So my expectation going into this movie was that it was going to be like a classier Sophie’s Choice — melodrama using the Holocaust as tragedy porn, with horrific events serving largely to illustrate the personal growth of the protagonist.

And it’s not not that. This really is the story of Oskar Schindler, and how he evolves from war-time profiteer to humanitarian. And Spielberg does here occasionally tend to the melodramatic (famously with the little girl in the red dress). And of course, the whole premise of the movie is an uplifting one of hope — these people all made it out okay, all the machinations worked and the good guys won — which is an awkward fit with a larger reality.

But… it’s not just that, either. It does give more of that larger context, it does show senseless tragedy alongside narrow escapes. And it’s rescued a lot by virtue of being a true-ish story: The Nazi commander who’s cartoonishly evil is based on an actual cartoonishly evil Nazi commander; the people that Schindler saved actually are real people (and one of them pressed Spielberg to make this movie). And then plus, Spielberg is a consummate craftsman, and this movie is exceedingly well made.

So yeah, it’s better than I feared it would be, and I take back about 60% of the mean stuff I’ve said about it over the years. But I still think that high school history classes should be showing Shoah instead, when it comes time to play movies in class.