The 195 minutes, Schindler’s list Movie is a dramatic American classical historical period film by Steven Zaillian authored in 1993. The film was directed by Steven Spielberg and was produced by him alongside Gerald R. Molen along with Branko Lustig. The movie based on Thomas Keneally novel Schindler’s Ark from Australia. The film was released on 15/12/1993 and is remarkably one of the best films ever shot.
The film is about a German industrialist, Oskar Schindler who during the Second World War in 1939 wanted to make a fortune. He arrived in Krakow where he joined the Nazi party and through his political prowess was able to acquire Jewish refugees who worked for him in the factory. During that time, the Jewish had been forced to occupy the Krakow Ghetto which was congested. These Jewish refugees helped in build a camp in Plaszow and upon the completion of the camp, the second lieutenant in charge, Amon Goth, orders the evacuation of the camp. This results in a massacre which affected Schindler. His workers were mistreated too by the orders of the lieutenant. Nevertheless, he continues to keep friendly ties with him and through bribery continued to get his support.
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As the war intensified, it was clear that German was starting to fall, thus the lieutenant ordered the shipment if the remaining Jews to a different camp in Auschwitz. Schindler pleaded with him to be allowed to take his workers with him to a new factory he planned to put in Brinnlitz near his hometown. The lieutenant agreed but Schindler had to spend a bigger fortune on bribery and at the end of it all he was able to save lives of 850 Jewish workers who appeared in his list, ‘Schindler’s List’
He was able to save them from being transferred to Auschwitz concentration camp but rather having the taken to Brinnlitz where they were safe from the Germans. Later on, when World War II comes to an end, the Jews walk away to their liberty.
This paper will focus on the comparison and the contrast between what the film portrays against what the research covers.
The film was edited to fit the Hollywood beginning and end of films. As mentioned earlier, the film was based on the novel ‘Schindler’s Ark’ which was written by an Australian novelist. According to the novel, some events in the film have been twisted and edited to fit in.
Firstly in the film, there is a sudden change of Schindler’s character from a playboy to a savior. The film simply portrays him as a savior of the ethnic and polishes Jewish characters but according to the novel, he had a chain of mistresses which were majorly the Jewish. Apart from his mistresses, we are fully aware that he intended to make a fortune from the world war II, what does not add up is the sudden urge to save people. This particular raises a suspicion that the change of events might have been caused by the fact that Schindler was a collection of characters and he did not work alone. There must have been other people around him who pushed him to do what is right. These people are not shown in the film nonetheless.
Similarly, is the case of the second lieutenant, Amon Goth. As much as the film portrays him as ruthless and executed a couple of massacres, he is believed to have been more evil than the film shows. His character had to be tailored to be more rational and avoid too much evil in the film.
On the real, he murdered people daily and had watch dogs kill prisoners whenever. Apart from that, he beat his maids and other workers mercilessly. He took part in the killing of children and women during the evacuation in plaszow. He killed them personally. The film did not showcase these scenes for the sake of making the film a bit practical as opposed to Goth’s madness.
Also, the film eliminates the role of Schindler’s wife who had a great role in the whole script. She is the one who spent more time with Jewish workers and oversaw their welfare. In real time events, she even sold her jewelry so that she could get the workers more medicine and food. She was also concerned with shopping for the supplies for the workers in their factory. She played a major role in the script which supported this film but did not appear in the film. Schindler is rather seen with a couple of mistresses instead. This part of the story is completely cut from the film.
Another controversial scene in the film is that of poles helping the Germans. In the film, poles are completely soiled and are seen as oppressors of the Jewish people. In real life, the poles also helped so many Jews too. It is not as bad as the film caught them. The poles played double roles of helping both the Jews and the Germans. They were also the other target of the Holocaust itself something that was taken off the film.
The piece of the little girl in the red coat is also believed to have been shopping in the film. According to the events in the ‘Schindler’s arc,’ the girl had initially been hidden by a German family who decided to let her go for the fear of being discovered by the Nazi. She was found and taken away and Schindler watched from the hills. In reality, the appearance of the girl in the story was only because her aunt and uncle talked about her. She had been discovered and taken away but near a factory where Schindler could not have possibly seen her from the hills as it is alleged. This historically happened in 1942, which technically shows that Schindler might not have been at the hills altogether. It was in 1943 that Schindler had watched the Jewish massacre. The two stories were probably co-joined to fit in the script.
Lastly are the women and children in the mass showers. This episode did not occur in real life. They had just arrived in the camp and would not have possibly known about the gas killing.
References
Kevin. (2002). Schindler’s List. Montreal Film Journal .
M.C.D. (2004). Oskar Schindler: The Untold Account Of His Life, Wartime Activities and the True Story Behind the List.
Spielberg, S. (Director). (1993). Schindler's List [Motion Picture].
