Steven Spielberg's Schindler's List (1993) is often hailed as the supreme example of a Holocaust film, that is, a film about genocide. Despite the fact that this is a feature film based on historical events with all the limitations to accuracy that that entails, since its premiere it has been used around the world as an audiovisual history textbook that has the power to move, inspire but also to teach its audiences about certain aspect of genocide in general, and about the genocide of the European Jews during the Second World War in particular. However, Schindler's List has been subjected to severe criticism for being outright false, un-educational, commercial, oversimplified, for obscuring the majority of victims, for being too sentimental, and for having a happy Hollywood ending that radiates with “positively repulsive kitsch.” The question of historical accuracy seems to be in direct opposition with the film medium's ability to inspire, and to reach and inform audiences about historical events like genocides. Is it even possible for audiences to acquire some sort of historical knowledge which is not immediately undermined by the film medium's inherent way of telling a story?

While Schindler's List probably is the most commercially successful film ever that deals with genocide as its main theme, grossing approximately US$321 million at the box office worldwide, it still remains one of Spielberg's least successful films commercially, far behind blockbusters such as E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982) and Jurassic Park (1993). The accusations aimed at Spielberg for making money out of the Holocaust are grossly unfair, especially considering that Spielberg founded the USC Shoah Foundation Institute for Visual History and Education, partly with the earnings from Schindler's List. However, in a Bourdieuian sense Schindler's List contributed to Spielberg’s—and even Hollywood's as an institution—cultural prestige with its seven Academy Awards, eighty-four international film prizes, and an official endorsement by President Bill Clinton. Nonetheless, the commercial element of the international film industry tends to smear, or be used to smear, even the most accurate historical film, and only the more artful and supposedly uncommercial films, such as Nuit et brouillard (Night and Fog, 1956), appear to be allowed to deal with solemn historical subjects such as genocide.