In what may be a debut for the second half of a
prodigious career, Steven Spielberg has created what is
arguably the best American film ever made about the
Holocaust: "Schindler's List," an extraordinary three
hours and five minutes based on Thomas Keneally's
1982 historic novel.
Not that Mr. Spielberg had that much competition.
Despite the presence of Jews galore throughout Holly-
wood, the film capital has a long-held aversion to de-
picting the Holocaust. True, in 1960 came "Judgment
at Nuremberg," which uncompromisingly indicted the
Germans; in 1978 came "Sophie's Choice," an inquiry
into the choiceless choices in the death camps. Both
were decent, competent, well-intentioned, yet some-
what pedestrian.
"Schindler's List" rises above the mundane and the
ordinary. It is explicit and graphic: Fountains of blood spurt
from Jews' heads when Nazis shoot them at point-blank