Steven Spielberg has said the final scene in Schindler’s List, where holocaust survivors visit the grave of Oskar Schindler, was a late addition to the pic and was his way of making sure audiences knew the film’s story was based on real-life facts. “Holocaust denial was on the rise again — that was the entire reason I made the movie in 1993,” he told The Sunday Times during a recent interview. “That ending was a way to verify that everything in the movie was true.” Spielberg continued to say that before Schindler’s List, he had never made a film that “so directly confronted a message” that he believed the world needed to hear. “It had a vital message that is more important today than it even was in 1993 because antisemitism is so much worse today than it was when I made the film,” he added.
In addition to the film’s powerful political message, Schindler’s List was also one of Spielberg’s most critically acclaimed films.
The pic went on to win seven Oscars, including Best Picture and his first as Best Director. The film is also one of the top-grossing black-and-white films at the domestic box office with $96M, part of its $321.3M worldwide take.
Schindler’s List tells the story of German industrialist Oskar Schindler (Liam Neeson), who saved the lives of more than 1,100 Jews during the Holocaust.
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