as a young person conditioned by today's flashy eye-candy movie-making, i really have to up my patience in order to appreciate most of the classics. even when i do that, a lot of them still strike me as having a little too much hype built around them. but this movie truly impressed me. besides the fact that it managed to keep my attention, it wasn't too feel-good or ambiguous, nor was it presented too matter-of-factly. it also showed the scale of nazi brutality without too much gore.