Schindler's List 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		5.0
Video		4.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		3.5
Overall		4.5

Schindler's List 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman December 21, 2018

Universal has re-relased Director Steven Spielberg's Holocaust masterpiece 'Schindler's List' to UHD in celebration of the film's 25th anniversary. This version contains a new 4K/Dolby Vision video presentation and a new Dolby Atmos soundtrack. The same Blu-ray included on the previous 20th anniversary release from 2013 is also bundled, but the set includes a new bonus disc, on Blu- ray rather than DVD as was the case with the 2001 release, which includes all three previously released features and two new supplements. The film has also been released on Blu-ray with the same two discs included in this package.

When Blu-ray.com's Ken Brown reviewed Schindler's List in 2013, he wisely allowed the film to largely speak for itself and reproduced a letter penned by Oscar Schindler's former workers. To read his thoughts and the letter, please click here.

Schindler's List 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The included screenshots are sourced from a 1080p Blu-ray disc. Watch for 4K screenshots at a later date.

Schindler's List has received a positively sublime 25th anniversary UHD release. The native 4K, shot-on-film presentation has also received a vital Dolby Vision color enhancement that is the perfect compliment to the texturally alive black-and-white visuals. The 2160p resolution affords the film a significant leap in sharpness over the Blu-ray and superb contrast balance within its black and white photography. The opening titles are strikingly clear and finely colored, but tastefully so. The transition to black and white is seamless, with smoke from a recently extinguished candle becoming steam engine exhaust. The dense smoke offers no troubling banding or other potentially problematic artifacts, which holds true for the duration of the film. Character presentations are firm and exquisitely filmic. Facial definition is stellar, whether clean, smooth skin on younger characters or intimate portraits of elderly camp detainees that reveal sagging bags under the eyes, wrinkles, and other age-related deteriorations with amazing clarity and intimacy. Clothing, whether expensive suits, crisp Nazi military uniforms, or clothing the Jews wear, including tattered jackets and worn garments that reveal tears and frays with striking clarity, are all immaculately revealing. Location details are incredibly dense and remarkably sharp and detailed. A cathedral in chapter four, crowded city streets, old basements, and the wooden bunk houses in the internment camps all reveal critical macro environmental elements and background micro details with equal sharpness, all of which find significantly more stability and clarity over the Blu-ray, which often appears extremely soft in comparison. The image is complimented by a fine grain structure that is a constant companion and lends the image a breathtaking filmic texturing.

The Dolby Vision color grading offers an upward leap on level with that which the 4K resolution affords the material. Whites and lighter grays are much more brilliant, but firmly so, intense but not garish. Black level depth is particularly strong, dense and deep but never crushing out critical components in any frame under any lighting conditions, including dark and dense shadowy corners. The middle ground grayscale appears precise and perfectly balanced with much more nuanced gradation than is evident on the Blu-ray. As for the film's color bookends, they are handled well, boasting firm saturation and resplendent color accuracy with an obvious expansion in range, saturation, and nuance. The girl in the red coat, probably the most thematically critical character in the film, does not have her coat's color drastically altered. It remains a fairly understated, muted red, enough to stand apart from the surrounding grayscale but not enough to distract from the scene's emotional impact. Universal and the Dolby Vision colorists have finessed the color, carefully enhancing it without substantively changing the look, flow, and feel of the scene. Though the film is difficult to watch for its brutal and unwavering depiction of the horrors of the Holocaust, viewing it in 4K and with Dolby Vision enhancement, from a purely technical perspective, is an incredibly rewarding experience.

Schindler's List 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The film's new Dolby Atmos soundtrack delivers a refined, reserved experience that sonically compliments the movie's visuals and tone extremely well, with the added overhead channels gently engaging in a few key moments and offering minor fill rather than fundamentally altering the sound experience. Precision sound envelopment draws the listener into any number of the film's scenes. Light but well defined environmental effects when the Jews are forced to register in the opening minutes present with voices emanating from around the listener and clanking typewriters adding an eerie cadence to the din. In the following scene, Carlos Gardel's Por Una Cabeza gently envelopes the listener with crystal-clear notes, prioritized above light, but audible, party atmosphere. There is modestly discrete overhead use at times, such as loudspeaker announcements at the 45 minute mark and some deeper reverb when gunshots are fired in a tunnel in the 64 minute mark. Gunshots in general are not incredibly powerful and loud, but there's a good pop and reverb when fired out in the open. Dialogue propels the film, and as expected positioning, prioritization, and clarity are above reproach.

Schindler's List 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Schindler's List contains no extras on its UHD disc. The package includes a feature film Blu-ray and a special features Blu-ray, that latter of which houses five supplements, two of which were not released as part of the 2013 disc's supplemental package. Those are marked and reviewed below. For full supplemental coverage of the previously released extras, please click here. A Movies Anywhere digital copy code is included with purchase. That is attached to a small insert that introduces the the USC Shoah Foundation, features special text from Steven Spielberg concerning the film's 25th anniversary, and lists the bonus features on the Blu-ray. The release ships with an embossed slipcover.

• NEW! Schindler's List: 25 Years Later (1080p, 39:56): This piece presents an on-stage discussion following a 2018 screening at The Beacon Theater for the Tribeca Film Festival. Participants include Director Steven Spielberg and Actors Liam Neeson, Ben Kingsley, Caroline Goodall, and Embeth Davidtz. The discussion is moderated by Film Critic Janet Maslin. Discussions include Spielberg reminiscing about seeing the film for the first time in many years, how he became involved in the production, performance qualities, memories from the production, viewing the film once again with an audience, film construction, casting details, interactions with the cast, the film's importance, and more. The piece is intercut with film footage and behind-the-scenes clips.
• Voices from the List (480i, 1:17:30).
• USC Shoah Foundation Story with Steven Spielberg (1080p, 4:55): Note that this feature was presented in standard definition on the previously released DVD that was bundled with the Blu-ray.
• NEW! Let Their Testimonies Speak - Stronger Than Hate (1080p, 3:50): Steven Spielberg introduces a short piece that champions the importance of love in a world of hate and violence.
• About IWitness (1080p, 4:03): Note that this feature was presented in standard definition on the previously released DVD that was bundled with the Blu-ray.

Schindler's List 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Schindler's List rises above critique and criticism, and for as extraordinarily powerful and well made as the movie may be, it rises above praise and adulation as well. It's a film conceived in both love and remorse that more so than any other in the medium's history conveys the best and worst of humanity, built by a master filmmaker who never allows the film to become more than its story, even considering the obvious technical excellence that permeates every shot. Universal's UHD delivers flawless 2160p/Dolby Vision video, a perfectly complimentary Dolby Atmos soundtrack, and the special features Blu-ray offers a couple of new extras in addition to the three previously released supplements. This release earns my highest recommendation.