1993 Best Picture:
Schindler's List

Competition:
The Fugitive, Remains of the Day, The Piano, In the Name of the Father 

Other Winners:
Best Actor: Tom Hanks, Philadelphia 
Best Actress: Holly Hunter, The Piano
Best Supporting Actor: Tommy Lee Jones, The Fugitive
Best Supporting Actress: Anna Paquin, The Piano
Best Director: Steven Spielberg, Schindler's List

Cast: Liam Neeson, Ben Kingsley, Ralph Fiennes, Caroline Goodall, Jonathan Sagall, Embeth Daidtz, Malgoscha Gebel 

Storyline: Based on a true story, a card carrying member of the Nazi party uses his munitions factory to rescue Jews from the concentration camps.

Did it deserve to win:  Of course it did!  After almost twenty years worth of classic films behind him, Steven Spielberg finally gets the OK by the Academy with a film that is emotionally devastating - and in the end, uplifting.  

The Fugitive was a remake of the 1960's TV series, a fun action drama, but it hardly a Best Picture contender.  In the Name of the Father was a harsh look at dirty politics in Ireland.  Using bleak landscapes, The Piano turned out to be a red hot romance.  Remains of the Day was the latest period offering from Merchant-Ivory.  

Critique:  With three of the highest grossing films belonging to him, and with a string of classic movies under his belt, Hollywood's Golden boy was long over due for an Oscar.  He shouldn't have needed to recreate the Holocaust to finally get recognition by Oscar, but he did, and he did so brilliantly.  

Since most of the images from that horrible time come to us in black and white, Spielberg chose to film Schindler's List that way as well.  He combines an identifiable look with very powerful performances, and violent images, the overall result packs a might punch.  

Liam Neeson has the role of his career, playing Oscar Schindler.  The film also revived the career of Ben Kingsley, who plays Schindler's right hand man, Itzhak Stern.  But the most notable performance was by a then unknown, Ralph Fiennes, who plays the evil Nazi, Amon Goeth.

Schindler's List can be so upsetting, that it is often referred to by critics as something we are obliged to see.  On the other hand, Spielberg is an excellent story teller, and he seems to have a certain trademark to his cinematography, that is easily evident here.  While Schindler's List covers one of the ugliest periods in history, the film is beautifully crafted, and its easy to see why Spielberg is one of the greatest director's ever.

Behind the Scenes: Schindler's List was nominated for 12 Academy Awards, winning seven of them, including the coveted Best Director award for Steven Spielberg.  After several years of what seemed like a backlash against him, Spielberg was finally given his due.  

The film made a star out of Ralph Fiennes, who plays the evil Nazi Amon Goeth.  By drinking lots of Guinness, Fiennes gained weight for a role that was already less than flattering.   Despite it all, Fiennes went on to become a romantic lead, and all-round sex symbol, once he was discovered at the Oscar's.

Whoopi Goldberg became the first woman to host the Oscar's alone.  Women had done so in the past only as part of duo's and groups.  Whoopi opened her monologue by harkening back to previous years where Billy Crystal would sing a tribute to the nominated films, and how smart he was to get out when he did.  She remarked, "Billy got The Crying Game.  I get Schindler's List." 

Spielberg is greeted with a standing ovation when he accepts the Best Director award.

Spielberg's win prevented another first from occurring.  Jane Campion became the second woman to ever receive a Best Director nomination.  The first occurred in 1975 with Lina Wertmuller, who was nominated for Seven Beauties.  Campion didn't go home empty handed however, as she won the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay.  

A shocked Anna Paquin, who can hardly speak,  and Holly Hunter, accept their Oscar's for The Piano.

At eleven years old, Anna Paquin won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar.  While she was young, she wasn't the youngest.  That honor went to Tatum O'Neil in 1973, who was nine. 

There were a number of interesting first among the nominations that year.  Holly Hunter and Emma Thompson both received two nominations, one each in the Supporting Actress category, and one in the each in the Best Actress category.   Thompson lost both of hers, but Hunter won Best Actress for The Piano.

The Tom Hanks phenomenon began that year when he won the Best Actor Oscar for his role in Philadelphia.  He played a man dying of AIDS who takes legal action against the company that wrongfully dismisses him.  Hanks made a point of thanking his gay high school drama coach in his acceptance speech.  The event inspired the movie In and Out, about a high school teacher who is outed in his community, when a former student, now a big actor, thanks him on national television. 

Tom Hanks thanks his high school drama coach.

Nazi pig, Amon, uses tired Jews for target practise.