to his wife, he did not shirk away from setting up his factory using funds almost forced from the rich Jews who had been forced to live in the ghettos, he exploited Jewish workers, he bribed his way through the Nazi machinery; but all those are human weaknesses when compared with the super-human role he played in bribing the Nazi machinery in order to save 1,100 Jews by getting them employed in his factory. He fought for each worker, sometimes going to great distances to save them when they were mistakenly taken away. At some point during the killings, the impact of the genocide made him a person who was determined to use his cleverness and guile to save people.
And it is this portrayal of a complex person, but one who eventually spent everything he had in order to save people that makes this a great movie. Schindler’s List was both critically acclaimed and a commercial success. The movie earned over $320 million compared to the $25 million that was spent, and also earned the movie 7 Oscars including the most important ones – Best Picture and Best Director. The 2 great performances of the movie – Liam Neeson playing Oskar Schindler and Ralph Fiennes playing the brutal SS officer Amon Goth (later caught after the war and hanged for crimes against humanity) were both nominated for Academy Awards, but did not win.
The movie is essentially about Oskar Schindler, out to make an opportunity from the war effort. He sees that war will need supplies, and he proposes to supply crockery to the army; with funding and labour from the oppressed Jews. Through a measure of drinking and fraternizing with the Nazis, he succeeds in getting started; he is not great at running his business but has some excellent support from Itzhak Stern (Ben Kingsley in a fine role) who is a gifted accountant. Running parallel is the horror story of the German Army marching through Poland, defeating the Polish Army within 2 weeks, and starting the first steps of the repression and murder (ordering the Jewish community to assemble in major cities such as Krakow and live in ghettos from where they will soon be marched off to concentration camps) that will become to be known as the ‘Holocaust‘. Getting papers stamped with a certificate of being an ‘essential’ worker will save a person, and that is what Schindler promises.
You see Schindler weaving in between the Nazi machinery, using a mixture of bravado and bribes to get what he wants; and woven in between are the brutalities; a group of SS men shoot a one-armed worker declaring him as useless, the Camp Commandment orders people killed when he feels like it or takes a rifle and randomly shoots a prisoner (with blood staining the snow dead), there is the sorting of items picked from Jews sent to the concentration camps (including jewellery, valuables, teeth with gold fillings, you get the idea), the horror of women being separated from their children. Schindler soon gets obsessed with the idea of saving his workers, and by the end of the war, he has managed to navigate the Nazi bureaucracy enough to save more than a 1,000 people.
This is a cold brutal movie that does not hesitate to show the darkest nature of what humans can turn into, but it also shows the essential humanity of a person from whom such actions were not expected. Schindler’s List is a must-watch movie, even though it has been a long time since it was released.

There are many science fiction movies that take on interactions with aliens such as ET, Aliens, etc; there is another breed that takes human conflict on a galaxy wide scale such as Star Wars, but there are few movies that take humanity in its home in the future, and portray it in such a dark canvas. Blade Runner is a classic movie set in the society of the future (set in 1982, it looks at Los Angeles of 2019). Looking at where we are now, 2019 does not seem to be like this, but maybe 2039 could be. Blade Runner is a movie that takes a look at the future, and takes all our fears of the future along with mad uncontrolled technological development and delivers an astounding gripping film. Many have called this film as the greatest science fiction movie of all time, and it could be reckoned among the top ones at any point of time.
The movie is loosely based upon a maverick science fiction author; if you have ever read any of Philip K Dick’s novels, you will know what I mean. The movie was based on his novel, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. With all the current discussion around cloning, stem cell research and the mixed attitudes around this, it seems unlikely that society will so easily accept the notion of creating beings that resemble us and are yet mechanical; but with a mind of their own, Asimov’s Laws of Robotics not figuring anywhere.
This movie had a major production history in terms of difficulty in getting made, and with further collection releases, for more details refer to the Wikipedia entry. It was directed by Ridley Scot (fresh from the euphoria of Aliens in 1979) and was another classical movie in the sense that it was not much of a success initially, only gaining name and applause over the years.
The movie is about the common fear, of robots who are indistinguishable from humans and who are guided by their own thoughts, and thus can be very deadly for humans. And about the blade runner (Harrison Ford) who is almost retired, but is brought back to kill (retire) these robots (replicants). The Tyrell corporation, a leading corporation developed robotics technology to the advanced level of the NEXUS 6 series, where they were able to develop androids identical to humans, but with a designed life of 4 years (as a mechanism to control them). They were being used in off-world colonies as slave labor for dangerous tasks.
These robot slaves do a mutiny in one of these worlds, and an order is passed that any replicants found on earth will be executed (retired) by units called blade runners. No questions, no worries, just a quick execution for any robots found on earth.
Deckard (Harrison Ford) is a retired blade runner who is brought back for another mission when 4 of these replicants make their way to earth after hijacking a shuttle from an off-world to earth. He has to hunt these 4 – Roy Batty (the leader of the 4), Leon Kowalski, Zhora, and Pris. They are on their way to earth to somehow extend their life span of 4 years (going to be over shortly). Deckard also discovers that Tyrell’s secretary Rachael, is also a similar robot, showing the true sadistic nature of her creator. She does not know that she is a robot, and she was been implanted with memories from Tyrell’s niece in order to make her feel human (although she retains her life expectancy of 4 years).
In the meantime, Roy and Leon are trying to make their way to Tyrell, first using an eye designer called Chew to direct them to Sebastian (who plays chess with Tyrell and can thus get them to directly meet Tyrell). In the meantime, Rachael is humiliated by Deckard, she had come to his apartment to convince him about her humanity, but he exposes her replacement memories to her, thus showing her that she was also an android. In the most human of emotions, she cries at this disclosure.
Soon after, in an incredible chase at the ground level of this dirty city of the future, Deckard shoots Zhora, but shoots her in the back, something that he regrets (even though he has only retired an android). His feelings towards these replicants somewhat change when he is attacked by Leon, and in the nick of time, Rachael saves him by shooting Leon. In another sequence, Roy and Pris convince Sebastian to take Roy to Tyrell, which he does (through the chess game that he normally plays). Once in, Roy asks for an extension to his life, and when denied, he eventually crushes Tyrell’s heads in a quick gesture and then kills Sebastian.
As the story reaches onto the last stages, Deckard reaches Sebastian’s apartment after a phone call and after a bitter battle, shoots Pris. By this time, Roy has returned, and begins the last bitter fight, over empty apartments and roof-tops. Deckard is getting beaten by the superior power of Roy’s robotic self, and after a series of escapes and fights, finds himself hanging onto dear life from a beam. Roy, is also hanging on for dear life with his 4 year limit just about over, and his life form dying away. In a last minute demonstration that the androids have human qualities, Roy saves Deckard and then dies. Deckard returns to his apartment and finds Rachael over there, and they move out to an uncertain future, given her 4 year limited life span. One question remains, was Deckard also a replicant? Never answered clearly.

Writing this blog is a humbling experience, and incredibly rewarding. I had seen Rainman a long time back when I was a small kid, and for the purpose of this review, I watched it again. It is an incredible movie, and literally shows you what great cinema is all about. The movie was released in 1988, and won a number of Oscars, and won a double, with the Oscar for Best Picture and the Golden Globe for Best Picture; this is the only movie to have won both. It also won numerous other Oscars, including the ones for Best Actor in a Leading Role (Dustin Hoffman), Best Director (Barry Levinson), Best Writing, and Original Screenplay.
It was not easy to present a story about an autistic person, and make this as a major movie. The movie went through a number of possible directors before Barry became the director. The movie was driven by the power of Dustin Hoffman, and he drove hard for the movie to finally get made. The movie helped to get real-life understanding of what an autistic person is all about, and contributed tremendously to popular understanding of this affliction. However, the character played by Dustin Huffman is not the only kind of autistic there is. Not all of them are possessed of a photo-graphic memory, or the ability to do calculations at great speed. However, it is true that they do need much greater care and understanding, given that they live in their own world (no easy way to make somebody understand what exactly autism is all about).
Rainman is essentially the story of 2 brothers coming to meet each other, almost without knowing that each other exists. One of them is a major operator, used to letting his smooth talking doing all the work and making a fast buck. The other is a autistic savant, living in a mental institution.
Charlie Babbitt (Tom Cruise) is a LA used car dealer, living up to the usual stereotype of a user car salesman, with glib talk, incredible powers of persuasion, and money problems. He is in the middle of a major deal that could land him in a great debt if it fails. At this point, he hears that his estranged father has died, and left $3 million to a trustee. Charlie is estranged from his father upon an incident earlier where he had defied his father and taken a car out for a joyride. His father reported the car stolen, and Charlie’s father was the only father who did not bail out his son.
Anyhow, Charlie travels to settle his father’s estate and realizes that his father has essentially cut him off, and left his entire fortune to a trustee. When Charlie travels there with his girlfriend, Susanna (Valeria Golino), he finds a shock. The money has been left to an elder brother, Raymond Babbitt (Dustin Hoffman), whom he did not know existed. He had some very early memories of a ‘Rain Man’, but those were just memories.
Upon reaching the asylum, he is told that his brother is autistic. He is explained that this means that his brother has difficulty in conveying what he thinks, difficulties in understanding things, and in a twist, does not understand the concept of the inheritance that he has received. He feels that he has been cheated out of the money and makes a plan to try and get his share of the money.
Charlie wants to take Raymond back to Los Angeles (the mental institution is based in Cincinnati), so that he can get custody of Raymond as a way of getting hold of the money. There is a fair amount of frustration for Charlie in doing this. Raymond refuses to travel by plane due to the fear of a plane crash, and even after a lot of persuasion, refuses to travel by air. Eventually, they decide to travel by road, and that too, not on the major highways but on smaller roads.
And hence goes the adventure that eventually changes Charlie’s perception of his brother, making his get closer to his brother. And this is what the movie is all about. He faces tremendous frustration on the way, since it is not easy for him to understand what Raymond is thinking, and it is equally difficult for him to make Raymond follow what he wants. So, for example, Raymond unwittingly causes the break-up of Charlie and Susanna by entering into their room when the couple was having sex. Charlie is furious, and screams at an uncomprehending Raymond. Susanna is much more sympathetic, and wants Charlie to apologize; he instead screams some more. Susanna is disgusted with Charlie’s behavior and walks out.
During the journey, Charlie and Raymond have a number of experiences, such as when Raymond scares a waitress by quoting her phone number and address (he had memorized the phone book to ‘G’ when he was bored), she gets spooked, but eventually understands. In another display of his abilities, he is able to give the exact number of toothpicks that have spilled on the floor very quickly.
Raymond repeats things sometimes a lot, he wants to see a favorite TV program when they are in the middle 0f nowhere, refuses to go out if it rains, trying to take the wheel when Charlie is driving, and so on. Eventually, Charlie softens and feels closer to his brother.
Charlie has not forgotten his money wanting nature. His deal has failed, and he is now in debt, so he uses his brother’s incredible abilities to win money at blackjack in a casino at Las Vegas. Charlie also reconciles with Susanna in Las Vegas. Eventually, Charlie spurns an offer of money and wants Raymond to stay with him out of genuine affection. Raymond is unable to decide what to do, whether to return to Cincinnati or stay with Charlie. In the end, and this is a major deal where the movie avoids a syrupy happy ending, Raymond returns to the institution in Cincinnati with a promise by Charlie to visit in 2 weeks. However, Raymond has improved considerably.

Charlie Chaplin has an enduring legacy of a great comedian, remembered for his black and white movies where he played the tramp to great perfection. However, he has played other roles, including a biting anti-Nazi movie, the Great Dictator, made in 1940. Another of Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin, Jr. (Charlie Chaplin’s) movies that was incredibly great was the movie released in 1952 called Limelight. I have seen this movie more than 2 decades ago, and yet remember it for the message displayed in the movie.
Limelight was made when Charlie Chaplin was going through an incredible low time in the US. He was facing an organized protest at the hands of the Senator Joseph McArthy and accused of being a communist sympathizer. In fact, when the movie was released, it was not even able to run long enough to qualify for an academy award. It was only in 1972 that the movie ran long enough to qualify for the Oscars for best Soundtrack.
The movie is essentially a movie about a down and out former star, and how he enjoys a slight revival when he is bucking up a young and upcoming girl, and how as she enjoys her success, he finally passes away.
The movie could be seen as depressing at many levels, given that it is about a person’s struggle once he is no longer in the limelight, but I have always considered this movie to be a masterpiece, given the extent of human emotions displayed in the movie. This movie is also unique because it has the only known scene where both Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton act together. There is a great deal of controversy about whether Chaplin cut Buster’s role, but the fact remains that Chaplin gave the role to Keaton when Buster was going through great tribulations in his personal life.
Calvero (Charlie Chaplin), in the year 1914, is a shadow of his former great self. He used to play the comic clown to great success, but now is no longer to give any great performances until he has drunk more alcohol.
One day, he saves the life of a upcoming ballerina, Terry (Claire Bloom) when she was trying to commit suicide. However, she is diagnosed as having paralysis although there is no medical reason for this. They talk about their life, thus giving the audience a chance to know them better, and this continues for a section of the movie.
She is in love with Neville, a young composer (played by Sydney Chaplin, Charlie Chaplin’s son).
Calvero nurses her back to health, and soon she is starting to come out of her paralysis, with Chaplin providing encouragement. He is still a failure, although she is now moving up, and the situation is now getting reversed. She is the one who is encouraging him to get back his life. In a small hint of romance, she offers to marry him, but he knows that he is not right for her and believes that she is better off with Neville. She gets him a job on her own set, and encourages him when she seems to fail.
And then the final act. She wants him to play himself on a benefit act, and he unites with his old partner, Buster Keaton in a great performance. Once he completes his act in great success, it’s Terry turn. Chaplin is watching her dance while he is sitting in the sets, and that is when he has a fatal heart attack and dies.