Schindler's List, directed by Steven Spielberg, stars Liam Neason, Ben Kingsley, Ralph Fiennes, and a host of wonderful co-stars, is the story of Oskar Schindler. Oskar Schindler was a Nazi businessman who saved hundreds of Jews from certain death during World War Two by employing them in his factory.
This documentary like film begins with Oskar Schindler getting ready to make the deal of a life time by getting in good with the Nazi Officers. Schindler was a man that knew how to smooze people. He would wine and dine them with the best of wine, food, and women, which was not a cheap thing to do, especially during World War II. He was fond of saying, "Presentation is everything."
In September of 1939 German soldiers defeated Poland in only two weeks. Jews were ordered to register all family members and to move to major cities. More than 10,000 Jews from the country arrived in Krakow daily. They were moved from their homes to the "Ghetto", a walled sixteen square block area, which they were only allowed to leave to go to work.
Oskar Schindler met Itzhak Stern at the Judenrat building, the Judenrat was a Jewish council consisting of twenty-four elected Jews personally responsible for: work details, food, housing assignments and taking complaints, this is where the story really begins. Schindler had Stern find Jewish investors to help him get money to start a factory to make metal pots for the war effort. At first Stern decided this was not something he wanted to do, but eventually decided that something must be done to help his fellow Jews. He found investors for Schindler and helped him start a company. Stern helped many Jews by falsifying their work papers to make sure they were considered "essential" wo...
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...r's Jews were kept for awhile.
As Oskar Schindler, Liam Neeson does an outstanding job of portraying a savy buisness man and a caring human being. Ben Kingsley plays his part with heart and cleverness. Ralph Fiennes is so completely believable as Amon Goeth. I would have never wanted to cross the path of that man. The people who played the jews were so convincing in their parts. This film truly has the feel of a documentary.
From the first moment of Schindler's List to the very last, you will be amazed by the strength and resilience of the Jewish people during this horrendous time in their history. You will witness and feel their pain and horror in this very graphic, yet painfully true story. Steven Speilberg deserves all of the awards this film had brought him. It is a time in history we should never forget and pray that we will never witness again.
I would like to point out the poignant cinematography, which was very innovative for its time. The narration and the filming introducing what was about to be uncovered must have been extremely moving in a melancholy way. The mise-en-scène is both compelling and haunting, each frame cleverly editied. Resnais experimented with what is known as the long shot, and the 360 degree shot, to make the voyeur very aware of the unbalanced composition. The panning of the film tracking back from Auschwitz brings us a close up, of barbed wire. This clearly suggests that this isn't what it appears to be. Resnais films the past in black and white, and the then present in colour. The ambiance is chilling, and the composed background music unique. Where normally dramatic loud music would be used to express the abonimation and enormity of the most horrendous scenes, Resnais did quite the contrary.
Oskar Schindler was a German spy in the Nazi Party.He was also a very wealthy businessman who owned a war goods manufacturing factory in the World War II era. Schindler managed to employ 1,200 Jews in his factory in an effort to save them. While Schindler did this, a new concentration camp opened up near him that was run by the notorious Amon Goth. Schindler cultivated a relationship with Goth, so whenever Goth would try to take the Jews to his camp, Schindler would bribe him with black market goods. Later on in the war the camp was forced to shut down due to the advance of the Allies. Schindler got word that all of his Jewish workers would be shipped to Auschwitz with the other Jews. Schindler, upset by this, decided to build a new factory
This list was his way of saving the lives of those affected by the Nazi organization. Although, even though their freedom was still taken away from them, those harbored under the care of Schindler, were well fed and clean. Schindler often referred to them as his "Schindlerjuden" (Schindler Jews). As the crisis grew and more Jews were prosecuted, Schindler began to create more positions within his factory, these positions were fake, so he took a great leap of faith by daring to lie to those within the Nazi party. These fake positions consisted of: typist, toolmaker, and dentist. Things that a factory may have an exact need for without the fear of the Nazi questioning his need. Although despite his best efforts to cover his tracks, the SS began to question Schindler 's motive and began to grow weary of his tales, of the huge need for more workers. He also started to come under much scrutiny by those in the non-Jewish communities, because his views were very much different in comparison to his peers. Schindler had went from a man of greed, to a man of compassion. It began to raise questions but nobody dared to speak out, on their thoughts. The end result of his selfless act being, he saved the lives of over 1,200
Oskar Schindler was a German Industrialist and a previous member of the Nazi Party (Oskar Schindler (1908-1974) ). Schindler had many jobs, including working in his father’s machinery business, opening a driving school, selling government property, and serving in the Czechoslovak army (Oskar Schindler). At first, Oskar was motivated by money and he did not care if the way he got that money was unfair or illegal, but then his mindset changed when he noticed all of the victims from the Holocaust (Oskar Schindler (1908-1974) ). He then changed his goal from making as much money as possible to saving as many Jews as he could from Plaszow and Auschwitz (Oskar
In Schindler’s List, as the Jews in Kraków are forced into the ghetto, a little girl on the street cries out, “Good-bye, Jews,” over and over again. She represents the open hostility often shown the Jews by their countrymen. After all, the little girl did not contain this hatred naturally—she learned it. Through her, Spielberg sends the message that the evil of the “final solution” infected entire communities.
In conclusion, I think that this is an excellent propaganda film. I believe that it does a great job of convincing the viewer that naziism is good. Leni Riefenstahl’s camerawork intrigued me. I loved how she used certain images to make the viewer believe that naziism was a good thing. If I were living in that time period, in Germany, I would be convinced. I really liked how she showed the crowds enthusiasm towards this idea to make the viewer think that naziism is good. She also did a nice job of showing the beautiful city of Nuremberg, to make the film aesthetically pleasing. I also really liked Hitler’s short speeches. His delivery was fascinating to me -- unlike like any speaker I am familiar with. This film was different than any film I have seen before, but it is very interesting. It is a really effective propaganda film in my opinion.
Within the experts of Schindler's List and add At the Heart of the White Rose; Letters and Diaries of Hans Sophie Scholl, both experts demonstrate courage and the ability to be an upstanding are by standing up for the Jewish racing and defying Nazi commands. To begin with, Schindler was the ideal Aryan, to avoid military service he joined the German intelligence and traveled to Poland following the invasion. In 1939 Schindler acquired a contract for supplying kitchenware to the military and opened a manufacturing plant in cracow. He moved his shoe is labors to a remote and safe location away from enemy lines and treated them well until the war was over. The narrator states, “At his own expense he provided did his Jewish employees with the life suspicion diet, unlike the starvation-level rations mandated by the Nazis” (2).
In the next part of the film, thousands of Jews are shipped off to concentration camps. Their luggage is stolen and sorted through for valuables. Stern is mistakenly put on one of those trains, but Schindler quickly comes to his rescue. Amon Goeth is now in charge of the new labor camp in Plaszow. The Jews not only build the camp, but Goeth’s immense house as well.
He does so by using clear imagery such as the display of many extravagant ties suggesting Schindler to be of the upper class, also we see Schindler gathering wads of cash, understandably an example of Schindler’s finances and related motives. The use of this imagery suggests to the audience that Schindler is the classic Nazi baddie and is in his nature evil; someone we cannot sympathise with, due to his unhealthy materialism and apparent indifference towards the Jewish people. However, Spielberg’s use of effective character building dialogue presents Schindler to be incredibly charismatic and someone the audience take a liking to, we can’t help but wanting to see Schindler do some good despite his superficial malevolence. Spielberg’s movie magic all help to contribute to Schindler’s fundamental character arc, by establishing his character we see where Schindler has started from on his journey and simultaneously we begin to root for him from the beginning making the gradual revelation and character progression something to appreciate even
Zelizer, Barbie. "Every One in a While Schindler's List and the Shaping of History." Spielberg's Holocaust: Critical Perspectives on Schindler's List. By Yosefa Loshitzky. Bloomington: Indiana UP, 1997. 19-35. Web.
...is were portrayed in the movie as the good guy or the hero of the movie to bring the power hungry Jew in this case Oppenheimer to justice. The casting in this film played a huge part in the success of this film all thanks to Joseph Goebbels who had to pay out the money and made sure that the citizens of Germany knew that the actors were not really Jewish but had true German blood pumping through their veins. Many people were forced to see it and it was toured all across the front line to show to the troops and being showed in multiple place at once so he made sure people knew about it and went to go see it. Publicity also played a huge role in determining the success of this film. This movie will always be used to show how the film industry can implant ideas in your head and get you to believe what they want you to without you even really ever knowing what went on.
The movie and the book were both appreciable and they illustrated how important remembering is. I personally liked the book better because it had more details and I liked the characters better. I liked Gertrude and Aaron. I would recommend this book to 8th graders around the world because it fits their age. They need to know that remembering the past is essential and that the Holocaust did not just happen to Jews. Always remember, and never, EVER,
feels he must turn his factory into a refuge for Jews. By doing so he
Schindler’s List had a great effect on me personally. I thought that Thomas Keneally did an excellent job in making the reader feel the events of the time. Perhaps what I found to be most interesting in Schindler’s List is a question of morality. I began asking myself the question, would I be as heroic as Oskar Schindler if I were in his shoes? I think that this is exactly what Keneally wanted us to do; he wanted us to look at ourselves and analyze what’s inside. Historically, I find Schindler’s List to be very important not only because it is tells of a shameful time in western civilization, but also because the events that took place in the novel occurred only yesterday. After all fifty years is almost nothing in historical terms. Perhaps the novel’s greatest strength is this feeling that the events that transpired in Schindler’s List are in fact modern history.
I wanted to film Schindler’s List for the reason that the Holocaust was a ghastly occasion in history and should not be over and done. The Jews suffered to the highest degree, they were exposed of their soul rights, treated be fond of animals, slaughtered in the vein of animals. I Intend to remind people of what the Jews had to go all the way through , how Hitler shed them out from the social order. What happened to the Jews should never happen for a second time to anyone. I chose to spotlight Oscar Schindler, because this chap did an extraordinary thing. He saved countless Jews from foreseeable imprisonment and execution. He is evidence that one being can make a difference.