Schindler?s List Essay, Research Paper
Schindler?s List Schindler?s List is a
movie that though I had heard much about, I had never seen. I don?t know if it
was out of lack of interest for the subject, fear of the reportedly graphic
scenes, or just the knowledge of its length that I avoided the film, but I did.
I can remember when I was in 8th grade hearing an announcement over the
loudspeaker that all of the seniors had to bring in their permission slips so
that they would be allowed to watch the film in the auditorium the following week.
That certainly piqued my interest. What was it about this film that was so bad
that it required a permission slip, yet so good that it was being shown in
school for the students? When I learned that we would be watching the film in
class, I was excited and curious to finally see what all the hype was about.
What I found out was that it was a very sad, very depressing, and very
beautiful film. Not beautiful in the sense of those Jane Austen pictures with
the rolling English landscapes and multi-colored dresses, but beautiful in its
complexity and honesty. It was brutally graphic, but not in a gratuitous way
like the popular films of today, it was graphic because it was an accurate
portrayal of true event in history. Without the violence and nudity it would have
betrayed the truth, sugarcoating it, and providing a dishonest picture of the
evil that was the Holocaust. The film begins in Krakow, Poland just after the
collapse of the Polish army and at the beginning of the German occupation.
Oskar Schindler, a tall handsome womanizer arrives in the city looking to open
a factory in order to profit from the war. Since the Jews are no longer
permitted to own businesses, Oskar obtains a factory from a Jewish man named
Itzhak Stern, and appoints him as his accountant and manager. The two form a
strange relationship, Oskar taking advantage of Stern?s talent, and Stern
distrustingly but obediently following Schindler?s orders. Schindler gets the
rich Jews from the ghetto to invest in the factory and he uses Jews to work for
him since they cost him little. Through the black market, Schindler obtains
numerous delicacies such as liquor and chocolate for the SS and German officers
and sends them large gift baskets that place him in their good favor. Schindler
spent his days entertaining the Nazis and his many women, while leaving the
work of running the factory to Itzhak?s very capable hands. Whenever he did
meet with Stern, the intelligent manager would feed him little stories of how
the Jews were being treated. Though at first he took these stories with a grain
of salt, Schindler began to feel more and more impacted and would make small
moves that showed that inside the seemingly callous man, was a compassionate
and caring individual. Schindler?s factory became a haven for the Jews among
all of the chaos. The word quickly spread that in Schindler?s factory nobody
died. Schindler himself was apparently unaware of this fact until one day, a
young Jewish woman disguised herself, and went to ask Schindler to please hire
her parents who were at a labor camp. He was appalled by this request and
fearful of what could happen to him. Hi
out of his office, but a few days later she rejoiced when she saw her parents
being shepherded into his factory by German officials. Several days later, all
of the Jews in the camps are asked to strip and put through numerous exams to
see whether they are sick or healthy enough to work. They are separated and the
weak ones are gassed. All of the children are placed in trucks, and they are
sent away. The Russians are nearing, and to avoid them, the Germans plan on
moving the Jews to a different camp further into Poland. Schindler realizes
that he is running out of time and he makes a deal with Amon Goeth to ?buy? the
Jews. Working with Stern the two compile a list of 1100 workers from memory.
These Jews are given over to Schindler who then releases them to go their own
way. The grateful Jews melt their gold fillings to create a ring, which they
present as a gift to Schindler. He accepts it, but with regret that he did not
do more to save more Jews. He looks back at all of the money that he wasted on
parties, and drinking and cars and realizes that each of those items that he
spent his money on could have saved one more life. The Schindler Jews, as they
called themselves, don?t condemn him for this, but rather they praise him for
his sacrifice and all surround him in a group hug. I thought that this was an
amazing film. It was difficult at times to watch, and I often found myself in a
sort of daze as I was walking out of class. What I did like about the film was
that it did not idealize Schindler (at least not until the end). It showed him
for what he was: a war profiteer and a womanizer who liked to party and really
did not come to Poland with the idea of saving any Jews. He slowly changed due
to the bits and pieces that he heard from Stern and the atrocities that he saw
with his own eyes. It wasn?t a total and complete change, for I am sure that he
did not abandon his ways completely, however he did make a great sacrifice by
giving up all that he had worked for to save the lives of 1100 men and women. I
know that I learned from this film, not really about facts about the war or the
Holocaust, because I learned those from books and documentaries on PBS. What I
did get from it was a clearer picture of the horror that these people
encountered, and of the senselessness of it all. There was no reason why this
had to happen. Just seeing the cruel acts of people such as Goeth, with their
indifference and insensibility, is chilling. I know that it is all true and
that is why it is so frightening. Once again, a film places before me the
question of how a person, a human being, can be so desensitized as to perform
these acts without the slightest sense of remorse. The fact that such things
have also happened in places such as Cambodia and Ethiopia, and will probably
continue to happen is disillusioning. It?s almost as if we don?t learn or don?t
care. I don?t know who could watch a film such as this and not be affected, and
yet these things go on. Schindler was a good man and he did a great thing, but
what still stays in the back of my mind is all those, like the one-armed man
and the little girl in the red coat, that he couldn?t save.