20 Best Movies Over Three Hours Long

Runtime: 3 hours, 5 minutes

Schindler's List is a film entrenched in pop culture that it's easy to forget just how incredible it is until you revisit it. Based on the novel Schindler's Ark by Thomas Kenneally, Steven Spielberg's drama follows industrialist Oskar Schindler as he races to save Polish-Jewish civilians from the Holocaust. 

Shot in beautiful black-and-white, Spielberg was inspired to direct the film by both the documentary Shoah and the rise of Holocaust deniers in the media. In doing so, he set out to create the most accurate and uncompromising portrait of the unimaginable genocide that took place during the Second World War.

And it's safe to say he succeeded, though not without injecting moments of hope into the horror. Oskar's attempts to save those less fortunate than himself are heroic and inspiring, and those he helped are more than just would-be victims - they're given voices and humanity. 

At once powerfully performed and thrilling, Schindler's List doesn't shy from the atrocities he's exploring, but his deft humanism and creative direction makes it an intensely watchable affair despite the heartbreak.