Review of Schindler's List (1993) by Kaitlyn M — 10 Nov 2016

Schindler's List, directed by Steven Spielberg, was released in 1993 and claimed 7 Oscars awards won for the film. The true story plot revolves around Oskar Schindler (Liam Neeson), a German businessman in 1939 in the city of Krakow, Poland.

The film starts off with Schindler employing a Jewish accountant, Itzhak Stern (Ben Kingsley), establishing Jewish business ties, and having Stern work as his right-hand man. Schindler starts off with a mindset of profit, contrary to his ending mindset.

Jews in Krakow cannot own businesses, so Schindler decides to attract Jewish investors, and paying them back in his products, rather than currency in order to maximize his profit. After obtaining these investors (they give in to investing finally, realizing that currency is useless in the Krakow Ghetto), he hires Jews from the ghetto, rather than non-Jewish Poles, as they are cheaper to employ.

This is where the accountant, Stern, comes into his role. Since these Jews hired from the ghetto are deemed essential by the local Nazi government, they are saved from almost certain death from the ghetto and the in-construction concentration camp.

Stern realizes this, and hires more and more Jews in order to save as many lives as possible. Schindler is not onboard with this idea at first, but eventually he switches from profiteering to trying to actively save as many Jewish lives as possible, risking and sacrificing his own wealth in order to do so.

At the high-point of the plot, the SS officer in charge of the local camp is ordered to kill and burn all Jewish inhabitants of Krakow in an 'evacuation'. Schindler then gives up almost all of his wealth and personal belongings in order to bribe the SS officer to let the Jews work for him in Czechoslovakia, sparing their lives.

Schindler's List incorporates the use of black & white film in the modern era wonderfully, which is rarely seen. The plot often touches upon morals, and the "Why does God let this happen" idea is shown, commonly discussed within theologians and philosophers of all religions and lackthereofs.