Wednesday, April 15, 2015
Your observations on Schindler's List
What struck you most about the movie? Was it the randomness and brutality of the violence? Was it the richness of the characters [evil = Amon Goeth; cleverness = Itzach Stern, strength = Helen Hirsch; redemption of humans = Oscar Schindler]? Make a comment about thee film and then choose a scene or scenes that illustrate your point. THEN, choose a post made by one of your peers and comment on it.
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What's really makes this film enticing are the visual techiniques used to convey certain points in the film. Example, the girl in the red dress is followed by Spielberg's camera through a hopeless black and white world. This one little person, amongst the horror of the holocaust, is eventually killed. What does it matter? If this person was not pointed out in red, try to imagine the scenes she was featured in. She would've been just another dead person among the burning corpses. Also, the general use of black and white to match the tone of the film is important. Even if something humorous occurs the black and white is there to ground the situation. Finally, the transition from humor to violence is played a lot in this film. While the ghetto is being liquified, Nazis wonder if the song being played is Bach or Mozart. As a viewer we see the drastic contrast, but the Nazis have unchanging emotions during the sequence. Perhaps Spielberg wanted us to be the first to see this contrast.
ReplyDeleteJack I agree that the black and white aided the movie's main point which was to portray the events going on in the Holocaust during the war. Unlike modern movies, because the movie was so centered around it's point, and didn't focus on aesthetic features, it was able to keep the viewer entertained not by the humor (although there was some good parts of that xD ) but by the story being told.
DeleteI totally agree with you Jack. The little girl in red truly served no purpose but to show the viewer that it's not a mindless mob of things being killed, its people. Families and friends. On the mindlessness of the Nazis, the soldiers asking whether it was Mozart or Bach is a perfect example.
DeleteI agree that as a Nazi soldier beating and killing the Jews, they showed no emotion. They didn't believe that the Jews were people and therefore was never emotionally harmed. They were so convinced that Jews deserved to be beaten killed that they lost their moral compass. The soldiers were probably once ordinary German soldiers that didn't even realize they were becoming murderers.
DeleteI agree with both observations Jack. But the B & W also lends an historic feel to it the film - documentaryish but with the compelling story of Schindler and the horrible events of the Holocaust, I too like the dramatic and stark contrast between the humanity of the Nazis and their utter brutality - the scenes you mention - also when the Nazi soldiers shoots the man in the hallway in the head and then talks to the little boy in his mother's arms so affectionately. Or the matter of factness of the Nazis towards violence - the scene where the guns don't fire so the man cant be executed. They simply leave the beat up man on the ground and walk away discussing the firing pin in the gun.
ReplyDeleteThe part of this film that really stood out to me was the part at Auschwitz where the German soldiers rallied the prisoners into the shower area. Most of them were stricken with terror, expecting to have rat poison pumped into the chamber. The cries of relief the prisoners made when it turned out to actually be a shower was moving. In general the complete disregard for human life or worthiness was disturbing. For me it was particularly stunning where the woman at the camp (I think it was Auschwitz) told one of the soldiers that the construction wouldn't hold and the foundation needed to be redone, and he shot her in the head; then he proceeded to order the rebuild.
ReplyDeleteThe shower scene was very intense. Actually, I think they were quite liberal with the spacing. I do not think there was actually that much space in between prisoners
DeleteBy far the most memorable scene within the movie for me was the ending in which Schindler addresses the soldiers in the camp and persuades them to leave, but then later bursts into tears as he himself leaves the camp. That scene provided an important reminder that making up Hitler's armies and the Jews were individuals, young men who had been misguided down a path of violence and murder or become victims of their peer's mistakes. Men with families. By showing the human side of the soldiers,as well as the individualism that everyone involved possessed, the movie forces one to think about the holocaust as more than just an event filled with statistics about death and battles, and more as a tragedy in which families were torn apart, men and women traumatized for life, and years of seemingly endless despair. Through Schindler's outburst, one is also reminded of those who were not the victims, villains, nor heroes. Millions of people were affected by the holocaust, but what about those who were not? Why did they do nothing to help? Why didn't more people do what Schindler did? These are just some of the questions brought to my mind when I saw one of the heroes of the holocaust weeping about those he was not able to save.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you, Sutter, this was definitely one of the most memorable scenes. I thought it was striking to see Schindler, a man who had risked so much and saved so many lives feel guilt for not being able to save one more person. He was and always will be a hero of the Holocaust.
DeleteI also think that this scene showed how much the war impacted the individual. Without the war, none of the soldiers would've brutally murdered the Jews for no apparent reason, yet the influence of Hitler "brainwashed" the soldiers to think that it would be perfectly reasonable to kill Jews if they wished to.
DeleteI agree, this was a powerful moment in the movie. It defiantly sowed the humane-ness in the Nazi soldiers, I think that it shows that Schindler had a way that was stern but humane about how the Jews were to be treated. By the end of the movie, he protected the Jews were so that non were to be killed by the Nazi guards and there were no guards allowed on the factory flours.
DeleteI also agree that the last scene made a big impact because it really shows how much Schindler cared about his workers even though they were Jews and a lot of Germans hated them.That last scene also showed how brave he was brave enough to help them out in little ways, and that really impacted most of the Jews lives since they were saved from being killed.
DeleteI agree wit Sutter. There were a lot of people against what the Nazis were doing, but no one else stood against it. People could've saved thousands of more lives, but no one else did. People were driven by greed, and so that's what they cared about more.
DeleteSimilar to Jack, I found that the two scenes featuring the girl in the red dress were two of the most impactful in the movie. The first appearance of her, during the liquidation of the ghettos made me realize that although she may just be a little girl lost in the crowd, and not necessarily the most important person in the film, she is still important to someone. There is still someone out there searching for her, just like all of the other families that had been separated. Despite knowing in the back of my mind that something bad would happen, her first scene gave me a bit of hope, and it made me think that she might actually survive. But, her second appearance snapped me back into reality. No Jews were special to the Nazis. That is what makes Oskar Schindler even more remarkable to me. The fact that he was a part of the Nazi party, a party that caused so much death and suffering, yet he still managed to save so many lives and generations amazes me.
ReplyDeleteLexi, adding on to what you said about Oscar, I think that the way he disguised his operations to look as if he was helping the Nazis is remarkable. The scene where he was trying to give water to everyone on the train showed this disguise. Goeth thought he was simply giving them hope and saw his act as one of cruelty instead of what it really was. As a viewer, you almost cringe hoping that he'll get away with it without having to bribe anyone. Oscar took risks during this time, and didn't only save the Jews, but let them live.
DeleteI agree with Lexi, all of these people in the ghettos are important to someone else out there. The scene with the girl in the red dress really struck me too because even though she was a child the Nazis did not care a bit if she was killed. The Nazis were such brutal party and would do anything just to exterminate the Jews. Oskar Schindler was the one exception, however, since he did all he could to save as many Jews as possible.
DeleteI also agree with Lexi, every life matters. The girl is a symbol of a hope destroyed. Her first appearance in the film gives the audience hope that she is special and that there is a possibility that she will survive. But in the end she is killed, which resembles the hope; at first the Jews believe that they can get through living inside the ghettoes. But as the movie progresses and they are put into concentration camps, the hope of survival mostly vanishes.
DeleteAlthough it may have only took up about a minute or so in the movie, I think that the most memorable moment for me was when a little girl in the street continuously yelled "Goodbye Jews" as the Jewish people in Krakow were forced into the ghettos. She wasn't a major character in the movie, yet her tone represented all the hatred shown by the other people in Krakow towards the Jews. It's obvious that a little girl like her didn't despise the Jews since she was little, but instead learned to hate on the Jews from her community. By teaching little kids to form a bias opinion on Jews, they could be practically used as a form of propaganda, with kids not knowing what they're screaming and passionate about. This scene to me represents how so many people in Germany could've helped out the Jews from being harshly treated, yet the fear of being killed for treason not only prevented them from helping them, but also made them turn on the Jews, like the hundreds of people on the street who cheered when they saw the Jews being deported. In addition, this scene made Oskar Schindler an even bigger hero, as he managed to go against what everyone else thought of the Jews and saved them from being brutally murdered.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the hate blinded society plays such an integral part in the Holocaust. Even Goeth's, a person so obviously in love with a Jew, had no choice as to whether she could go with him or not. Even an evil character like him fears the consequences.
DeleteThis point in the movie was definitely memorable. It showed how people followed along with the Nazi beliefs, whether they actually believed them or not. Goeth, I think, was one of these people. I think he joined the Nazi party for the power and became addicted, as shown by his many random and needless shootings, but didn't necessarily hate Jews, since he loved Helen. I thought it was interesting to see the contrast between Goeth's confused character and Oskar, who was very firm in what he believed, which was that Jews are people too.
DeleteI agree with Collin, the little girl saying, "Goodbye Jews." was a very impact full scene that showed just how much Nazism had blinded and brainwashed society into thinking that Jewish people were terrible people who could not be trusted or kept around. I also think that this scene, like many other scenes showed the true intentions of the Nazi party, to cause hate and disturbance among the people to the point where they could kill.
DeleteI agree with Colin, the littler girl definitely represented all the hatred Jews received from Nazis and citizens of Germany, but I also think the significance is in the fact that she is still so little and she already harbors so much negative emotion for a group of people she knows so little about.
DeleteVery good catch Colin. I agree. Along with the scene of the little kid outside the tran taking the women to Auschwitz imitating the knife on the throat. Did you notice that he had a smile on his face??
DeleteI loved the natural growth of Schindler's affection for the Jews. The relationship between Schindler and Stern constantly reflected that development. Starting as a selfish man with selfish ambitions, Stern didn't even want to talk with him. Schindler's genius is bribing, scheming, and conning; he didn't know how to run a factory, and frankly didn't care. But as the film progresses, the love for money, eventually turns into the love of the workers. The creation of the list is one of the most intriguing scenes to me, as it serves as a point in the film where we realize just how different Schindler is. You can see the surprise and gratefulness in Stern's reaction to Schindler's request. Even after his drive changed to saving "his" Jews, he's still the enigmatic and reckless, without a plan, heedless of risk, con man. It's amazing to see the same skills used for a different purpose.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree. Up until about halfway through the movie, Schindler seemed like little more than a business man trying to get rich through war profiteering. As the holocaust progresses, Schindler gradually transitions to a more caring, more human character and begins taking action that reflects his newly found value of a human life.
DeleteI agree as well. Schindler wasn't portrayed as a noble, moral character in the beginning of the film, he manipulated others to achieve his status in the Nazi Party. The way his character changes is quite interesting; although he becomes more forgiving to his workers, he keeps his cunning ways to buy his worker's safety.
DeleteI agree too. Schindler is portrayed in a complex way - good and bad
DeleteThroughout the movie, I was surprised by how Schindler was able to bribe people of authority and get his way. It's obvious that some in the Nazi party were only interested in the power and wealth that comes with their position, and not particularly interested by the politics. I think that's what gave Schindler his edge - he also didn't care about the Nazi politics, he just wanted wealth, but soon he realized what he could do with his wealth. I also thought the ending was meaningful, when the camp was liberated and the Jews ask where they should go, and they're told to stay because they are disliked in the east and west. It represented how even once the holocaust was over, the prejudice against Jews continued all over Europe and even in the U.S. I was expecting more of a happy ending, with the people returning home and finding their families, but instead they were forced to rebuild with nothing.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you, Martha, I was also surprised that Schindler could bribe people of authority with money. He got to buy the people he wanted, and he even could threaten people with his power. The part that surprised me most was when he got an entire train to stop for him, for one Jewish person on the train. He did it by threatening the employees that worked there.
DeleteI completely agree with you that all Schindler wanted was the money. I also thought his change of heart throughout the movie was really powerful. Sure, in the beginning he was in it for the money, but then he began to use his wealth in any way to help the Jews. When he broke down at the end and said that he hadn't done enough, I think he had definitely gained the respect of every single Jew that was there. He had given them their lives and they couldn't have asked him for more.
DeleteMartha, I comlpletely agree with you when you said that the ending represented how prejudice still remained firmly intact throughout Europe. The Jews were unposed lay freed, but nobody wanted them so where were they supposed to go? It was a depressing moment for those who had survived through so much, and still had so much do work through.
DeleteWhat struck me most about the movie, was how the a lot of the Nazi party shot and killed Jewish people without hesitating. They didn't care who the person was, or even if it was a child. They forced them to do work, and if they were not fast enough, or not of much use, the Nazi's killed them. It seemed like the Nazi's liked it too. They would shoot large crowds of people, and not think twice about what they were doing. The Nazi's would also shoot loved ones in the hands of their families, and when the Jewish would ask the Nazi's to help save them, the Nazi's would just laugh and finish them off. It w
ReplyDeleteTo me the most important scene in the movie was towards the end of the movie when they made the ring saying "He who saves one life saves the world in time" in hebrew. The Jews used this to symbolize that even though Oskar Schindler was a part of the Nazi group he was a good man. This moment was just so moving to me because in this age you never feel that you are doing something so powerful that has real impacts to real people. Oskar put these Jews' lives before his which truly shows that (as Lexi said) he should and is remember as a hero of the Holocaust.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Emma and her perspective about the movie. Oskar's actions and his sympathy towards the Jewish people was so powerful. He proved to be a hero in dark times. The ring symbolizes the impact Oskar had on the world and the upcoming generations he saved by creating the factory.
DeleteIn response to what Emma said, Oskar Schindler never gave up on the Jews and did everything he could to save them. In the end, when he starts to cry because he could've saved one more jew, it portrays his true colors. Even though he was apart of the Nazi party, he was the only one who truly cared about the Jews. He saw that they were humans, just like everyone else. This reminds me of Atticus, in the book, "To Kill a Mocking Bird", he stood up for tom because he knew no one else would. Just as Oskar did for the Jews. Without Oskar, no one would've lived to tell the story.
DeleteI agree that Oskar Schindler was a true hero because not only did he save the 1,100 people or so who worked for him, but also helped to preserve generations. Many of his workers would go on to have children, something most of them probably would not live to do, hard they remained in a concentration camp. Unlike most others who disagreed with the Nazi party, he actually made a huge difference and followed through with his beliefs. He also sacrificed his safety and the majority of his wealth to save these people.
DeleteI agree with Emma, this was one of the many powerful moments in the movie. Oskar Shindler was one of few people in the Nazi party who truly felt sympathy for the Jews. Not only did he just feel badly for them, he stood up for them and ended up saving over 1,000 people. By doing this he was not only risking his wealth, but his reputation. This caused him a great deal of trouble, but he followed through with his beliefs and made a huge difference and that is why he is a considered a hero of World War II.
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ReplyDeleteWhat struck the most to me about the movie was not only how terrible the Germans treated the Jews, but also how much they didn't care about how they were affecting their lives and family. Throughout the whole movie there were different scenes of how the Jews were mistreated, but through it all they stayed strong and persevered even though they were separated from their families. Although the Nazi's and Germans hated the Jews, Oscar Schindler who was a German didn't and he actually did things to help them out and in the end you can see how much it meant to all the Jews. Although it felt like he didn't do anything and he felt like he should have done more, to the Jews it was more than enough because he helped save their families. You can see how much in the ending scene when they gave Schindler the ring that said "He who saves one life saves the world in time".
ReplyDeleteI agree with Michelle, the Germans were not Jewish so they had no idea what harsh and terrible conditions they Jews had to go through. The Germans didn't care that millions of people died, they were just doing their job. Oskar really made a difference in the Jewish people's lives and considering he was German himself made his heroic act even more significant.
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ReplyDeleteWhat struck me the most about the film was how brutal the Jewish people were treated. Just because of the religion they were discriminated against in the worse possible way. How could Hitler have lived with himself knowing he killed so many innocent adults and children. The Jews suffered so badly from sicknesses and starvation, they were treated like animals if not worse. To think if this happened today is just terrifying because it really opens my eyes to how evil people and the world can be. In the movie when all the little kids were running around trying to hide and the little boy had to hide in the prisoners urinals, it showed the great lengths that even the children had to go through to stay alive and not get taken away. Oskar Schindler on the other hand was an amazing man that saved a lot of Jews from dieing but still he didn't think he did enough in the end of the movie. He could have taken all of his money and fled somewhere else and not even look back to the violence happening but instead he chose to stay and do whatever he could to help the Jewish people. He spent all his money buying Jewish prisoner to work for him, for that they were so thankful. The whole brutal killing and elimination of the Jews was so horrifying to watch knowing that it all actually happened. I can't believe anyone would go through all that tormenting to get rid of innocent civilians.
ReplyDeleteI agree Sydney, it's horrible what the Jews had to go through and how brutal it was. They were treated even worse than animals, even the dogs at that time had a better life than they did. It's horrible how evil and cruel people can be and not even realize how much they're hurting other people. Oskar Schindler was the one good thing about that time because he showed how compassionate a person can be and how much he helped to save the Jewish lives.
DeleteThis film conveyed numerous powerful emotions. The aspect of fear and the very small amounts of good during a horrible time were two of the major contrasting emotions presented throughout the movie. Fear was portrayed through the horrific acts of Nazi Party members. They beat Jews and shot them for not being on task or simply because they weren't in physical condition. One specific scene was when Amon Goeth would sit on the balcony and shoot the Jewish people who were standing still and passing by below him. He beat his maid, Helen Hirsch because of her religion, social status and helplessness in her situation. He was a representation of fear in the movie. On the other hand, there were very few glimpses of happiness during a very dark movie. Oskar Schindler was a character that represented the good. He set up a work camp for the Jews and at the end of the movie, spent all of his fortune to buy back all his Jewish workers and hundreds more. He saved their lives by having them work at his factory that didn't produce any weapons that contributed to the war. Another scene that expressed the glimpses of good was when on a very hot day, a train of cars filled with Jewish people were stopped in front of a camp. Oskar told some soldiers to get a fire hose and spray each car with water and continue to do spraying to the incoming cars. He even got multiple hoses to stretch around each side of the cars. Nazi commanders thought Oskar was completely wasting his time and energy. Oskar developed selflessness for the Jews and other people held in captivity.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Katrina, I thought it was horrible how he would just shoot the Jews walking around for no reason. It almost relates to To Kill a Mockingbird, how the Jewish people were doing nothing to harm, but Amon just shot them out of nowhere. It really showed the subhuman thoughts about Jews during the holocaust.
DeleteI agree with what Katrina said, WWII really brought out everybody's true colors. For the German citizens, there seemed to be a bunch of people who were all for the war and discrimination against jews, and then there were very few people who tried to save the Jews and help stop Hitler. Oscar belonged in the second category, in which he was practically alone.
DeleteI agree with Katrina that Jews in Schindler's list remained hopeful despite the constant reign of the Nazis and of Amon Goeth. One example of Jews making light of a dark situation was when the movie showed a Jewish couple getting married in the concentration camps. This meant Jews looked to carry on their lives and not let the Nazis define them.
DeleteYes, very moving scene with the Jews in the RR cars.
DeleteWhat struck me most was the brutality imposed by the Nazis in Work Camps and the Ghettos. This is because the Jewish society was treated so poorly, it was hard to watch other humans treating another person so badly. The most powerful scenes to me was when the Nazis invaded the ghetto and killed people on the spot and shoved them around as if they meant nothing. It really showed the brutality of the Germans in this time period. Another very powerful scene was when the Jewish females were on the train expecting to be going to Schindler's factor, but along the way they saw a little boy give them a terrible death gesture of getting your throat slit. This just shows that the movement was so powerful around Germany that it was even effecting the way that children viewed other races and religions. Overall I thought the film was very powerful, impact full, and emotional.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Josh, the Nazis had a way of brainwashing everyone. The women on that train thought they were being rescued and taken to their savior, Oscar Schindler, but in fact they were nearly taken to the gas chambers of Auschwitz. The scene with the child running a finger across his throat was doubly as disturbing. The Nazi children were just as bad if not worse than the adult Nazis. That reminds me of how the Germans had the tank hunting squads when Russia invaded Berlin. "Hitler's Youth" would willingly give up their lives to support Hitler's beliefs and war efforts.
DeleteWhat struck me most was the brutality imposed by the Nazis in Work Camps and the Ghettos. This is because the Jewish society was treated so poorly, it was hard to watch other humans treating another person so badly. The most powerful scenes to me was when the Nazis invaded the ghetto and killed people on the spot and shoved them around as if they meant nothing. It really showed the brutality of the Germans in this time period. Another very powerful scene was when the Jewish females were on the train expecting to be going to Schindler's factor, but along the way they saw a little boy give them a terrible death gesture of getting your throat slit. This just shows that the movement was so powerful around Germany that it was even effecting the way that children viewed other races and religions. Overall I thought the film was very powerful, impact full, and emotional.
ReplyDeleteThroughout the movie, the brutality to Jews was so profound to me. When I read about the Holocaust it was awful but actually seeing these brutal actions happen was so horrific. As Katrina pointed out, one of the most terrible scenes to me was when Goeth was sitting in his house and shot Jews for sitting down or simply walking by. He did not care about one single Jew in his camp and would not due anything to treat them nicely. But Oskar Schindler was someone who believed in humanity even though he was part of the Nazi party. Schindler simply wanted to make money except he also found a way to help Jews in the process. He created better working conditions for them while they were living in the ghetto. After they all were already in the labor camps, Schindler did not give up on his workers. Oskar was able to convince Goeth and other Nazi members that his workers were valuable even though they did not produce anything for the war. When one of the trains with his workers was rerouted, he went their personally and got the women and children back. Schindler showed dedication and humanity towards the Jews which stood out to me a lot during the movie. His accomplishments are astonishing and all he did to save hundred of Jews.
ReplyDeleteThe most striking moments in the movie were definitely the cruelty that the Nazis imposed on the Jews. The Nazis would strike at any misstep that the Jews made. There were two scenes that really caught my attention; when the contractor was shot and when Goeth picked off multiple Jews passing by with his sniper rifle. The contractor was simply doing her job and pleading to have the foundation poured again when Goeth simply shot her. Then, he followed her instructions. There was no point of shooting her, she was only attempting to help. The Nazis, in particular Goeth would kill people so casually. He woke up one morning with his shirt unbuttoned and picked up his rifle. He preceded on killing Jews who at that moment were not working at their fullest potential. The Nazis cruelty will be remembered forever and hopefully the world will not let it happen again.
ReplyDeleteThe most striking part of the movie for me was the random acts of brutality the Jews received from the Nazi's. When innocent people who did nothing wrong and had no significance in the camp were killed, it was hard to watch and highly disturbing. I believe the little girl in the red dress was put into the movie to symbolize that so many people died during the Holocaust for no particular reason beside the fact that they were Jewish. No special treatment was received and the little girls death was one of many. The people watching the movie knew who she was because she was the only person in color, but the Nazi's just saw her as another Jew who they had killed. Her death was portrayed as having no significance over others, which was what happened in real life as well. Another example of the horrible acts of brutality were displayed with Amon Goeth, the Nazi officer. When Amon was standing over all the Jews, looking for the "weakest links" and shooting them as if it was a game, he displays how cruel people can be, killing because they want to, not because they have to. The fact that these events occurred only 70 years ago makes this movie feel even more real and even harder to watch because of the abominable incidents that existed with few survivors and next to nobody standing up to help.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Belize. When Schindler recognized the little girl in the red, it was a symbol of how few people even cared enough to pay attention to the cruelty inflicted upon innocent people. The Nazis thought her religion made her lose all her value, and thus her death made little to no impact. She could never have done anything in her few years she was alive to warrant her death, and yet she was murdered by Nazi soldiers.
DeleteThe movie didn't just convey one emotion, it portrayed numerous emotions throughout the whole movie. I knew about the Holocaust by just reading and learning about it in class. I never fully knew how the effect was until watching the movie. Seeing the movie and watching what really happened to those innocent people was indescribable. Millions of people died for no reason at all. The people who lived and suffered through the Holocaust is incomparable to anything else. One most striking part of the movie was watching the little boy run from the lines of the kids being taken to the camps. The little boy was all alone and he had know where to go. He ended up jumping into the toilets. It was horrifying to see that a human would have no other choice than to hide inside a toilet. This was a very powerful moment because it showed me that the Germans could care less about the Jews and they had no meaning in life. They were a walking piece of trash to them. It was shocking to me that people could treat other people so horribly and get away with it. The other striking moment for me was at the end. When Oskar and his wife were fleeing and the Jews were being left behind. Oskar was filled with emotions and the realization of what they had done to the jews all started to come to him. When he starts crying and talking about how he could've saved more by selling his clothes, jewelry and car. He feels guilty for not saving more. Even though he already saved thousands. He realized that he didn't need the money, all he wanted to do was give the Jews a better life. What is shocking to me is that, this event occurred less than 75 years ago. It makes the movie even more real and powerful than it already is. Oskar Schindler had a vision and he saved thousands and thousands of Jews. This movie gave me a whole new perspective about the suffering those people had to live through.
ReplyDeleteThough did you notice that in the end he was one of the kids that survived!!
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ReplyDeleteI think this movie really illustrated the brutality and randomness of the violence during WWII in Germany. People in the movie like Amon Goeth believed there was no value to human life and would often just kill people because they could. One scene that really stood out to me was the scene where Amon Goeth just woke up and he walked out side onto his balcony with his gun, he looked around the camp at the people and just randomly shot a lady walking by. The lady wasn't doing anything wrong and wasn't not doing her job she was just walking by and that was enough cause for him to shoot her. This showed how the killings that were happening were so random and violent with no motive. It's horrible how the Nazi's had no compassion for human life and never thought to realize how wrong the things there were doing were.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Kayling, the scene Amon Goeth woke up and shot a defenseless an harmless lady helped me best understand the cruel acts of that the military displayed while handling the Jews. It portrayed very well how little respect these people had for the Jews, the disgust they felt towards them, and how little they cared about a human life.
Deletekayling is right the violence was awful and cruel and made people into monsters, they killed everybody. the little kids or they would just get up and shoot. with no second thought and this was such a normal thing that nobody noticed. it was horrid.
DeleteThe main thing that stuck out to me in Schindler's List, was the horrible acts of violence. During World War 1, there were many acts of cruelty on many different kinds of people, but the most dramatic acts were those on the Jews. Many military generals did not value the lives of humans if they were not important, and would kill any one of them like it was a game. This is where Schindler came in to save the day. he Jews thought of being under Schindlers' control as a safe haven because he valued all of their lives and treated them like they were no different than his own religion. Due to Schindler's List, he saved thousands of Jews from death and abuse and gave them a chance at a nice life. If Schindler had never made his list to stop the violence, it would have resulted in the lose of thousands of more Jews' lives and eventually the extinction of the race. Schindler was the overall reason that Jews are still surviving and continuing to prosper in their religion today and are considered no different than others.
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ReplyDeleteWhat struck me the most was the evilness and heartlessness of Amon Goeth. I was speechless at how easily and nonchalantly he killed the Jewish men, women, and children. It made my stomach churn during the scene when Amon told the boy that he was pardoned even though he wasn't able to clean the bathtub. I had a small hope that he was changing, but when he shot the boy, I knew that he would never change his evil ways. It's one thing to read about events like the Holocaust, but you get an entirely new perspective of it all when you see a visual representation like a movie. It just made everything so much more real. We were all able to visualize the horror and brutality of the of the violence. I also think the actors who played the Jews conveyed perfectly what they would have felt. None of them had any idea of what would come next or if they would even be alive for the next 24 hours. They had to live in complete and utter fear of losing their family members or even their own lives. One scene that really stood out to me was when Amon was talking to Helen in the basement. He was talking to her like everything was fine, but you literally see her shaking from all of her fear. They were alone in that basement and even though he beat her, she believed that the worst was yet to come. Although it was a graphic and brutal movie, I believe it has given us all a better understanding of the thought process and emotions of everyone there.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Jessica, Amon Goeth was a horrible and cruel man. He would stand on his balcony above the camp and shoot innocent people. I also agree that seeing a visual is has a much bigger impact than reading about it. It showed me how awful and inhumane it is. The movie showed how little respect Jews received and how little they cared about them.
DeleteI agree with both Kylie and Jessica even though the movie was terribly violent and also depressing, it helped me understand what actually happened. I also learned about many people such as Amon Goeth who as Kylie and Jessica both agree was a cruel terrible man with serious problems.
DeleteFor me, what really stood out about the film was the heavy feel it contained. It didn't gloss over one of, if not the, most brutal events in human history. The movie was accurate, and in someways, scary. What really captured me was the fact that everyone on the street hated Jews. Everyone, even small children. That isn't natural. Not only did they hate them, they viewed them in a way that was similar to the way Americans viewed African Americans early in our history, as less than human. This "allowed" them to kill Jews without mercy or moral repercussions. Today, I want to say that this could never happen again, and yet North Korea exists
ReplyDeleteI feel that the most striking part of Schindler’s List was the random acts of violence and brutality the Jews received from the Nazi’s. Before I watched this movie I knew a little and I had read about the Holocaust. I had an image in my mind how I thought it was like, but while watching the movie I finally understood how unreasonable, awful and insane it really was. Millions of innocent people of all ages died just because of their religion. Watching all these people being placed in camps where most of them would die was horrible and hard to watch. These innocent people had to dig their own graves, get burned and buried alive, get locked up in gas chambers and were shot for no reason at all. The one scene when they killed the contractor really got my attention. She was simply doing her job by suggesting that the foundation needed to be rebuilt when Goeth shot her. Oskar Schindler was the first person to stand up and help the Jews. He was someone who believed in humanity even though he was part of the Nazi party. He saved thousands of people by bringing them to his factory. However, he was not satisfied by this, he thought that he could save more if he had more money. When he realized this, he got extremely emotional. He was up set with himself even though he did the very best that he could. The Jews that he saved disagreed with him, they were very grateful for all that he had accomplished and done.
ReplyDeleteThe random brutality and violence towards the Jews is what struck me the most. The were several several different scenes and events that contributed to this. The Nazi party saw Jews as animals. They were beaten and murdered for reasons that were absurd. One scene that demonstrates the random brutality towards the Jews is when Amon Goeth is shooting Jews from is balcony for fun. Amon Goeth is so convinced that Jews aren't real people and that they are disposible that he would kill them for not being able to clean a stain on a bathtub or even not being fit enough to work. What was even more surprising was they had camps specifically for killing Jews. It was also really surprising that the once ordinary German men could transform into violent and evil soldiers who were torchering and killing Jews. When the Nazis invaded the Ghetto, it was really surprising that soldiers were just shooting Jews because they didn't have a work pass. The Nazi's tore Jewish families apart who were innocent and had absolutely nothing to do with the war. It is really frightening to think that there were people that evil to do that kind of stuff.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Rohan, in the sense that Amon Goeth really could not wrap his mind around the fact that The Jews were innocent people. He mercilessly killed them at his enjoyment. Also, when the Germans were happily burning the Jewish corpses, their evil and brutality were clearly shown.
DeleteOne of the aspects of Schindler's List that I found shocking was the horrifying scenes of violence against the Jews. Throughout the movie, we see random and cruel attacks that happen so frequently, the viewer would almost be desensitized to them, if not for the eerily remorseless way the Nazi's execute them. One particular scene that illustrates this well is one of the most chilling scenes in the movie. One morning in his villa, Goeth wakes up and starts nonchalantly shooting Jews who were just walking by, not breaking any rules or creating any trouble. Killings like this one make you fear for the minor characters the viewer follows throughout the movie and makes you ask, "Why them?"
ReplyDeleteThe thing that stood out to me the most in this movie was all of the unnecessary violence and death. It just showed how terrible this time was for all of the people in the concentration camps. Amon Goeth was a very terrible man, the things he did to his maid Helen Hirsch and the people in his camp were ridiculous. The scene that really had an effect on me was when Amon Goeth was on the balcony of his house and just shot a completely innocent woman who was doing nothing wrong. For Amon Goeth to do that just shows how terrible of a human he is. Another scene that really impacted me was at the end of the movie when Oscar Schindler broke down crying because he realized that he could have saved many more people than he did. Oscar Schindler saved thousands of people and he still thought he could've done more. Between those two scene you can really see the good in Oscar Schindler and the bad in Amon Goeth.
ReplyDeleteWhat struck me the most was when Schindler was trying to leave the factory at the end. After the workers gave him a letter, he began to cry, saying that he could've and should've saved more lives. He talks about how if he had sold his car he could have saved 10 lives, and more. He had already saved over a thousand lives, but he didn't believe it was enough. The fact that made this even more striking was that he was the only person to save this many lives. Very few people tried to save people from the nazis, with Schindler being one of them. There could've been more people like Oskar Schindler, but people cared more about their greed than others.
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DeleteHaving spent a lot of time in Hebrew school learning about the Holocaust, watching videos about it and visiting the Museum of Tolerance, the horror of the situation still never ceases to shock me. The longer I watched Schindler's List, the less real the movie actually seemed to me. It is so hard to believe that people (of a cultural group that I am a part of, as well) were so viciously persecuted, tortured, and murdered less than eighty years ago. It is also unbelievable to me that so many people agreed with Hitler and were willing to perform such evil acts. (I understand that some Nazis did not fully believe that exterminating Jews was right, and were forced into their actions). One of the scenes that I found most disturbing was when Goeth stood at his balcony, shooting laborers, almost at random (for doing things as petty as sitting down on the job). The way he held and shot his gun in such a casual, playful way emphasized how he viewed the killing as a game, believing that the Jews' lives did not matter.
ReplyDeleteWhat struck me most about Schindlers List was the ugly brutality towards the Jewish. I didn't realize that the nazis treated them this harshly. The way Amon Goeth treated his maid, Helen, disgusted me. How he would try and seduce her then immediately beat her, is psychopathic, to me at least. But what touched my heart about Oskar Shindler was how he wanted to save more Jews, even if they were only a few. This showed me that Oskar wasn't like the other top nazis. He had a heart and was willing to save innocent people.
ReplyDeleteI agree. Oskar learned the value of an individual's life through his experience in the Holocaust, and found it important to save as many lives as possible. Knowing that he could have saved more if he had sold a few of his belongings had brought him great distress and misery in the end.
DeleteWhat struck me the most about the movie was the random acts of brutality inflicted upon the Jewish people. The Nazis justified their actions by saying that Jews were sub-human, so they (Nazis) could do whatever they so desired to the Jews. One particular instance of this was when Amon Goeth went to his maid, Helen, and claimed that she was tempting him, when really she was at his complete mercy. Goeth could have killed her and no one would have batted an eye. In their views, it was just another Jew, so what did it really matter. Another instance of Goeth's cruelty was when he woke up one morning and decided to start shooting random people who had done nothing wrong. I don't think that my generation really understands what Jewish people went through, but seeing a movie that illustrates it in such a way as to be careful and conscious of the subject, and still address that period during world history is really eye-opening and I know that I now see the Holocaust in a whole new light.
ReplyDeleteThat was a very powerful scene and an amazing performance by Fiennes
DeleteWhat got to me in this movie was the fact that nobody seemed to care what was going on and how everyone seemed to find so much comfort in Hitler even though what he did as so cruel and yet almost nobody questioned it. HOW when there was a safe haven people resented it. I honestly don't understand how they could have been that obedient twords these acts, they would show the children yelling religious slurs that were violent and there parents were fine with it and nobody cared. it was awful.
ReplyDeleteWhat struck me most deeply about Schindler's List was the pure evil showed in the Nazi's actions. The scene involving the little girl with a red sweater being carried on a stretcher with other dead bodies of kids with it truly shocked me about the sorts of brutality going on. Also, the scene where Oscar Schindler buys the Jews working for Amon Goeth and the Nazi's were planning to kill the children before they could get on the train. They were planning to kill dozens of kids they didn't know and that didn't do anything to deserve that. Fortunately, Oscar Schindler stepped in to prevent the death of these children. Schindler's List truly outlined how horrific the Nazis were. Not many movies truly tell stories of the Holocaust quite as amazing as this one. From both sides, we are taught of the disgusting evil displayed by the Nazis.
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ReplyDeleteIn the movie I liked how the characters were made. Some of the Jews were very important to the film, as they were main characters, but the movie had parts when they could've died so easily. A specific moment was when Itzach Stern forgot his work pass, and almost got sent off on the train, and Schindler himself had to come save him. I think that scene also showed how dedicated Schindler was to his workers, and he didn't think of them as slaves, but people. Another thing that amazed me about Oscar Schindler was how he had to pretend that he was a regular nazi around Amon, but still got his way and helped his Jews. The only way he could protect the Jewish People is by having a factory for the military. But Schindler was so dedicated that he made sure everything was faulty, and he didn't want to help Germany in the war. He spent his own money buying artillery from other places to cover it up. A real touching moment in Schindler's character when he was so angry that he didn't save more people, even though he saved over a thousand. It really shows how deeply he had empathy for them.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that after everything that happened, Oscar Schindler was still upset only because he didn't save more lives, really stood out to me. Even though he could've been killed for doing what he did, he believed that it was worth it to take his live, to save hundreds of Jews. Everybody else was thinking the exact opposite as him, and were just trying to save themselves. Although he didn't want to believe it, his shop was a haven, and helped saved so many people that wouldn't be alive if it weren't for him. At the end of the movie, he continued to go on about how if he sold some of his possessions, then he could have saved even more of the Jewish Community. Even if it meant selling one of his favorite things in order to save a couple Jews, In Oscars eyes, it would've been far past worth it. This was shocking, considering that a lot of the other German men of that time didn't even believe that Jewish people deserved to lived.
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ReplyDeleteSchindler's List was a very compelling and emotional movie. What struck me most was the Jews perseverance in spite of the horrible circumstances of the ghettos and concentration camps. In particular, one family remarked how their situation in the camps could be worse. And, throughout the film, many Jews stayed hopeful while inside the concentration camps. One example is when the Jews refused to believe the Nazis were going to kill them. They thought they were working for the Nazis in order to further the war effort. Ultimately, despite horrible living conditions, and a complete lack of respect, Jews remained optimistic about their time in the concentration camps.
ReplyDeleteSchindler’s List does a great job of depicting what the Holocaust was really like. The brutality of the Nazis was striking, but what really caught my attention was the transformation that Oskar Schindler went through. He began as a man who only cared about himself and making money, but as he attempted to begin a business, he stumbled upon a Jew who eventually agreed to be his accountant. The Jew enlisted many helpless people from the concentration camp he was held in as employees of the company. When Oskar finds out that he has cripples working for him he is outraged, but as time passes he comes to see that his business has been saving the lives of Jews who would have been otherwise killed. In desperation to save as many Jews as possible, Schindler pays their way out of death. At the very end of the movie, Schindler becomes emotional and tormented by the fact that if he hadn’t spent so much money on useless things in his life prior to the war, he could have saved more people. The ability of people to change their mental stance from morally wrong to right is incredible, especially when you are brought up by society to believe what is wrong.
ReplyDeleteOne of the moments that stayed with me was Oskar Schindler's emotions towards the end when he had to flee, he stopped and looked at all the Jews around him that he had saved. They presented him with a form signed by the hundreds of people he saved in the case that he was captured. Oskar Schindler broke down sobbing for all the Jews that he saved, but most of all the ones that he didn't save, the ones that had been starved, shot, or gassed and he thinks to himself that he should have saved more. This moment showed how deeply Schindler had come to care for the people under his watch, who had started out as only a way for him to make a profit. He didn't agree with the ideas, and wasn't cruel like the rest of the Nazis and he saw the value in the lives of those around him. Even running his artillery factory so that the shells they produced wouldn't allow the Nazi guns to fire a bullet, saving even more Jewish lives.
ReplyDeleteThis movie evoked many emotions. However, what struck me the most throughout the movie was the horrible treatment of the Jews. I have heard as well as read many stories regarding the topic, but watching this movie has now made me see the holocaust and it's brutality in a new light. The brutality towards the Jews stood out to me in particular because relatives of mine actually experienced and survived the holocaust as well as the concentration camps. This movie truly put things in perspective for me as to all that they went through. The part of the movie for me that brought up the most emotions was when Amon Goeth wakes up and sits on his balcony and randomly decides to shoot people over small things, such as taking a short break from their countless hours of work. This scene demonstrated how willing the Nazis were to kill any Jew due to the belief they were sub human and not feel any emotion while doing so. This was crazy to me, the Nazis were truly careless when it came to killing an innocent person.
ReplyDeleteSchindler's list is a very accurate view of what hardships the Jews of World War 2 experienced. The thing that struck me the most was the random killing of Jews, I was shocked to why they would do anything like that because they were killing their workers. I tried to put myself into the perspective of the Jewish characters and try to feel the emotions of what they felt, all I felt was hopelessness, fear, and mourning. Before the movie I had known of the unimaginable treatment, pain and suffering that the Jews experienced. But it wasn't until the movie that I really understood how bad it actually was. Many of the movies parts were very disturbing to me, but if I had to name one, it would be the scene where the boy who works at the house upon the hill of the camp is told he can go home, and the Co director shoots him. This proves that Jews were treated as if they were garbage, and were also disposed of as if they were garbage in scene where their bodies were being incinerated. But Oscar Schindler saved the Jews by employing them with jobs at his factories; but Oscar didn't recognize this until his workers came in personally to and thank him for saving them. In the end the Jews show their gratitude to Oscar, by making a golden ring for him. Oscar shortly after he receives the ring Oscar breaks down saying "I could have saved more." But what Oscar doesn't realize is that he successfully saved hundreds of Jews.
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