"Good art is not a flower given, but a seed to be nurtured and grown."

The film landscape should be seen as a plateau, not so much a heirarchy. They are two very different films. But I do think it is extremely reductive to call Schindler's list a happy film. I think it is certainly seen through an American ideological lens, but Spielberg takes the time to showcase the full horror of the death camps. Take the gas chamber scene for instance. Nothing held back there. Or the piles on piles of personal belongings the clerks have to sift through. Nobody left the screening with a dry face. I believe all Kubrick had said about 'List was that he would have done the ending differently, by showing Oscar Schindler being socially punished for being a member of the Nazi Party despite his efforts to save lives. Imo that would not be a better ending than the one we got.

This guy talk`s the talk!!! Reality when it is reality!!! Common scence!!!

I disagree with the fact that Schindler's list is a comforting movie. I don't know which movie these people have watched, but the one I watched it's just painful from beginning to end. Schindler is not "happy" for saving a few jews, he says "I could have saved more". I'm more disappointed in seeing that people are so arrogant they can't see the actual meaning of a film.

All his movies are brilliant..................even his bad ones....................😎

Terry Gilliam is just butthurt that Spielberg was pals with Kubrick and he wasn't. They talked about movies for two decades, Kubrick wanted Spielberg to make AI. If Terry Gilliam knew what it takes to be a great film-maker, why hasn't he used all those oh so amazing lessons to forge a better career himself? His filomgraphy is littered with crap lol. Maybe Brazil came close to being a great film but that's about it.

Brilliant insight.

This reminds me of a interview of James Coburn speaking about Sam Peckinpah: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/h72hZ5Clnc2ukWQ.htmlsi=_rimrP3XumVp61l7

"Schindler's List is about success; the holocaust was about failure." Man, spot on.

Thought provoking doesn't mean it'll make a good movie. I mean any movie can make you feel and think about things. This obsession with needing thought provoking feels more like an excuse to feel superior. "Look at me, I'm better than you because I like thought provoking stuff". Also, how the fuck is Schindler's List a comforting movie?

Apples and Oranges. Steven is absolutely the best at what he does: marries as much art as he can to what the studio will allow him to do. You have to remember, he came into the Hollywood system just as the studio system was losing power and the "new Hollywood" era was starting up, Lew Wasserman and Sid Sheinberg were his mentors. He can give the audience pretty much what they want and give the studio pretty much what they want, lots of people have tried and failed to emulate his ability. Chris Columbus probably came the closest.

I've watched a fair bit of Gilliams directorial filmography, is the director of The Adventures of Baron Munchausen and Time Bandits seriously criticising Spielberg for not being ambiguous enough with his somber story about the Holocaust? Gilliam hasn't made a single film that's had as big an impact on cinema as any of Spielbergs classic films have and he knows it, and who is he to compare himself to Kubrick of all people? There's bathroom sinks deeper than his goofy kids films and over styleised fare such as Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas, and he's just bitter about the fact he's never won a directorial Oscar and most likely never will. He's just being a contrarian for the sake of being a contrarian, and it says a lot about him that he has about fifty years experience in the industry but completely missed the point of the ending of Schindler's List. Same thing with the pseudo intellectuals in the comments section who just want their confirmation bias fueled and saying "He's right tho!"

you guys just seething cause he’s spitting facts

I'm pretty sure Terry Gilliam liked The Zone of Interest. The film definitely shows the failure Gilliam describes.

The east-european cinema is just way more sensible, respectful and real when it comes to WW2 films Unapologetically horrific films like "the ascent", "come and see" or "the fifth seal" still live in my head years later and the only thing I can remember from Schindlers list is that disgustingly dramatised "will it be gas or water to come out of the shower drain??" scene.

Factually incorrect Mr Gilliam, at least 11 million died in the Nazi camps including British and even Irish people. Some historians have raised the number killed in the camps to 14million, but 11 million is accepted. 6 million were Jewish and the largest single group to be targeted by the Nazi regime. The holocaust has been appropriated by the Israeli propaganda machine for their own ends. When are the other 5 million victims mentioned, very rarely by Israelis. Jewish survivors of the camps when interviewed speak of the Jewish and “other” victims of the holocaust.

2001 ending means he ran out of ideas.

Gilliam is so fkn mediocre. Since childhood I’ve always wanted to bitchslap him for being an asshole. Brazil rocks though!

He wishes he had a nice house like Spielberg? Yeah cause Terry Gilliam couldn't possibly buy a nice house with his 25 million dollar net worth. Sucks to be so limited with finances, right.

I have to completely disagree with the critic on Spielberg’s „Schindler‘s List“☝🏻Yes, the holocaust is about failure, the failure and complete absence of humanity but this particular movie is not about a chapter of this dark human history, it‘s about that small piece of hope and what only one human being can be able to do and to change, to bring some humanity and empathy in this dark, hopeless tragedy…if only for a few souls♥️it has nothing to do with giving answers, it‘s about withstand the evil 💪🏻

I think Schindler's List is an amazing achievement because it educates people about the Holocaust in an accessible way whilst remaining respectful. Everyone should see Shoah but the average person won't be inclined to and thats a fact. Spielberg as a Jewish man aimed to educate a mass audience.

I found a number of self-consciously cinematic flourishes in SL to be rather glib.

I doubt he’s watched that many Spielberg films to begin with. Films like minority report, Munich, Schindler’s List, and many more explore the depths of the human experience. He’s wrong about Schindler’s list as in the movie you get to see first hand the horror’s of the Holocaust. It wasn’t some feel good movie about a German businessman saving a handful of Jews, but a first hand look into what being in a concentration camp and living under Nazi rule looks like. Ralph Fiennes played one of the most despicable characters in movie history. And at the end of the movie, Oscar Schindler cries and says “I could’ve saved more.” I didn’t go to sleep soundly after watching that movie. Instead I thought about the little girl in that red jacket that died. I thought about just how many people throughout human history have suffered in the hands of others. I had a bittersweet feeling after finishing the movie. Minority report is another one as it does have a happy ending, but it was born out of tremendous tragedy. Spielberg has a gift for storytelling and more importantly characterization. The characters act and feel like real people not just characters. Now I have to shoutout writer David Koep who is a longtime collaborator of Steven Spielberg. This guy is one the best screenwriters in the business. And Spielberg understands how important characters are to a film, which is why he’s been labeled a “actor’s director” since he involves the actor’s opinions on their character. Stanley Kubrick is notorious for not taking anyone else’s input on a scene or on how a character should be. Just ask Shelly Duval. 😬 Now I’m a Stanley Kubrick fan, but I’m also a huge Steven Spielberg fan (as you could’ve probably guessed 😆). Unlike this guy in this video, I DON’T need every movie to follow the same story beats and for every director to make more or less the same movie. I like how different Kubrick is to Spielberg. How different Mann is to Scorcesse. How different Singleton is to Anderson. That’s what makes movies great!

most people are not willing to truly face the reality of something like the holocaust. they can only do so via media like this film that add a slight comforting hollywood touch to it, some meaning that can reassure them just a bit, even when the hope offered is like a tiny, tiny speck of light in an ocean of insane, pointless suffering

I think to describe Schindlers List as a comfort film is absolutely ludicrous.

This is an interesting perspective and it’s made me realize why so many movies appeal to me.

I love Gilliam. But why is he talking about "6 million people" dying? Why not call it out as a it is? These were specifically 6 million Jews. Say it.

Idiot. The movie was about Schindler’s List and not about the Holocaust. There were many scenes showing the Holocaust, but WWWII was not all about the Holocaust. There were many incidents that took place and each one can have a movie made out of it. I can’t believe the stupidity coming out of Terry Gilliam’s mouth.

It's just a bad film. Massively overrated because of its content.

TG has a point, of course, but to suggest that Spielberg, who has Jewish roots, is trying to comfort us about the holocaust is beyond absurd. Schindler's Ark and Spielberg's film of that book tell the true story of someone who finding himself in the midst of a gigantic killing machine could have chosen to do nothing but instead saved those he could at huge personal risk to himself. The book and the film both ask us the very simple question - in Schindler's position what would you have done? Seems to me that's a question every bit as unsettling as any that Gilliam or Kubrick ever asked me (and I say that as a fan of both).

totally unfair, Mr. Gilliam. How could Kubrick be compared to anyone?

I'm not huge on Spielberg but i like the idea of Oskar having to live with knowing that he could have saved more people while he's being celebrated. I think it's a great character study, a classic tale of survivor's guilt but in reverse kind of, not the greatest film on the holocaust (the shower scene is quite disgusting and immoral etc.)

It should be noted that the former head of Universal Sidney Sheinberg, who sent Spielberg a copy of Schindler’s List when it was first released and eventually bought the film rights for it, was also the one who wouldn’t release Gilliam’s Brazil unless he gave it a happier, audience-friendly ending. Gilliam then took out a full page ad in Variety demanding Sheinberg to release the film in its original cut. Gilliam may be harboring a great deal of resentment because of that. Regardless, I still enjoy the work of Gilliam, Spielberg and Kubrick.

I guess I agree Spielberg does tie things up more happily than Kubrick. So while I get it I simply enjoy his films more than Kubrick.

Schindler's List is about how one man can make a difference.

Ah, this is from the good ol’ days it was hip to hate on Spielberg. One should know Kubrick might’ve been harsh on Schindlers List simply because he was about to shoot his own holocaust movie but had to cancel it because it was too similar to Steven’s film. Also one shouldn’t forget about nuances in life - Stanley entrusted Spielberg to make AI , after all.

Kubrick was always a better director than Spielberg, It's almost like the difference between del toro and Chris columbus, two different kind of fairy tales

To the extent that few people understand Gillian's movies anyway, it's obvious many wouldn't understand these remarks being oddball just for the sake of being oddball... so don't blame yourself if you don't. What's the shame with portraying hope and human goodness, especially based on real life events? No fan of Spielberg's here by any means, but Schindler's List has it right. Maybe he should watch it again. Or not, since he doesn't seem to get it anyway ...

Incredibly shallow analysis.

I agree with Gilliam on this Spielberg only flaw in my opinion is that he always play it safe. to be in the top five greatest directors of all time you have to be daring and take Risk and that’s just not Spielberg style.

Terry Gilliam sounds like he's bitter because he never achieved the same kid of success as Spielberg did. Ironically Kurbrick chose Spielberg to direct his film Artificial Intelligence before he died. I doubt that Giliam ever got to speak with Kubrick at all. Sounds like pure jealousy! I never really enjoyed any of Gilliams movies, way too weird for me. I'll take David Lynch over Gilliam anyway.

A lot of it just comes down to different subject matter. Schindler's List is about something that actually happened: How exactly was there supposed to be any room for ambiguity or mystery? That would've been somewhat disrespectful to the man and the people he saved to leave the movie off on some kind of cliff hanger. I agree that Spielberg tends to stick to the familiar but Schindler's List is anything but a 'comfortable' film with a nice little ending. It's full of scenes that are hard to watch and it ends with Schindler collapsing in tears over all of the people he couldn't save. It's an extremely bittersweet movie and, for the record, Kubrick called it powerful.

Happy ending? I felt like shit after watching The Schindler’s List. Sure it was a nice thing he could save all those folks, but we, as the protagonist in the end, feel the more for the horrors suffered for those who couldn’t be helped.

Cant agree. Schindler's list is not a movie about success, but rather small victories amidst the worst possible failure. And I definitely would call reminding the audience about the jews in Poland being almost completely irradicated and that worldwide 6 million were killed a happy ending.

It’s almost as if cinema is a varied and diverse art form with many different functions 🤔

"6 million" was actually the recorded TOTAL number of jews living in the ENTIRE europian continent in the 30s.

Any filmmaker that criticises another IN PUBLIC has forgotten about the secret agreement.

The failure of schindler's list is that with the morality tale so simply put, it seems today that most audience members fail to see the forest and only look at an individual tree. Much like American History X, most people seem to take away the wrong lesson, or, stupidly idealistic and simple lessons, from them. People refuse to wrestle with the "why" in the stories, because if they did, they would see the racist in them, they would see the nazi in them, they would see the murder in them, they would recognize and confront the evil that live inside them, and it is much easier to externalize that and deny it exists in men, and only exists in monsters.

Spielberg is obviously more successful, but I don’t think gilliam gives him enough credit for how he’s matured as a filmmaker. Munich, for example, does not offer easy answers. Kubrick is still better, but to hear gilliam and Kubrick discuss the holocaust, you’d think every holocaust movie would have to be the same to appease them.

Come and See is the Nazi genocide movie that Kubrick would love since it only focuses on the atrocities and destruction of the Nazis and the suffering of the survivors.