Today’s movie of the day is 1993’s “Schindler’s List,” a historical drama film directed and produced by Steven Spielberg. Popular with both critics and audiences, this movie is often listed among the greatest films ever made. A box office success, Schindler’s List earned $322 million worldwide on a $22 million budget.

This movie, based on a novel by Thomas Keneally, is centered around German industrialist Oskar Schindler, who saved more than a thousand Polish-Jewish refugees from the Holocaust. Itzhak Stern, the character whose accounting skills helped Schindler with his scheme, assisted in employing refugees as factory workers as a means of escape during World War II. Although Schindler originally hired these workers for practical reasons, as the storyline moves along, he realizes what is happening around him and comes to the understanding that his actions are actually saving the lives of many innocent people. He no longer is focused on making his fortune and ultimately laments that he did not save as many lives as he could have if he had acted earlier.

This movie has an almost perfect score on Rotten Tomatoes. The tone as well as the superior acting aided in the critical acclaim Schindler’s List received. It has been selected for preservation by the United States National Film Registry. The American Film Industry has ranked this film number eight on its list of the Top 100 American Films. In addition to winning numerous awards, Schindler’s List was nominated for twelve Academy Awards and ultimately won seven of them.