Liam Neeson and Ben Kingsley star in a scene from the 1993 movie "Schindler's List." To commemorate the 25th anniversary of Steven Spielberg's award-winning film, Universal will be re-releasing the movie in a limited engagement Dec. 7. The Catholic News Service classification is A-III -- adults. (CNS/Universal)

By Catholic News Service

EDITOR’S NOTE: This review originally ran Dec. 17, 1993. The movie is being re-released Dec. 7 on 1,000 screens in the U.S., including theaters in central Illinois. Check your local listings.

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Sobering account of an opportunistic German businessman (Liam Neeson) who comes to occupied Poland to make his fortune by exploiting Jewish capital and labor but, after witnessing the increasing barbarism of Nazi racial policies and the sadistic perversions of the local concentration camp commandant (Ralph Fiennes), he risks his life by using his talents for manipulation to save the Jews in his employ.

Director Steven Spielberg painstakingly restages the appalling history of the Holocaust on an epic scale that gives horrifying dimension to one man’s attempt to save some innocent lives, but the narrative provides little insight in the German’s moral transformation or the individual lives of his slave laborers.

Realistically graphic treatment of an infamous historical period and its crimes against humanity, a few discreet sexual scenes, occasional rough language. The Catholic News Service classification is A-III — adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R — restricted.

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