Schindler's List (DVD)

...not been able to watch Schindler's List despite my gentle persusasion to do so. Perhaps one day we might have sat down together and shared this experience, but I think I'm in for a long wait now, even with my tenuous belief in reincaranation. She was a stubborn old bugger who knew her own mind until her last years, but I loved her dearly. So without her permission, which she would have been most reluctant to give because of the subject matter of ...
...rent a DVD copy of Schindler's List, a movie I had seen at the cinema when it was first released in 1993. I think it was the shameless posturing and denial of the incredibly arrogant Herman Goering during the BBC depiction of his trial that prompted me to revisit the subject of the Holocaust. Even today, it is a subject that is so uncomfortable, so difficult to comprehend as a historical reality that we almost avoid talking about it. The more politically ... more

PROLOGUE AND RATIONALE

My mother was forever a strange combination of Geordie and Jewish extraction (forget a Mother's Day at your peril) ;' to a dog it should happen, bonny lad!!' Because of the fate of her ancestors in 1940's Europe she had not been able to watch Schindler's List despite my gentle persusasion to do so. Perhaps one day we might have sat down together and shared this experience, but I think I'm in for a long wait now, even with my tenuous belief in reincaranation. She was a stubborn old bugger who knew her own mind until her last years, but I loved her dearly. So without her permission, which she would have been most reluctant to give because of the subject matter of this review, I dedicate these words to her and those of her family that were lost (eshet chayi).

I have recently been watching the excellent BBC series Nuremberg, The Nazis on Trial and this prompted me to rent a DVD copy of Schindler's List, a movie I had seen at the cinema when it was first released in 1993. I think it was the shameless posturing and denial of the incredibly arrogant Herman Goering during the BBC depiction of his trial that prompted me to revisit the subject of the Holocaust. Even today, it is a subject that is so uncomfortable, so difficult to comprehend as a historical reality that we almost avoid talking about it. The more politically extreme of us even deny that it occurred because of its sheer scale and improbability. It is too horrific to fully comprehend the massive barbarity of the Final Solution. Spielberg's masterpiece, and I genuinely believe he will never make a better movie, seemed to be the most immediately accessible means of revisiting this period of 20th century history that we might prefer to forget, but would do so at our peril.

SCHINDLER'S LIST, THE STORY

Initially the movie follows the progress of the enigmatic and charming businessman Oskar Schindler as he joins the Nazi party and attempts to cash in on the cheap option of Jewish/Polish labour in Nazi controlled Poland. He is a charismatic character who woos the Nazi military heirarchy into accepting contracts for essential hardware such as aluminium cooking utensils. He eventually sets up a factory to manufacture aluminium goods by striking up a deal with the pooled capital of Jewish businessmen trapped in the Krakow ghetto. Initially Schindler presents as a wartime profiteer, hedonist and womaniser with dubious morality and little indication of any philanthropy. Liam Neeson carries off the part of Schindler with great charm and I found myself completely sympathetic to his character quite early in the movie. Though it is immediately obvious that he is a rogue, it is not difficult to empathise with his larger than life, ultimately endearing character.

Schindler opens his factory and begins recruiting employees and one of the most amusing scenes is a sequence of interviews for his secretary. As we watch the montage scenes of his interaction with each candidate it is obvious that his selection criteria is nothing to do with secretarial skills; a pretty face and nice legs are paramount. Meanwhile the Nazi regime is beginning to take hold of the ghetto; as the noose tightens, starvation, overcrowding and desperation become more evident. Deportations begin and only those who can prove they have some value or skill are able to slip through the Nazi net and survive.

Itzhak Stern, played by Ben Kingsley with an endearing and rather solemn sincerity, emerges to help forge identity cards of Jews in peril. Low priority occupations are erased from cards and changed into essential war work skills, thus winning reprieves for desperate Jews. Schindler recruits Jews as his factory workers and eventually takes Stern on as his accountant. In the course of time many Jews with newly forged skills come to work in the factory that has become a place of sanctuary and relative safety outside the repressive confines of the ghetto.

In the first half of the movie we are introduced to one of its darkest and most menacing characters, Amon Goeth, the debauched and evil commandant of Plaszow concentration camp. Goeth is the Nazi beast incarnate played by Ralph Fiennes who reportedly gained 13kg in weight to look convincing (by drinking Guinness). For the remainder of the movie he becomes the personiffication of all that is corrupt, criminal and inhuman about the Nazi regime. Here is a seemingly totally amoral individual whose pre-breakfast sport is to randomly shoot Jewish men, women and children in his camp from his balcony with a high powered sniper rifle. To him the Jews are truly untermensche (less than human) and he would kill a slave servant for not cleaning his bath properly as easily as he would swat a fly. Fiennes is entirely convincing in this role, he is almost reptilian in his frightening depiction of cold, calculating inhumanity. The interaction between Goeth and Schindler is riveting cinema. Schindler feeds Goeth's insatiable appetite for the good life; Goeth is greedy and Schindler is the consumate wheeler and dealer. In fact Schindler's skilful manipulation of Goeth's greed is an important and very relevant plot essential.

The inevitable finally occurs when the ghetto is cleared of all Jews who are transported off to the concentration camps. These are extremely harrowing scenes of human misery and the brutality of the Nazi special squads (ersatz commandos). Schindler is left without factory workers and must now employ all of his charm and business acumen to save the situation. In the end he accomplishes something entirely more important and becomes a legend among Jewish people.

Schindler's List is one of those movies that burns itself into your memory and conscience, you will never forget what you have seen. Years after my first viewing of the movie I still have these scenes vividly inscribed in my memory. And the reason they remain there is a tribute to Spielberg's mastery of his craft.

The small boy who stands up to his chest, hiding in a cess pit full of human filth, his soulful, terrified eyes staring upward toward the light. This on the day when the Nazis took the children away from the camp, never to return. Strangely the audience laughed in the cinema where I first saw this. I often wondered why afterwards.

The little girl in the red coat (who was a real person) walking along with other victims. The red coat on a cart full of dead Jews. This was the only moment of colour in this monochrome movie.

The dark, snow like ash that falls on Schindler and his fiance as they are out horse riding. This is the fallout from mass burnings of executed Jews.

The desperation of Jews crowded into cattle trucks and left to rot on a blazing hot summer's day in Poland. Schindler laughing, pretending not to be too concerned, but persuading the Nazis to hose water over the trucks to cool them.

The Jewish factory worker who is taken out to be shot by an SS officer for not assembling hinges quickly enough. Then the repeated failure of the pistol to fire. The tension was unbearable.

The indiscriminate shooting of a female Polish/Jewish engineer who is trying to do her job properly during the building of Plaszow concentration camp. Goeth again.

Schindler's arrest after he kissed a Jewish female prisoner in gratitude for a birthday cake she had made for him. Nazi doctrine dictated that there would be no intimate contact with the untermensche.

The nightmare scene in the shower rooms of Auschwitz where Jewish women stand naked, awaiting their fate.

SCHINDLER'S LIST, THE VERDICT

This is a hard movie to watch and I guarantee you will not enjoy it. It is not straightforward entertainment, it is social history of the most painful kind. I watched the DVD main feature with my partner and normally we might sit and chat about what we had seen afterwards. On this occasion there was silence, we were each lost in our own thoughts and nightmares. It was only much later after a glass of wine that we began talking about it, 'My God! Was it really that bad!'. It is interesting to note that Spielberg himself refused a salary for the movie, saying that it would be like accepting 'blood money'.

This is Spielberg's masterpiece without any question. The acting is superb throughout and despite the subject matter you will become completely immersed in the story from beginning to end. And believe me the end is worth waiting for because this movie is ultimately about the triumph of the human spirit in the face of indescribable evil. The cinematography is also masterful because the stark black and white imagery gives the movie great authenticity by tapping into our subconscious memories of wartime footage and real events in 20th century history. I almost forgot to mention John William's score which adds so much to the atmosphere and poignancy of the movie. This is a haunting, very Jewish violin theme played throughout that adds enormous emphasis to the pathos of the story.

The supporting cast is one of the finest ensembles of actors that I have ever seen in a movie. Individual performances are difficult to pick out for special mention because of their overall excellence, but Helen Hirsch (Embeth Davidtz) who has the misfortune of being selected by Goeth as his personal maid is outstanding. Her attempts to remain invisible in the Goeth household are made more harrowing by a particularly violent encounter with her Nazi master in which Goeth reveals his attitude to Jewish women as being beneath his contempt (but very strangely, acknowleges Embeth's sexuality and femininity). I guarantee that this brutal scene of psychological rape that almost becomes physical will make your blood run cold.

If you have not seen Schindler's List or avoided it because of what you have heard, be brave, put this right now and I promise it will change you forever, for the better.

SCHINDLER'S LIST, THE MOVIE
Time to get the facts out of the way and here is all you need to know about the movie:
The Cast
Oskar Schindler - Liam Neeson
Itzhak Stern - Ben Kingsley
Amon Goeth - Ralph Fiennes
Helen Hirsch - Embeth Davidtz
Wilek Chilowicz - Shmulik Levy
Rolf Czurda - Friedrich von Thun
Juda Dresner - Michael Schneider
Marcel Goldberg - Mark Ivanir
Albert Hujar - Norbert Weissner
Lee John - Harry Nehring
Victoria Klonowska - Malgoscha Gebel
Ingrid Beatrice - Macola
Nightclub Maitre d' - Branko Lustig
Mila Pfefferberg - Adi Nitzan
Diana Reiter - Elina Lowensohn
Julian Scherner - Andrzej Seweryn
Emilie Schindler Caroline Goodall
Herman Toffel - Krzysztof Luft
Directed by
Steven Spielberg
Writing credits (WGA)
Thomas Keneally (book)
Steven Zaillian (screenplay)
Rated R for language, some sexuality and actual violence.
Runtime: 195 min
Country: USA
Language: English / Hebrew / German / Polish
Colour: Black and White / Colour (DeLuxe)
Sound Mix: DTS-Stereo / DTS
The movie won 7 Oscars.

Spielberg was inspired to make the movie after listening to the account of a Jewish woman who had escaped the holocaust in Poland. He listened to her story of survival following her return to her home town of Krakow in Poland after more than fifty years. She became the memorable little girl in the red coat.

In essence Schindler's List is based on the true story of Nazi Czech business man Oskar Schindler, who used cheap Jewish labour to start a factory in occupied Poland. As World War II progressed, and the fate of the Jews became more and more clear, Schindler's motivations switched from profit to human sympathy and he was able to save over 1100 Jews from death in the gas chambers

DVD EXTRAS
Voices From the List, the real survivors speak. This a very moving mini-documentary where the now elderly survivors of the original list speak about their real experiences of the ghetto and Schindler.

Oskar Schindler. It puts the story into a perspective that my historical background could not possibly achieve.

The Shoah Foundation, described by Spielberg. Speaks for itself.

What Inspired Spielberg. The director describes meeting with the original woman who was the child in the red coat and other important and personal motivations that led to the creation of the movie, Schindler's List.

Oskar Schindler, a portrait of the real Schindler. This is best described by the following text.

POSTCRIPT, THE REAL OSKAR SCHINDLER
Why did he do it ? Why did he spend something like 4 million German marks keeping his Jews out of the death camps - an enormous sum of money for those times ? Why did he risk his life to rescue his Jews in the shadow of Auschwitz ?
Samaritan actions, brotherly love ...? Oskar Schindler does not exactly fit the description of guardian angel very well! We think we know what goodness looks like. It looks like Gandhi, skinny in his loincloth, or Mother Teresa, unostentatious in her nun's habit. Goodness does not drink, womanize, wear big Nazi-badges ...

No one will ever know exactly what made this complex man do what no German had the courage to do. A large part of the fascination of Schindler is that not even those who admire him most can figure out his motives. But Oskar Schindler rose to the highest level of humanity, walked through the bloody mud of the Holocaust without soiling his soul, his compassion, his respect for human life - and gave his Jews a second chance at life. He miraculously managed to do it and pulled it off by using the very same talents that made him a war profiteer - his flair for presentation, bribery, and grand gestures.
Oskar Schindler was a sentimentalist who loved the simplicity of doing good. A man full of flaws like the rest of us. An ordinary man who even in the worst of circumstances did extraordinary things, matched by no one. The unlikeliest of all role models who started by earning millions as a war profiteer and ended by spending his last pfennig and risking his life to save his 1300 Schindler Jews.
Oskar Schindler not only saved their lives - he saved our faith in humanity ...

ESSENTIAL BACKGROUND, THE HOLOCAUST
The Holocaust, also known as Ha-Shoah and the Porajmos (pogroms) in Romania, is the name applied to the genocide of Jews and other minority groups of Europe and North Africa during World War II by Nazi Germany and its axis allies. Early instances of the Holocaust include the Kristallnacht (crystal night) pogrom of the 8th and 9th November 1938 and the T-4 Euthanasia Program, leading to the later use of killing squads and extermination camps in a massive and centrally organized effort to exterminate every possible member of the populations targeted by the Nazis.

The Jews of Europe were the main victims of the Holocaust in what the Nazis called the "Final Solution of the Jewish Question" (die Endlösung der Judenfrage) or "the cleaning" (die Reinigung). The commonly accepted figure for the number of Jewish victims is six million, though estimates by historians using, among other sources, records from the Nazi regime itself, range from five million to seven million. Millions of other minorities also perished in the Holocaust in addition to the Jews.

Another group whose deaths are related to the Holocaust but not always counted in the totals is the thousands who committed suicide rather than face what they feared would be untold suffering ending in death. In 2006, the European Union financed a project to research these victims; despite religious prohibitions against suicide, it is estimated that in Berlin alone, 1,600 Jews killed themselves between 1938 and 1945.

The final figures will forever be debated but there is a majority consensus on the following:

About 6.0 million Jews, including 3.0-3.5 million Polish Jews
1.8 -1.9 million non-Jewish Poles (includes all those killed in executions or those that died in prisons, labour, and concentration camps, as well as civilians killed in the 1939 invasion and the 1944 Warsaw Uprising)
500,000-1.2 million Serbs killed by Croat Nazis
200,000-800,000 Roma & Sinti
200,000-300,000 people with disabilities
80,000-200,000 Freemasons
100,000 communists
10,000-25,000 homosexual men
2,500-5,000 Jehovah's Witnesses

It is interesting to note that the word 'genocide' did not appear in any dictionary prior to the holocaust. Starting in 1933, the Nazis set up concentration camps within Germany, many of which were established by local authorities, to hold political prisoners and "undesirables". These early concentration camps were eventually consolidated into centrally run camps, and by 1939, six large concentration camps, located in Nazi-occupied Poland, had been established. After 1939, with the beginning of the Second World War, the concentration camps increasingly became places where the enemies of the Nazis, including Jews and POWs, were either killed or forced to act as slave labourers, and kept undernourished and tortured. They were systematically starved or worked to death.

During the War, concentration camps for Jews and other "undesirables" were spread throughout Europe, with new camps being created near centres of dense "undesirable" populations, often focusing on areas with large Jewish, Polish intelligentsia, communist, or Roma populations. Most of the camps were located in the area of General Government in occupied Poland, but there were camps in every country occupied by the Nazis. The transportation of prisoners was often carried out under horrifying conditions using rail freight cars, in which many died before they reached their destination. Concentration camps also existed in Germany itself, and while not specifically designed for systematic extermination, many concentration camp prisoners died because of harsh conditions or were executed

The most infamous of all the camps was Auschwitz-Birkenau, one of seven camps dedicated to extermination. Auschwitz alone was responsible for the gassing (by Zyclon B) and cremation of 1.6 million European Jews and other undesirables.

This is the very grim historical background behind the movie, these stark facts are essential to a complete understanding of what you are about to see when you view Schindler's List. If you are made uncomfortable or troubled by this unpleasantness, then I suggest you might do better to avoid the movie. Or better still, if you think we have a duty to witness and learn from history, find out more and give the movie the viewing it deserves.

And a final recommendation. If you can make the time, try to read Ciao Member teacherofhooch's review of her visit to Auschwitz in January 2005, you will not regret it. This is a very moving, personal and often harrowing account.

I am not a religious person, I have no traditional or cultural faith to speak of. But I was moved by some inner feeling to light a candle for my fellow human beings, be they here or in an afterlife sustained by genuine belief. Respect and love. 

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