My conclusion why he did it...

Rating: 10/10 (26 January 2005)

First: is this a great and an important movie? Of course it is, like all the films about the holocaust. Truly, have you ever seen a bad movie (or series, or even a document for that matter) made about the subject? I haven't. Like most great, based-on-facts tragedies, stories about concentration camps require too much serious thinking, talent and at least adequate budget to start with before anything happens. Filmmaker just couldn't fail with real-life drama of this magnitude in his hands. Neither could Mr. Spielberg.
Well, still, even considering above-mentioned, Spielberg did an excellent job. "Schindler's List" is technically brilliant: beautifully shot with its vast use of different camera distances and angles, and stark b/w realization (which always adds extra-interest for modern day film-enthusiastic). Cast is also superb (Liam Neeson to me is almost the very personification of 'trustworthy') and set design perfect, naturally, due to on-location shooting in Poland. The only, but nevertheless quite notable complaint is length; the movie is by definition unnecessarily overlong.
So, why did Oskar Schindler do it? Now, I'm a Finn with some German-Swedish heritage, and there's very unlikely one Jewish cell in my body. And I'm no bleeding-heart liberal either, pretty much vice versa. But I'm an intelligent guy with very strong comprehension what comes to 'right' and 'wrong'. So, given the same opportunities, money and influence, I would had for sure at least attempted the same kind of rescue-mission Schindler accomplished. Because I couldn't bear either just stand aside and watch an absolute and continuous torment of innocents. That's the very and simple reason for Schindler, a human being, too: he HAD the money and chance to save those people and he did. Only it took courage and an ability to successfully deal with crazy monsters (Nazis). And I, too, think that when there's a decision between life and death to be made, money means nothing. So it's so easy for me to identify with Oskar Schindler. Only the world this rotten and greedy even questions his motives.
Still, one possible and a little more cynical explanation, which I anyway think must had played at least minor part considering Schindler's (AND also that German officer's in "The Pianist") motives: Germany had already clearly lost the war. One can only guess if they would had acted exactly the same way in other circumstances...