Author's Note: There are mild spoilers in this review!
Cast:
Liam Neeson - Oskar Schindler
Ralph Fiennes - Amon Goeth
Ben Kingsley - Itzhak Stern
The Plot
Schindler's List is the true story of WWII humanitarian, Oskar Schindler who risked his life to save countless Jews. Oskar has come to Germany from his home country, Checzoslovakia, to accomplish his goals of becoming a successful businessman and gaining an important reputation. Oskar is armed with a devious plan -- he is going to exploit Jews by employing them at his factory. Oskar wants to develop connections with the important men of Germany, so be begins kissing up to people such as the military service.
Schindler hires a Jewish accountant named Itzhak Stern. Schindler was never a racist. Upon hiring Stern, Stern tells him "By law I have to tell you, sir, I'm a Jew." Schindler replies "Well, I'm a German, so there we are" because he does not feel that Stern is beneath him because of his race -- he does, however, know that Jews are meaningless to Germans and hires them to work for him. Stern is aware of the prejudice the Germans have for the Jews so secretly he begins letting in extra Jews at Schindler's factory as a way of saving them. At the factory, the Jews will be employed and provided with the basic necessities of life -- food and shelter because they are living in a concentration camp. At first, Schindler is angry when the Jews see him as a "good man" rather than the famous businessman he wants to become. However, his intentions change when he witnesses a Jewish ghetto being raided. The Nazis violently beat and murder the innocent Jews, raid their homes and unemotionally throw their belongings away.
Schindler immediately has a change of heart and he tells Stern to continue. This marks the beginning of his brave journey that saved over 1000 Jews. He begins bribing the German military by giving them valuable items and manipulating his new 'friends' into looking the other way. One of his friends is Amon Goeth, a brutal SS officer who doesn't know the meaning of the word "gratitude". Schindler temporarily convinces him not to kill Jews for pleasure, and it works. Throughout the entire movie, it his Schindler's intelligence and cleverness that defies the reason for his success. Schindler buys the Jews by selling the expensive things he owns. During WWII, anyone caught saving a valueless Jew would be murdered, so Schindler lies and tells everyone that he needs more laborers to make more profits for his company. Schindler's efforts increase and he becomes desperate to save as many people as he can, when he sympathizes with the death of an innocent, 'red-coated' child. Nonetheless as Schindler makes great strides, so do the Nazis . . .
Warnings - This movie is rated R for the following reasons:
*Sex - Germans were very open with their sexuality during this time period. There are several images of half/fully naked men and women. In one particular scene, the residents of a concentration camp run around fully nude. If it is against your beliefs or out of your comfort zone to see these things, then I recommend not watching this film.
*Violence - This movie has very chilling scenes. Many of the theater audiences said that the flick gave them haunting nightmares, that the scenes played in their mind repeatedly. However I did not have these problems with the movie. It was extremely disturbing to see someone suddenly get shot in the head -- many of the brutal massacres of Jews occurred suddenly. The other disturbing scenes include Jews being shot and beaten as their blood leaks out of their lifeless bodies. If you dislike watching blood or gore, then this is not the movie for you. To give you a taste of the level of goriness: a woman is shot in the head as the camera shows her blood draining from her head and into the snow. To soften the brutality, this movie is black and white.
The Criticism
Liam Neeson is a brilliant actor. He was such a chameleon in this film and portrayed his character's emotions very well. When Schindler was sad, Liam was full of tears and put on a mellow voice. At other times when Schindler was rude, Liam was uncompassionate while his voice had a harsh tone. Ralph Fiennes was terribly evil as the heartless Amon Goeth. Many of the Jewish survivors claimed that he bears an uncanny resemblance to the real life counterpart. Several of the actors in this movie were not from the same nationality as their characters, so they used masqueraded their voices with fake accents. However, it is amazing that none of these actors slipped up.
I absolutely love this movie, especially since the plot was woven together so beautifully. It is simply astonishing that director Steven Spielberg, a Jew himself, could portray the massacre of his people in such a moving way. The fact that the Jews were robbed of their homes, clothing, families and even their hair -- all of this solely because they were born into a certain race. I cannot understand how the Nazis were so uncompassionate and empty -- therefore, it is surprising that there are survivors of the Nazis inhumanity. Some of the events in this movie are actual experiences of Jewish people. For example, a man pretends that he is employed by the Nazis and quickly begins clearing the ghetto of leftover luggage. The German officers are easily fooled by him, so the man survives.
I bawled my eyes out at the end of the film. The actors stand side by side with their real life Jewish counterpart as they place stones on the real Oskar Schindler's grave. It is a Jewish tradition to place stones on graves as Americans/Canadians place flowers. The last actor to pay Schindler's grave a visit is Liam Neeson, who puts a flower. Oskar Schindler passed away in 1974. Though he is no longer with us, the memory of his courage will live on forever in the hearts of Jews
as they retell his story to the generations to come.
Did You Know?
-The profits from this film were donated to the Shoah Foundation, an organization that preserves the stories of the world's genocide survivors.
-Schindler's list and a memoir that he had written, were found in an attic of the apartment that Schindler lived in.
-Itzhak Stern did not create Schinder's list, Marcel Goldberg did. He was a cruel man who sometimes accepted bribes from Jews to put them on the list.
-In the film, Schindler buys expensive items from the Black Market. In reality, he was arrested three times for doing so.
-Amon Goeth is pronounced "Aimen Gert"
-Amon Goeth's last words were "Hail Hitler"
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Author's Note: The movie reel: the first picture is the cover, the second shows the Jews being ordered by the Nazis, the third is Oskar and Itzhack creating Schindler's List, and the last shows a heartbroken Schindler.
Sources: imdb.com
