Schindler's List, The Pianist, Sophie Scholl—The Final Days
I returned The Pianist and Sophie Scholl to Netflix a couple weeks ago, but I've had trouble sitting down to write this post.
The Pianist arrived first, and I watched it pretty soon thereafter. I was not far into the movie before I started mentally comparing it to Schindler's List.
Schindler's List is both one of my all-time favorite movies, and one I have only seen once. I bought the DVD as soon as it was available, but it's sat wrapped on the shelf here ever since. If you've ever seen the movie, you know why. It's incredibly hard to watch. But just better-than-words cinema, and great work on one of the toughest subjects.
The Pianist's cinematography will catch your eye immediately. It's not black and white, but throughout the movie, the colors are muted, almost blurred. The movie has both a dream quality -- nightmare I guess -- and feels removed thanks to this effect. It takes you through the Polish ghetto and Nazi occupation through the eyes of Władysław Szpilman, the Polish musician who barely escaped being shipped to a death camp and instead spent the war years hiding in bombed-out Warsaw, often at the brink of starvation or death from various illnesses. He survived through the kindness of acquaintances, and a German army officer.
I think you need to see movies like this in the theater. You wouldn't say this movie is slow, but you have to allow yourself to be pulled in. And of course, you don't want to be pulled in. But it's good for you. Like Brussels sprouts. If you have a choice between this and the stupid comedy flavor of the day, I hope you'll choose Brussels sprouts.
It was interesting to watch Sophie Scholl immediately following The Pianist. I think I'd first read about Sophie Scholl went it was nominated for an Oscar, and I added it to my Netflix list then. This is really a fabulous movie. While I enjoyed both Sophie Scholl and The Pianist, I can unequivocally say that Sophie Scholl is more relevant to your life today. The cinematography is also a big player in this movie, but it's a little different than in The Pianist. I'm not sure exactly how to describe it, except to say that it feels flat -- in a good way -- and at the same time, I felt like it emphasizes the immediacy of the action and dialogue. Now you're wondering what the heck I'm talking about, so you'll just have to see it for yourself.
Sophie Scholl is about a young woman, her brother and friends who are working to resist the Nazis in Munich at the university. They formed the White Rose group, writing and distributing leaflets anonymously.
The film is fairly accurate to real events, including several accounts of Scholl's courage under interrogation and at their trial, right up to the moment of her execution. You only hope you would be half so brave.
If you only see one of these three, it has to be Schindler's List. Sophie Scholl now runs a close second to me. The Pianist is a very good movie, more than worth watching, but I feel like it's more a snapshot in time, one man's extraordinary experience, as opposed to the other two, which I believe tell greater truths about the Holocaust.
