Released: 1993
Cast: Liam Neeson, Ben Kingsley, Ralph Fienes, Caroline Goodall, Jonathan Sagall, Embeth Davidtz
Oscar Wins: Best Picture, Best Director (Steven Spielberg), Best Adapted Screenplay (Steven Zaillian), Best Original Score (John Williams), Best Film Editing (Michael Kahn), Best Cinematography (Janusz Kaminski), Best Art Direction (Ewa Braun, Allan Starski)
Oscar Nominations: Best Actor (Liam Neeson), Best Supporting Actor (Ralph Fiennes), Best Sound (Andy Nelson, Steve Pederson, Scott Millan, Ron Judkins), Best Makeup and Hairstyling (Christina Smith, Matthew Mungle, Judy Alexander Cory), Best Costume Design (Anna B. Sheppard)
SUMMARY: Oskar Schindler (Liam Neeson) is a German Nazi who arrives in Krakow, Poland during World War II, hoping to make his fortune by using the city ghetto’s Jews as cheap labor. He frequently bribes officials in order to get around rules and regulations. To help him procure difficult items, as well as interact with the Jews, Schindler “hires” Itzhak Stern, who also functions as the Schindler factory accountant/business manager. In this position, Stern is able to designate the factory Jews as “essential to the German war effort”, which keeps them from being killed or sent to death camps.
Before long, a concentration camp is built in the area, under the direction of SS officer Amon Goeth. After the camp is completed, the ghetto is liquidated. Schindler witnesses this liquidation, during which large numbers of Jews are killed, and is seemingly sickened by the sight. Schindler constantly bribes Goeth, which keeps him supportive of and fairly uninterested in Schindler’s factory. During this time, Schindler’s goals seem to change from making money to saving as many Jews as possible. He is even able to build a sub-camp especially for his workers.
As the war continues and the tide turns against the Germans, the Jews in the camp are ordered to be sent to Auschwitz. Schindler gets permission to build a new munitions factory, and bribes Goeth in order to get his workers transported there instead of Auschwitz. Stern and Schindler create a list of the Jews to be transported to the new factory, which becomes known as “Schindler’s List”. However, the train with the women and children is accidentally sent to Auschwitz. With the help of a bag full of diamonds, Schindler is able to rescue all of the women and children. At the factory, the SS guards are not allowed to enter the inner rooms; Schindler also allows and even encourages his workers to observe the Jewish Sabbath. Although the factory is supposed to producing shells, Schindler refuses to aid the war effort: the factory operates for seven months without producing a single usable shell. Schindler is forced to spend most of his personal fortune for bribes and buying real shells from other factories.
When the Red Army approaches and is about to overrun the camp and factory, Schindler (who is still a registered Nazi) is forced to flee, as are the SS guards. The guards have been ordered to kill the workers, but Schindler convinces them to simply leave. Schindler leaves that night, but not before his workers give him two gifts: the first is a statement explaining his role in saving Jews, signed by every person in the camp. The second is a ring made by the workers, engraved with the quote “Whoever saves one life saves the world entire”. Schindler is overcome with emotion, and begins to cry over all the other Jews he feels he could have saved. The next morning, Red Army soldiers enter the camp and inform the Jews that they have been liberated; the Jews then walk to a nearby town. Goeth is later executed, and the events of Schindler’s later life are mentioned: he never regained the fortune he made (and spent) during the war, and survived on payments and gifts from Jewish organizations and people from his list. At the end of the film, the real “Schindler Jews” file past and place stones on Schindler’s grave. Liam Neeson and Schindler’s ex-wife are among this group, and Neeson places roses on the grave.
Note: Oskar Schindler is buried in Jerusalem on Mount Zion. He is the only Nazi to be honored in this manner.
MY TAKE: I think this movie deeply affected most people who have seen it, both for the horrors of the concentration camp and the incredible lengths that Schindler went to to keep “his Jews” alive. The ghetto liquidation scene is especially hard to watch, as the Jews are brutalized and killed. This scene is also famous for the “girl in the red coat”, which is one of the very few uses of color in the film. This scene, and in fact the movie in general, do a terrific job of conveying the sense of terror and constant uncertainty that ruled the lives of the Jews at the time.
To complement one of film’s greatest heroes (no. 13 on AFI’s list of Greatest Heroes and Villains), this movie features one of film’s greatest villains (no. 15 on AFI’s list) in Amon Goeth (Ralph Fiennes must be Hollywood’s ultimate bad-guy actor, since he’s played both Goeth and Lord Voldemort in the Harry Potter movies. Ben Kingsley, who plays Itzhak Stern, must be Hollywood’s ultimate chameleon: he’s played men who are Polish, Indian, Egyptian and British.). What’s so scary about Goeth is that he has absolutely no conscience. He kills random Jews simply because the urge strikes. He obviously is not a fanatical Nazi, because he accepts bribes from Schindler to keep certain Jews alive. He’s probably a psychopath, and with his official position, he was able to kill huge numbers of people at will.
Although there are a lot of great scenes in this movie, perhaps the most moving is the very last one, in which the real “Schindler Jews” file past his grave. The movie talks about the number of Jews that Schindler save, but it’s hard to understand this until you see the huge line of people (over 1000). In the grand scope of the Holocaust, Schindler’s Jews are just a drop in the bucket, but when you understand what he had to go through in order to keep them alive through the whole war, you realize what an amazing and inspiring story this is.
RATING: Because of the subject matter, parts of it are hard to watch, but it’s worth it.
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