Essays on Movies (Films) - Stephen Spielberg's Schindler's List
"I know that the great tragedies of history often fascinate men with approaching
horror. Paralyzed, they cannot make up their minds to do anything but wait. So
they wait, and one day the Gorgon devours them, But I should like to convince
you that the spell can be broken, that there is an illusion of impotence, that
strength of heart, intelligence and courage are enough to stop fate and
sometimes reverse it." Albert Camus.
Albert Camus believes that the greatest tragedies of history are so
horrific that people stand in awe, and consequently, nobody even attempts to do
anything in response of the tragedies. Many are under “an illusion of impotence”
, and eventually, Camus states, “The Gorgon devours them”. Also, in order for
this “spell to be broken”, people must have “strength of heart, intelligence
and courage.” I believe that Albert Camus is correct, people are under a vale
of impotence when it comes to the tragedies of the world, and that people can
easily overcome this inability and reverse their fate, or let the “Gorgon”
devour them. Camus's beliefs can be proved through the use of examples from the
movie Schindler's List.
Oscar Schindler, the movie's main character, is, in the beginning of the
movie, not actually aware of the full extent of the killing of Jews and the
powerful anti-Semitic outlook of his comrades. His ties relating to the affairs
of the Nazi party and his loyalty to his country shield him from this knowledge.
Thus, it can be concluded that in the beginning of the movie Schindler does not
fully grasp the tragedy at hand, and consequently does nothing attempt to aid
the Jews. Shindler's realizations of the horrors of the holocaust begin in one
scene near the middle of the film. During this infamous turning point of the
movie, Schindler, on top of a barren hill, traces the path of a young and
helpless Jewish girl who wanders haphazardly through the streets of a devastated
camp. In a red trench-coat-coat, nowhere to go, desperately searching for her
two parents, the little girl finally wanders into an abandoned building where
she is safe from the chaotic world outside. Her safety is only temporary, for
later she will be hunted down and cold heartily murdered, forgotten to the world,
destroyed by her own people, asking in wonderment, why do I deserve such
punishment?
This scene is the point at which Schindler becomes infuriated, and he
asks himself why, and most importantly, what he could do to stop the massacre.
... years in office. Even when President Reagan, didn’t make wise decisions, he took full blame for them, which made the American population trust him and gain more popularity. With his many major accomplishments in helping the American people, and putting them first, really helped in his favor. Reagan has built up the US military to what it is now because he believed that we needed to “restore America's ability to defend itself and fulfill its responsibilities as a trustee of freedom and peace in the world” (Wild Thing, January 21, 2006). President Reagan is man that has a heart and soul with America, and will fight for our freedoms and rights for as long as his lives. In 1994, President Reagan got Alzheimer’s disease, left public life, and died on June 5, 2004 from pneumonia. Reagan is still looked up to and is considered one of the greatest Presidents of all time.
In the height of the war, Oskar Schindler recognized that he could use his power and prestige to do more good by saving people’s lives rather than just by making money. As the persecution of the Jews increased, Schindler felt compelled to save lives by hiring the Jewish people to work for him in his factory. If a Jewish person was not considered skilled or useful, they were in danger of being sent off to death camps. Oskar Schindler would hire many Jews (skilled or unskilled) to prevent them from being sent to their death. Not only did he employ them, he also housed...
Major League Baseball (MLB) has widely been regarded as America’s pastime for the longest time, however it is now becoming known as the sport tainted by one thing, anabolic steroids. An anabolic steroid is related to the natural steroid, testosterone. They are able to stimulate growth in the muscle tissue. They usually increase muscle mass and strength. The MLB has created some of the most historic American icons, such as Babe Ruth and Ted Williams. Players like them showed us what it was like to play baseball the right way. They played with passion, heart, and above all they had fun playing. Players today in the MLB focus way too much on becoming the best player ever to play. They see what the greats did before them and they want to match them, so they turn to anabolic steroids. An example of this is Alex Rodriguez. In 2003 he tested positive for anabolic steroids because he was “naïve” and couldn’t take the pressure of his expectations of being called the best. He felt the pressure from the game and he turned to steroids. Anabolic steroids are ruining the game of baseball. They are tainting the records and the changing the game for the worse.
Many baseball athletes believe steroids will give them an edge on the game by making themselves stronger. This is true in the respect that it makes the athlete stronger and more superior but they also cause more problems then they solve.
"...the Nazi persecution of the Jews is a perilous subject matter since it can so easily elicit automatic reactions of moral outrage, personal horror, religious self-righteousness and dramatic extremes, not to mention severe depression", (McCarthy, 1993)
her, and not just once, multiple times. Schindler was selfish at the beginning of the movie
Since at least the 1980’s performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) have been a major challenge in the world of Major League Baseball, and past trends indicate they will continue to pose an ongoing problem. A number of the most prominent and accomplished professional baseball players, such as Alex Rodriguez, Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, Jason Giambi, Roger Clemens, are also the most famous examples of baseball players who have broken longstanding records, attracted countless numbers of fans, and allegedly have taken performance-enhancing drugs. Athletes who have been caught using steroids in order to increase and better their performance rates have been suspended, fined and traded from the teams on which they once played. Despite the punitive actions taken against them by the League and lawmakers, players continue to use performance-enhancing drugs and likely will continue to do so, because the associated athletic effects will draw more fans and bring more money to the individual player and franchise.
Steven Spielberg’s Schindler’s List is about the humanitarian of World War II, Oskar Schindler who displayed a significant historic event in Jewish history. Tension is created from certain camera shots designed to make suspense for the audience, symbolism such as the girl in the red coat, the lighting, the diegetic and non-diegetic sounds, and filming in black and white. These techniques are presented during the Liquidation of the Ghetto, the Little Girl in the Red coat and the Final Solution in Auschwitz.
Oskar Schindler would never have been anyone’s ideal savior, especially for the Jewish community. He was an open member of the Nazi party, a womanizer, a gambler, an alcoholic, and was extremely money hungry, but was successfully able to rescue and save from death over twelve hundred Jewish men and women. Schindler was born on April 28th, 1908 in Zwittua, Czechoslavakia. He was born Catholic and into a wealthy family, but started early on a life of sin. In 1930 he moved to Poland in hopes of becoming a success in business. As the Holocaust was just in its’ beginnings, he was able to get his hands on an enamel wear factory on Lapowa Street in in Krakow. This was one of the factories that used to owned and ran by a Jewish individual, but was then stripped away from them like all other businesses that were stolen away from the Jewish people during the Holocaust. The location of the factory was only a few miles away from the ghettos. Schindler quickly moved in on the SS officers and tried to make close ties with them in order to gain connections with high authority. He showered them with women, money, alcohol, and other desired objects. From his new acquaintances he obtained free employment from the Jewish “slaves” of the labor camps. In order to keep his factory and the money he was making, Schindler changed his factory to cater to wartime needs. The factory was modified from producing enamel wares to ammuntion, but the ammunition was faulty and did not work. S...
Steven Spielberg’s film Schindler’s List is based on Oskar Schindler’s life during World War II and how he saved over 12,000 Jewish people’s lives. Spielberg uses diegetic and non-diegetic sound, camera angles and shots, motifs and limited colour to create tension within the film. Tension would build in three specific scenes that also had an emotional impact on the audience. The Liquidation of the Ghetto created tension by the soldiers talking in German throughout the scene. The Little Girl in the Red Coat created tension by adding colour and having her walk through the chaos going unnoticed. Finally Auschwitz created tension by using camera angles and string instruments.
Oskar Schindler is played by actor Liam Neeson who is presented as an opportunistic German who strategically places himself within the social society of the Nazi Military’s highest officers. I noticed that Schindler seems to go through acculturation of various degrees twice throughout the movie. First, Oskar Schindler is seen going through selective acculturation in order to profit from the war. This acculturation includes physical, economic, social and political changes. His beliefs are of indifference toward the Jews
Schindler’s List begins with the early life of Oskar Schindler. The novel describes his early family life in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and his adolescence in the newly created state of Czechoslovakia. It tells of his relationship with his father, and how his father left his mother. His mother is also described in great detail. Like many Germans in the south, she was a devout Catholic. She is described as being very troubled that her son would take after her estranged husband with his negligence of Catholicism. Oskar never forgave Hans, his father, for his abandonment of his mother , which is ironic considering that Oskar would do the same with his wife Emilie. In fact Hans and Oskar Schindler’s lives would become so much in parallel that the novel describes their relationship as “that of brothers separated by the accident of paternity.'; Oskar’s relationship with Emilie is also described in detail as is their marriage. The heart of the novel begins in October 1939 when Oskar Schindler comes to the Polish city of Cracow. It has been six weeks since the German’s took the city, and Schindler sees great opportunity as any entrepreneur would. For Schindler, Cracow represents a place of unlimited possibilities because of the current economic disorder and cheap labor. Upon his arrival in Cracow he meets Itzak Stern, a Jewish bookkeeper. Schindler is very impressed with Stern because of his business prowess and his connections in the business community. Soon Schindler and Stern are on t...
I think Schindler has an epiphany in the movie “Schindler’s list” when he sees the little girl the red coat burned alive. I think this is the point in the movie where Schindler really changes his mindset and begins to start saving the Jews.
The film begins in 1939 with the German-initiated relocation of Polish Jews from surrounding areas to the Kraków Ghetto shortly after the beginning of World War II. Meanwhile, Oskar Schindler (Liam Neeson), an ethnic German businessman from Moravia, arrives in the city in hopes of making his fortune as a war profiteer. Schindler, a member of the Nazi Party, lavishes bribes upon the Wehrmacht and SS officials in charge of procurement. Sponsored by the military, Schindler acquires a factory for the production of army mess kits. Not knowing much about how to properly run such an enterprise, he gains a close collaborator in Itzhak Stern (Ben Kingsley), an official of Krakow's Judenrat (Jewish Council) who has contacts with the Jewish business community and the black marketers inside the Ghetto. The Jewish businessmen lend Schindler the money for the factory in return for a small share of products produced. Opening the factory, Schindler pleases the Nazis and enjoys his newfound wealth and status as "Herr Direktor", while Stern handles all the administration. Schindler hires Jewish Poles instead of Catholic Poles because they cost less (the workers themselves get nothing, the wages are paid to the SS). Workers in Schindler's factory are allowed outside the ghetto, and Stern falsifies documents to ensure that as many people as possible are deemed "essential" to the German war effort, which saves them from being transported to concentration camps, or being killed.
When a Jewish girl living in Krakow under fabricated papers visits Schindler, and she asks that he hire her parents to work in his factory. He is furious with the girl and she runs from him, fearing for her life and her liberty. Schindler expresses his rage at Stern, whom he accuses of giving refuge to Jews in the "haven" of a factory. Schindler is not angry at the idea ...