Schindler's List

                The night before the 2013 Oscars one of the cable networks aired Schindler’s List without commercials.  They advertised this event for weeks.  I had seen this film once before, and I was so excited to see it again, I got the air date wrong.  For some reason I thought it was going to be on one week earlier.  When I found out the correct date, I was disappointed.  I had to wait seven more days before I could sit down and watch this great film. 

                Oskar Schindler (Liam Neeson) is in Poland to start a manufacturing company.  A member of the Nazi party, he takes over what the Jews were forced to leave behind.  While the Jews live in the ghetto, Schindler lives in luxury.  He does not think much about this.  The reason he is in Poland is to make money, nothing else.

                Planning to make items for the soldiers, Schindler does not actually know how to get his business going.  He enlists the help of Itzhak Stern (Ben Kingsley) a Jewish accountant.  Stern in most ways is the one who runs the company.  He makes sure everything is in order and hires the workers.  As Schindler does not really pay attention to what is going on with the company other than profits, Stern can hire whomever he chooses.  He uses this power to save as many Jews as he can from being sent away.  Some are clearly unqualified to work in a factory but Stern makes it so they are seen as necessary to the factory’s operations.  It does not matter to Stern the occupation, age, gender, or disability.  He is just trying to save as many people as possible.    

                Things are running smoothly until Stern is almost sent away by the Nazis.  Just in time Schindler gets word that something is wrong and he is able to rescue Stern from the train.  This is where I feel Schindler begins to wake up to what is going on.  He almost lost the man who created his business because of forgotten papers.  That does not make Schindler happy, but at the time he is more concerned about his business than about the people on the train.  However, he does see the train and what could have happened to Stern.          

                What really wakes up Schindler is the raid that happens on the ghetto.  The Nazis come through the ghetto and forcefully remove the Jews.  Many are brutally murdered and those who survive are taken to a nearby concentration camp.  Schindler watches all this brutality and becomes a changed man.

                Even though Schindler now sees the world around him differently, he makes sure to be friends with SS-Lieutenant Amon Goeth (Ralph Fiennes).  Schindler needs this friendship in order to keep his factory running and not be seen as a Jewish sympathizer.  As he plays friends with Goeth, Schindler works with Stern to get as many people as possible back to the factory by use of bribery.  It soon becomes known amongst the Jews that if you work for Schindler, you will live.           

                Eventually it is declared that all the Jews, even those working for Schindler, will be cleared out and sent to Auschwitz.  Schindler cannot let this happen.  He goes to Goeth and offers to buy the people as workers for a new factory in another country.  Goeth agrees and Schindler works with Stern to create a list of workers.  I do not think anyone was left off the list.

                On the day of transport to the new factory, the men arrive safely.  Due to a “paperwork error” the women are sent to Auschwitz.  Not willing to let these women go, Schindler goes to Auschwitz in an effort to save them. 

                I will not tell you what happens from this point as I do not want to ruin the ending.  What I will say is the final scene of the movie is absolutely beautiful.  Another end part that has to do with a letter is incredible as well.

                Filmed in black and white except for a little girl’s red coat, this movie is long.  It is at least three hours.  With so much going on it is also hard to do two things at once.  Usually I am working on some project while I watch a movie.  While watching Schindler’s List I was not able to do that.  But the time spent watching and the undivided attention needed was worth it.  It is no wonder why this film won the awards it did. 

                   Although some parts are tough to watch, I believe everyone should see this movie. Not because of the awards it won, the person who directed it (Steven Spielberg), or the actors who starred in it. What people should see is that at a time where few took a stand, there was someone who did. Oskar Schindler risked everything to save lives when he could have easily chosen not to.