Saving the Jew

Rating: Null/10 (19 November 2002)

Fellow citizens, we cannot escape history. Abraham Lincoln
The 1993 black and white "Schindler's List" was directed by Steven Spielberg. The Holocaust based movie lasts about three hours and fifteen minutes. The movie is based on a true story about a man named Oskar Schindler (Liam Neeson), a Nazi businessman. In 1939 Oskar Schindler tried to convince Jewish people to give him money to open a factory. Coming in contact with Itzhak Stern (Ben Kingdley), a Jewish accountant, he arranged a financial agreement with him. Osker's idea did not really take hold until 1941 when the Jewish dollar was basically worthless. In 1941 there were several elderly people who decided to invest their money in Schindler's idea, during this time the Deutsche Emailwarenfabrik was built. Hired as cheap labor to work in the factory, the Jews soul purpose was to make pots that would be sold to the army.
When compiling his list of Jews he wanted for workers, Oscar had one blank space left at the bottom of the page. Going to Amon Goeth (Ralph Fiennes) with his list, Amon noticed that there was a blank space at the end of the last page. Schindler wanted to add Helen Hirsch (Embeth Davidtz), Amon's maid, whom Amon had fallen in love with and not even realized it. At the end of the movie, we learn that Schindler managed to save 1,100 Jews from a cruel death. From those 1,100 survivors, we now have 6,000 Jewish descendants. I find it interesting to watch and to learn about one of the most horrific times in history. One of the most memorable remarks for me was one made by Oskar Schindler: `This car. Why did I keep the car? Amon would've bought this car. 10 people right there. This pin, 2 people, This is gold! 2 people he could've given me 2 people at least one. One person. One person who is dead. One person I could've gotten out and I didn't!!' It seemed like the Jews were just workers. It did not seem like he cared what happened to them. Oscar did not make any kind of emotional connection to the workers; they were just people whom he could purchase for little money. When he made this statement and almost had a nervous breakdown, it seemed like he cared for the people and did not want to see them killed. If I had to rate this movie I would give it 4 out of 5. One of the things that I did not like was when they would talk in German. Unless we know how to speak German, we do not know what they are saying. This movie gave a vivid visual of what life would have been like living under the rule of the Nazi party in the 1930s.