8. Schindler’s List (1993) (Dir. Steven Spielberg)
There are some who criticise Spielberg’s Schindler’s List as if it were not dealing with its material justly enough, and yet the director ensures that such events are not inappropriately trivialized by choosing to tell the story of Jews who survived the ordeal. Liam Neeson was the perfect choice for Oskar Schindler, his calm, stoic performance absolutely essential to the success of the picture (and playing a role that many great actors would not have been able to pull off). Michael Haneke and Jean Luc Godard did not approve of Spielberg’s apparent “sugarcoating” of history, but upon seeing the film, Billy Wilder exclaimed: “They couldn’t have gotten a better man. This movie is absolutely perfection.” He was not wrong.