The ending scene where Oskar starts to view items in his possession as people he could've saved is a really sad scene, and you start to think about how much he should've or could have given up just to save a few more lives. Oskar was considered a very kind man because he had saved so many Jewish  people, but he could have saved lives in exchanges for mere objects. Does this outweigh his saving of lives? How many people need to be saved or wealth spent makes what a person has done truly heroic? Oskar chose to hire Jews at first simply because they were cheaper. What about other cultural groups targeted by the Nazis? Should he have tried to save them? Besides, Oskar should never have been put in that situation, but there was little he could do to stop his neighbors from gathering up Jews and putting them in concentration camps. Hiding the Jews in his factory was extremely risky and brave, because turning against the the Nazi party and the idea of German nationalism would get him killed by the Germans. However, the Jews that he aided ended up helping clear his name after the allies achieve victory in Europe.

The moments that stuck out to me the most, were definitely how the Nazi party treated all of the Jews. The brutality they had to face was unimaginable and unfair. They never even gave the people a chance to prove that they were good people and could contribute greatly to society. Also, when the girl was yelling "Goodbye Jews" on the sidewalk, she was against them and was not taught to respect all people. No one did respect the Jews, and they were treated with inferiority. The soldiers killed the Jews by just shooting them for no reason, but at least it was quick and painless, so they weren't suffering. In the beginning of the movie, Oscar Schindler is  a man that does not respect the Jews, but near the end, he is mad at himself for not helping them, which I am glad he finally realized. Unfortunately, nothing could be done because so many were already dead.

Lauren Ramlan Movie response

I have learned about the holocaust before and how horrific it was, but I never really thought about being in the position of some people. Watching Shindlers list made me realize that people truly went through this. The woke up everyday and suffered through these horrible crimes. This movie made me feel truly blessed to be where I am. I can never truly imagine walking up every day starving and being put to work with the constant fear of being murdered at random. This movie really hit he hard and made me realize how thankful a I am to live the lif I'm living

I have learned about the holocaust before and how horrific it was, but it seemed so horrible it seemed unreal. Watching this movie put the thought into my head that people truly went through this. They woke up everyday in these horrible places and experienced this apauling crimes. It hit me really hard to think about how blessed I am to have my life and not be walking up in such a horrific place. I also thought the scene where Oscar was looking at his belongings and thinking about who he could have saved. That was really sad to think about how instead of buying a car or a suit, he could have saved another 15 people. This movie really made me realize the absolutely atrocious things that happened and made me feel so happy that I never had to go through something like that.

      The scene at the end of the movie where Schindler begins to see every item in his possession as lives that could have been saved was striking. It goes to show what a terrible thing the Nazis were doing, where Schindler looked at a pen, and saw it as a Jewish life that could have been saved. Even though he directly saved hundreds of lives, it haunted him that he could have saved more. The scene also illustrates how insignificant Jewish lives were to the Nazis, where a pen was equivalent to one single life.

The thing that stood out to me most in the film, Schindler's List is the violence and how it was portrayed. The movie successfully enticed a sense of reality and fear as well as a perception that the audience was actually there inside the concentration camps. Throughout the movie, countless acts of unbelievable brutal violence was inflicted upon many of the captive Jews; I was surprised at how feelingless each Nazi solider or guard looked when they would kill or mutilate a person. Especially Amon Goeth, who randomly shot, beat and tortured countless people that never inflicted anything upon him. I think it's terrible when people like him, who have no value of human life and enjoy the suffering of others, get into a powerful position in which they are allowed to do whatever they want. The depiction of the violence was clear and brutal, I still can't wrap my head around how people actually administered that kind of destruction in real life and history.         

I was baffled by how much of a good man Oskar Shindler came out to be. At first, he was a proud Nazi, only looking for money, squeezing it out of the Jews in his factory. But as the story unfolds, he realizes the pain and suffering the Nazis have caused. He changes his ways, and takes in as many Jews as he can, to save them. And at the final scene, he is being hard on himself for not selling everything he owns to save more innocent lives. Shindler showed the world that people really can change, and I beleive that was the lesson of the whole story.