Spielberg's Role: Director, Producer
US Release Date: 1993

Possibly the best drama to ever grace the silver screen, Schindlers List was one of the few films to win over both the public and the media. Eleven years after he broke the worlds record for movie sales for the first time and several months after doing it again, the Academy of Motion Pictures and Film finally acknowledged Steven Spielberg as the Best Director of the year.

The story of Schindlers List was said to have sat on Spielberg's shelf for four years while he worked on other projects. He wanted to give this movie the attention he felt it deserved. When interviewed before the Academy Awards by Barbara Walters he said the film had special meaning to him because of his own Jewish family backgrounds. He wanted his mom to know that it still meant something to him to be a member of the Jewish community... to show the world we wouldn't forget.

The story of Schindler's List is real. It was first published in a fictionalized version in Thomas Keneally's 1982 novel SCHINDLER'S ARK. Here is an article about the Schindler's List story and how it made its way to Steven Spielberg.

During World War 2 Oscar Schindler used Jewish workers to make war materials. The original members of Schindlers Jewish workers were his investors. He protected them from as much hardship as possible while other less fortunate Jews died in the concentration camps. Schindler starts the mission for the sake of profit, but soon uses all this profit to save as many of the Jewish workers as possible.

The entire film is shot in black and white with only a couple of slashes of color from time to time to accentuate details. The film is very artistically done, and although no acting, writing or musical skill would be necessary to keep audiences tuned into Spielberg's direction, the movie seems to have all of the best of these characteristics. Spielberg brought to the movie the musical genius of John Williams, who had written the music to Jurassic Park that same year. The movie was rated 'R', the first Spielberg film to be rated as strict.

In June of 1998, Schindler's List was chosen as one of the 100 best American films in the 100 year history of cinema by the American Film Institute. As if this wasn't enough of an honor, the film also made it very close to the top of that list. Steven Spielberg had more movies honored than any other director, with 5. The other 4 movies were Raiders of the Lost Ark, Jaws, E.T., and Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Schindler's List was ranked 9^th.