Schindler’s List – Historical Reflection (Recommendation)

Year: 1993

Director: Steven Spielberg

Starring: Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes, Ben Kingsley, Embeth Davidtz, Caroline Goodall, Emillie Schindler, Jonathan Sagall, Poldek Pfefferberg, Mark Ivanir, Malgorzata, Branko Lustig, Andrzej Seweryn, Beatrice Macola, Friedrich von Thun, Norbert Weisser, Shmulik Levy, Anna Mucha, Oliwia Dabrowka, Elina Lowensohn, Hans-Michael Rehberg, Adi Nitzan, Ezra Dagan

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gG22XNhtnoY

Sometimes we need time for reflection. To look back at ourselves, and history. To question if there was anything we could have done differently, cataloguing mistakes to ensure the past isn’t repeated.

Schindler’s List is a heart wrenching account of how a Nazi party member, Oskar Schindler, saved over a thousand Jews during the Holocaust by employing them in his enamelware factory. It took the film’s director, Steven Spielberg, years to make, as he wanted to be mature and skilled enough to retell one of history’s most tragic events.

At the beginning of the film we see Schindler (Liam Neeson) extorting the Jewish community, preying on their desperation, exploiting his Jewish workforce by doing no work, but reaping the benefits. Spielberg addresses the theme of capitalism through Schindler’s deal with the community, where they provide money for his business in return for a low, but regular, supply of tradeable goods.

After the war, Oskar Schindler was honoured with the Righteous Among the Nations award, though his legacy truly started with his Jewish accountant Itzhak Stern (Ben Kingsley), who arranged papers for Jewish ghetto dwellers to become Schindler’s employees. In one scene a handicapped gentleman thanks Schindler for his job, and in turn saving his life by making him an “essential worker”. Schindler is later seen scoffing at the man’s usefulness, which suggests that Stern was using the hiring process as a means of saving people within the Jewish community, emphasising that it was he who paved the way for Schindler’s redemption.

Later we are introduced to Amon Goeth (Ralph Fiennes). Spielberg draws a comparison to Schindler by mirroring their morning shaving routines, suggesting that through his exploitation and blatant disregard for the Jewish community, Schindler is as accountable as an SS-Commander. Schindler’s turning point is when he witnesses the slaughter and clearing of the ghetto, as he begins to provide small bartering trinkets to Stern, to ensure individuals mistreated by Goeth are transferred to his factory and to safety. This is important as it teaches us that the smallest deed goes a long way, and by saving one life, Schindler is slowly regaining his humanity.

Throughout the film Spielberg recounts horrifyingly true occurrences over and over, rarely giving us pause to fully digest what is shown before moving onto the next. This is a fantastic technique to highlight how prisoners of war were constantly tormented; from stripping and cataloguing them naked; stealing the children away from their parents; to having them burn their own dead.

Ultimately, Schindler’s List is an essential piece of cinema history. The visceral realism of violence has forever captured the true and horrifying events of World War Two, ensuring that future generations never forget the devastation man created. Schindler tries to atone for his sins buy using all the money he took from the Jews, the profits he made by supplying the Nazi regime, and paid for “workers” and their lives. Stern says that “the list is life”, presenting it as a metaphor for hope. Hope that lives could be spared. Hope that unfounded hatred never graces this world again.