Books tie the score

I was shocked to look back and realize it has been a couple years since I last checked off a book-and-movie pair from my list of Oscar-winning movies that were based on books. The last complete pair I had tackled was Q & A by Vikas Swarup and its film adaptation, Slumdog Millionaire. Since then, I have read A Man For All Seasons by Robert Bolt, Mutiny on the Bounty by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall, and Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens, but I haven't made time to sit down and watch any of the corresponding films yet. Now, at long last, I can check off another title from the list: Schindler's Ark by Thomas Kinneally (I'd already seen Steven Spielberg's film version, Schindler's List, and I rewatched it with Ellen shortly after finishing the book).

Schindler's List is, of course, a visually striking and visceral film. It's impossible to watch it and not be moved by the contrast presented by the small, poignant pockets of humanity against the backdrop of horrific inhumanity. My high school European history teacher once said, "After I watch Schindler's List, I walk away feeling physically drained, thinking 'I can't do that again without a break first.'" I'm inclined to agree.

Nevertheless, I actually preferred the book. In fact, I found that I enjoyed the film less the second time around than the first. This stems in large part, I'm sure, from having read the book in the intervening period. Thomas Kinneally does a terrific job of explaining what the characters were thinking and feeling in the midst of their travails (Kinneally conducted extensive interviews with the survivors, although he acknowledges that the book is still a work of fiction and certain liberties were taken, especially when it comes to Schindler himself, with whom Kinneally did not get to speak).

As a result, when Ellen and I rewatched the movie, I found myself mentally filling in details that fleshed out the story but which were only found in the book. I connected with the characters on the screen in a new way, but my satisfaction was tempered by the knowledge that the movie required an external enabler to attain this new resonance. I strongly recommend reading the book and then watching the movie, but taken individually, I must say I preferred the book.

Which means the score is now tied 3-3. I liked The Godfather and The Godfather, Part II better than Mario Puzo's The Godfather and I much preferred The Silence of the Lambs over Thomas Harris's book of the same name. Cormac McCarthy's No Country for Old Men, the aforementioned Q & A, and Schindler's Ark all scored for the book side. There are nine titles where I have read or watched one of the versions and five where I haven't read the book or seen the movie, so I guess I have my work cut out for me!