6. Ralph Fiennes (Schindlers List, 1994)
Ralph Fiennes gives a chilling and equally compelling performance as the Nazi commandant Amon Goeth in Steven Spielbergs holocaust film Schindlers List. Inconceivably he was denied the Oscar by Tommy Lee Jones for his work in The Fugitive. Tommy Lee Jones role as the driven Samuel Girard, a cop charged with hunting down a man wrongfully accused of murdering his wife, is admirable yet pales in comparison to the stunning Fiennes performance. It could have been easy for lesser actors, when faced with a character like Amon Goeth, to resort to playing him as a caricature of an evil Nazi commandant. Fiennes, however, subtly humanised the role painting him as a deeply disturbed and conflicted man. Fiennes brilliant portrayal of Goeth is charismatic in an unsettling way and so changeable that it forces the viewer to constantly reassess the different sides of this monster. Just when we have the psychotic commandant figured out he shifts his mindset and expresses a degree of doubt in his treatment of the Jewish people. In a gripping scene the titular Schindler, played by Liam Neesom, instructs Goeth that real power is not mindlessly executing a Jew but rather pardoning them. The ensuing scenes see Goeth visibly wrestle with this seemingly unnatural concept as he attempts to pardon a Jewish boy. It is this seamless change in character by Fiennes that makes Goeth such a frighteningly real prospect. The Academy once more favours a more digestible action movie performance over a role that was for them perhaps too dark or unsavory.
Daniel Perry
Contributor
Daniel is a writer obsessed with film and music and spends as much time as possible immersing himself in both. Sometimes he forgets where movies end and life begins.
See more from
Daniel