Imre Kerstez (author of Fateless) did not mince words when asked what he thought of Schindler's List. This interview was in the extras section. He basically said Shcindler's List was a lie and that it was too optimistic and not realistic. Kerstez's book was outstanding, so I took his views seriously. Yet, Schindler's List is still an amazing film to me.
shareIt really annoyed me when he slagged off Spielberg in the extras. For a start, Schindler's list is a better film than Fateless by a mile, despite how "hollywood" SL may seem to some (not me). He says that SL is unrealistic and full of lies, and yet Fateless doesn't exactly offer any new perspectives in my opinion. The film even "copies" a scene from SL where lots of people are huddled in the showers and the camera lingers on the pipes, as to whether water or gas is going to come out.
For what it's worth, my favourite holocuast-related film (though it doesn't really deal with the concentration camps) is The Pianist.
There must be quite a number of people out there who still think that the victims were 'gassed' in the usual sense i.e like a cloud of gas coming out of a car exhaust.
In fact the victims were 'pelleted' with thousands of tiny pellets of Zyclon B which when in contact with air turned to gas.
The boy in the film wouldn't know when looking up to the shower heads that there may be a chance of 'gas' coming from them as he had not come into contact with a 'gas chamber operator' ( a Jewish inmate forced to empty the chambers of bodies after gassing) at that time to explain the difference.
So I guess the director cheated a little in that scene and put the cinema audience in the chamber with the boy to share his fear of what may be happening next, that is assuming you didn't know exactly how the 'gassing' was done.
I'm not quite sure how he can denigrate Schindlers List by claiming it to be "too optimistic and unrealistic". It is, after all a true story. Granted it has a somewhat more commercial marketability than Fateless, and a touch of the "Hollywoods" about it, but there is no taking away the fact it is an incredible film, about an even more incredible man.
If Kerstez' book is even half as good as the film, to then go on and slam a film like Schindlers List smacks of nothing but ego, and that's sad, because Fateless is a damn good film, and in all probability, an outstanding book. The film effectively portrayed the holocaust, at least as best as any film can, and quite remarkably, without so much a single gunshot.. something that stuck in my head afterward. Any holocaust film that can be so powerful, without being graphic, or showing so much as a single bullet, has to be worthy of respect.
The sad part is, I (and I think I would speak for most people), could watch every single Holocaust film ever made, and read every single book on the subject, and still not even come remotely close to imagining the true horror of the events that took place......
I agree with one sentiment of Kerstez in relation to SL- there has been a misappropriation of the "truth" in latter years in general, and SL in particular, in relation to the ethnic composition of prisoners at Auschwitz-Birkenau. While it is an undoubtedly horrific fact that the "final solution" specifically targeted only the Jewish population, millions of other ethnicities died alongside their Jewish brethren in AB. My wife's grandfather, for instance, was killed in Birkenau in 1944- and he was an officer in the Polish AK (Home Army) Resistance. He was an ethnic Catholic Pole. Historians have verified that 3 million people of Jewish ancestry were exterminated in AB- yet many forget that 1 million Catholic Poles met the same fate there- along with hundreds of thousands of Roma (Gypsies), Russians, Ukrainians, Political Prisoners, the Polish and German Clergy, Homosexuals, etc...
The primary fault of Schindler's List is that it paints a very incomplete picture of the enormity of the genocide that took place there to so many races...and yet, if you were unfamiliar with the Holocaust (as many of us Americans are as we were not given the same cultural exposure to its aftermath as Europeans were) and only viewed Schindler's List, one would be left with the sad and incorrect impression that only Jews died there. This misconception, sadly, does play a part in the general ignorance of American viewers- indeed, just last month Oprah Winfrey had to be corrected when, with survivor Eli Weisal, she filmed on location at Auschwitz and referred to it as "the Polish Death Camps".
I still applaud Mr. Spielberg for his heroic feat of filmmaking- but I am disturbed by his failure to accurately portray the horrific events that occurred there.
schindler's list is an outer experience oriented film. there is drama and
action--the most common focus of movies, particularly from hollywood.
fateless is great in how it enables the viewer to feel the inner life
of a teen trying to survive hell. the way one's sense of the world
and life shrinks in such situations is depicted well. indeed, the lad's
sense of self becomes so small that he is without fate.
americans all too often simplify history with one liners (i'm american).
for me, the greatest american omission from wwii is just how many
russians died in the nightmare sieges and genocide from the german
invasion. i think it is easy to focus on the Holocaust experience
of jews because hitler was so hysterical about them during the thirties
and universally tightened the screws. in contrast, many other groups
were not so universally hunted down. or at least it was easier to
hide one's identity and blend in if you were a member of another
persecuted group.
"Historians have verified that 3 million people of Jewish ancestry were exterminated in AB- yet many forget that 1 million Catholic Poles met the same fate there-"
More like some 900,000 Jews and 200,000 others (mostly Poles and Soviet POWs).
i hate how the writer of the book Fateless blasts Spielburg. Steven Spielburg did a excelent job with Schindler's List. I don't care if that old dude is a survivor or not. SCHINDLER'S LIST IS THE BEST MOVIE OF ALL TIME, GOT THAT kERSTEZ!
share" I don't care if that old dude is a survivor or not."
And that is exactly why you merfwriter, are and always will be an idiot.
Another 10 year old.. these kids should be banned from such userboards..
sharefirst of all... not kerstez, but KERTESZ is his name. second of all, i think we cannot compare schindler's list with fateless... there are just too different. fateless is inspired from a book, and the book is inspired from kertesz's life... i think he knows best... i read so stuff written by kertesz and i think he is amazing.
shareKertesz comments about Spielberg, Schindler's List and the Shoah Foundation is a classic example of "Sour Grapes". He states in the interview that Janos Szasz was the original director but "left the project for Spielberg who I dislike". This statement reveals his real attitude in my opinion. Spielberg was Executive Producer on 2 of Szasz' films, A Holocaust Szsemei(Eyes of the Holocaust 2000) and Broken Silence(2002). When Fateless ran out of money in mid production it is my guess that Szasz was asked to contact Mr. Spielberg for financing and for whatever reason Spielberg declined. Enter producer Andras Hamori(Iron Eagle 2,The Sweet Hereafter) to save the day and finance the project, which was a box office flop, losing millions of dollars.
Kertesz' comments on Spielberg's Foundation are ridiculous. "It is not the right way to interview trained survivors. 500 old ladies who tell the same thing. We were deported, put in a wagon,we were thirsty, we were hungry, dogs were barking, they were yelling. We know that (we do? that explains why there are so many Holocaust deniers). "If somebody wants that something should remain in the audiences mind, the story of 500 survivors is not the way. The story of only one, thats the way".
My reaction was WTF is he talking about. The Shoah foundation has 1000's of testimonials of survivors who tell detailed stories of the atrocities of the camps and the holocaust. Perhaps Mr. Kertesz should view them. It is rare that one artist will "blast" another even if they want to, its just not very productive. If his statements made any sense, I would at least have learned something but instead I lost any respect I could have had for this man.
Kertesz was never the director, do not be stupid. He is a writer who received the Nobel prize for Fateless. And it was his true story, so he couldn't "copy" it from anyone.
shareThat putz is just jealous.
Nothing is more beautiful than nothing.
That "putz" is a Nobel Prize winner for literature, and rightly so. His comments about fine but overrated Schindler's List were astute. As another contributer said, Schindler is a typical Hollywood drama, exploring the outer life. Fateless, like the other Holocaust related film masterpiece The Pianist, explores the inner lives of the people they examine, to me, far more rewarding. Perhaps nobody in a Spielberg film ever won an Oscar is because the actors are limited in what they have to work with. The truly great performances get inside humans. Spielberg is good at getting inside machines. The way he gets inside people is by having John Williams swell the music. Then again, maybe that's why his films have otherwise done so well at the Oscars, because those increasingly meaningless awards almost always reward big, surface films, while the truly great ones get overlooked. The Pianist lost to loud, shallow Chicago. Fateless wasn't even nominated. They rarely get it right. Sorry, I digress, but hate the Oscars. Many film buffs would say the last time they got it "right" was Schindler, but I disagree, The Remains of the Day, The Piano, and Scorsese's underrated Age of Innocence, as well as the Jeff Bridges vehicle Fearless all moved me more. Have to go back to Unforgiven or even The Last Emperor 20 years ago for truly deserving Picture winners.
sharewell spoken jayiijay, but I don't agree 100%, they had it right with American Beauty.
share1. I totally agree with hating the Oscars. some of the best films and filmmakers were never even nominated, while many quite bad films (Titanic, Chicago, etc.) got a lot of awards.
2. I really dislike Hollywood. Also, apart from a few films (Duel and maybe A.I.) I never really liked Spielberg's work, not even SL which was not that bad, but yes it was very "hollywoodish", overall sentimental and "made on the factory line"-like.
3. But I also dislike Sorstalanság which is a bad film. The novel is fine, it's not Kertész' flaw. They took a good novel and made a miserable film out of it with really bad acting, timing and atmosphere. Even the music by Morricone is too much sentimental just like the film itself. The novel's concept was to document the Holocaust experiences of a young boy as if it would happen to anyone anywhere, not as a "special" thing or a sentimental, too horrid or too "romantic" (don't misunderstand the meaning of the word!) experience. The film is totally the opposite of what the novel's atmosphere and message was.
4. The Pianist is the best film out of the three, but it's too a little bit Hollywoodish, but is far above these two "Holocaust blockbusters".
"A voice from behind me reminds me. Spread out your wings you are an angel."
If Imre Kertesz thinks Schindler's List is inauthentic and a lie when it comes to depicting the camps and the holocaust then who are we to criticize him? Kertesz lived it. I didn't. Spielberg didn't. I doubt anyone here did.
I do think Schindler's List was a good movie but I also feel that in the end it turned the story into a feel good movie. I certainly can understand where a survivor is coming from when he finds fault with Hollywoodizing the holocaust. I respect that a survivor does not want the holocaust to be used in such a way. I don't know how anyone can deny that Spielberg is prone to that. As much as there is to like about Saving Private Ryan, that flag waving ending was atrocious and embarrassing. I cannot believe no one had the power or guts to tell him so. Similarly, the Schindler ending was just plain bad movie making. Two movies where Spielberg completely snaps you out of the mood of the movie he just spent hours getting you into. He needs to review a copy of Empire of the Sun for how to end a movie.
I must add that the cinematography of Fateless was simply beautiful - I saw it on a DVD.
"..Saving Private Ryan, that flag waving ending was atrocious and embarrassing..."
Not as bad as that disgustingly PC ending in War of the Worlds when the "man' is made disposable after risking his life to save the kids and doesn't even get a kiss my arse let alone thanks.! Totally misandrist pandering to the feminarchy.
Kiwiboy62
So SL had John Williams and Fateless had:
some unknown bloke called: Ennio Morricone
If you are going to attack the soundtrack of SL, Ennios music in Fateless added so much to the film.
And some people would say that Ennio Morricone is a better composer than Williams.
Just ask Clint Eastwood, would these films have been as good without the music?
I got mesmerized and moved to tears by Schindler's List (Spielberg is a master at manipulating the feelings of the audience) But of course I don't buy everything Spielberg says or does.
In the other hand Imre Kertesz IMO is a much more reliable person, and one like Polanski (in a lesser degree the latter) who suffered personally the horror of the "holocaust".
So if I have to choose: Schinder's List as a "movie" (meaning: A work of fiction even if based on "true facts") is better than Fateless; but "The Pianist" and Lajos Koltai's work seems are much closer to the reality than Spielberg's film.
Don't forget that Spielberg is the creator of the infamous "Summer Blockbusters" concept with movies like "Jaws", A movie that depicts 100% erroneously how the sharks behaves. The oceanographers still hates Spielberg for that movie!
Despite the fact that the translation of Kertesz's interview at the end of the DVD is appalling what he criticizes about Spielberg is relevant.
He describes Schindler's List as describing the victory of Humanity over the Holocaust whereas really the important thing never to forget is that the Holocaust is Humanity and needs to be addressed as such.
No one can feel superior as everyone participated, even to some degree the victims, as well as pretty much all of us.
"You won't need eyes where you're going"
It's Imre Kertész, not Kerstez.
shareas an earlier poster said...
Imre Kertész the writer of Fateless can say what he wants... He did live it..
Spielberg.. is a great filmmaker, is great at manipulating the audience emotions.. as he showed with Duel...etc...
This is a great film...
Marcell Nagy, was wonderful in the lead role...