Steven Spielberg: Not an Ordinary Filmmaker

Steven Spielberg has received the Kennedy Center Honor for his works and contributions to our world as we know it. For those of my generation and maybe even a few before us Steven Spielberg has been a part of our lives since childhood. Jaws came out while I was in elementary school and I wanted to see it so very badly, yet my parents felt it was much too scary for a child. It would be many years later when I was actually able to see the movie but it still scared me right out of my seat.

E.T holds some very special memories for me as that was what I went to see on my very first date. While all the girls cried, the teenage boys tried to show how tough they were by sucking it all in. Many years later when the anniversary edition of E.T was offered I was in line with many others to buy it because I now have a child with whom I wanted to share the magic of that story with. I suspect my child will be standing in line for the anniversary of Jurassic Park to share the stories of her childhood with her own children some day.

The list of Steven Spielberg's work goes on and the memories associated with them are infinite yet I doubt too many were prepared for the turn his work would take in 1993 when he released Schindler's List and brought history to life. The man that had brought us E.T. and Indiana Jones brought the world to a new vision with this gut wrenching movie and made us look at the history of our world through new eyes. Instead of taking the money and running Steven Spielberg has formed the Righteous Persons Foundation and donates part of the proceeds from Schindlers List in order to promote interfaith understanding and tolerance. Recently Spielberg donated one million dollars for Israeli relief with an initial donation of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars to help Israel recover and survive after its battles with Hezbollah. This is a man who not only made a movie but is making a difference.

Saving Private Ryan and Band Of Brothers remember WWII in a very graphic and very real way. It has been said the Spielberg wanted to tell the story of the ordinary soldier in WWII and by doing so he showed the world that there was no such thing as ordinary soldiers in that conflict. He gave WWII a voice, a name and a story while he gave their children and grandchildren a deeper understanding of the hell those men lived through during the war. During the Kennedy Center Honors several WWII Veteran's came out to as a part of the honor. They thanked him for telling their story and telling how it really was and in his always gracious manner Steven Spielberg started the standing ovation for these heroes who might have been forgotten had it not been for the movies and the stories that he has given to the world.

Just as those Veteran's had been more than ordinary; Steven Spielberg is not an ordinary filmmaker. He is a man of vision, heart, compassion and extraordinary talent for telling a story that captures the imagination and the conscience of his viewers. Long after Steven Spielberg has yelled "cut" for the last time the world will continue to cry over E.T, jump out of their seats from Jaws and find themselves looking at their own history through the eyes of a man who seems to understand the human spirit as they watch Saving Private Ryan, Band Of Brothers, Schindlers List, Amistad and Munich. Steven Spielberg's legacy will be that he gave us a new understanding of the world we live in. There is a phrase "We must always remember our past or we will be destined to repeat it." Steven Spielberg is making sure we will always remember and hopefully we will remember not to repeat that history.