Consequential Choice

Rating: 8/10 (13 July 2009)

Everyday people make selfish choices that impact the world around them. In rare cases, random acts of selfishness end up making a positive difference. Steven Spielberg's Oscar winning movie "Schindler's List" uses the true story of Oskar Schindler to exemplify just that. Brilliantly, Spielberg captures the human condition in a story which is sure to win our hearts, and make us reflect the impact simple choices make in the world.
Throughout the movie, Spielberg eloquently evokes the audience to ponder the costs of human life, and the questions that arise as a result. At exactly what point does money not matter anymore? How much suffering should people endure before enough is enough? And is it possible to overcome something as horrific as reducing the value of someone's life to the degree the Holocaust did?
Set in World War II, Oskar Schindler (Liam Neeson) opens a factory to cash in on the cheap slave labor of the Jewish people. Enlisting the help of a Jewish accountant, Itzhak Stern (Ben Kingsley), Schindler procures concentration camp prisoners to work for him in his factory, at little to no cost to his business. Stern begins to save his family and friends from the horrors of Nazi Concentration Camps because of Schindler's initial blindness by prospective money. As his work force rises, Schindler becomes extremely wealthy on the backs of his Jewish workers. Eventually, Schindler cannot ignore the horrors of the Holocaust, causing his cheap price of slave labor to no longer exceed the cost of Jewish lives. Thus, Schindler creates a list of prisoners to protect from the gas chambers, and convinces Nazi soldiers to keep those people alive. But is it too late?
Neeson's portrayal of Oskar Schindler could not be any better. Neeson strikes the perfect balance between his disinterest and profiteering at the beginning with his compassion and humility at the end. He engages the audience so effortlessly; it is as if we are looking into his mind. Neeson flawlessly exemplifies how simple choices can affect the world around us.