This film was set in Krakow one of the cramped Ghetto’s around Poland. The film was made in Poland in 1992 and released to the Public the following year.
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The principle characters were; Oskar Schindler a glorious businessman who saved many Jews lives, his wife Emile Schindler, Itzhak Stern the Jew accountant he saves from execution and the sinister Amos Goeth, head of the concentration camp and despised Jewish race.
In the film, there are many examples of marginalisation. Firstly, after many symptoms the Jews were finally placed in the Ghetto where they were abused and segregated from society. This was done through hatred, and therefore the Nazis had already began there regime to marginalise and finally exterminated the Jewish race. Furthermore, the Jews had to wear bands so you could recognise them; this repressed them from society even more. The Jews in any case had done no wrong; they were normally, innocent human being and should have been marginalised in such an inhumane way. For instance, in the film all the Jews were kicked out there houses by the Nazi’s and had to crowd into and area to register to enter the Ghetto and were giving bands so they could be stared at, this showed the marginalisation of Jews.
Moreover, the Nazi’s started picking out men, women and even children if they thought they were useless relatively to there society. This marginalised the older community, disabled and even children and they were exterminated for it. For example, one of Schindler’s oldest workers had one arm and was laughed at and finally shot by Nazi soldiers, whilst clearing the road from snow.
Oskar Schindler is disgusted at the way the Nazi’s treat the Jews. By witnessing the Jews suffer and die in inhumane ways he feels compelled to help them. So to help them without creating any misunderstandings with his fellow compatriots, he manages to set up a factory outside the city and away from certain death. However, he feels induced to turn his factory into a refuge for Jews. He brings Jews in from the Ghetto to work at his factory, and by doing so, saving their precious lives as well, from almost certain death. However, what worries Schindler is that his factory is growing as certain reputation which isn’t welcome with the Nazi’s, a reputation which could demolish his factory, wealth and many of the lives working their. By the end of the war Oskar Schindler saved over 1100 Jews from execution.
My first creative art piece would be a picture or sketch. I would use black and white as I find this extremely symbolic as it was the only form of medium they could visually express themselves with in the Ghetto. So to create an effective piece I would use charcoal. I would draw a little girl holding her teddy bear, and make the piece as simply as possible to make the picture more emblematic. The teddy bear represents her feelings. It means so much to her and it makes her feel secure as it was not secure at the time. It was amaze you, how such a simple item can keep your spirits and soul alive during such evil times.
My final piece would be different. I would make a 3D memorial sculpture, representing the anguish. Equally important, I would use copper and bronze as it is permanent and not clay, as it runs the risk of crumbling. This particular sculpture would show a circle of simple people with their heads down and hands up. They are trying to express their feelings using their body language. They are saying, “We’ve had enough”, “were defeated”, “you’ve won”, they are exhausted from all the violence and just want it to return to peace and return to there normal lives. This would need to last as it would send a message to everyone expressing that marginalisation in whatever form is never the case of solving solutions and should be a dying issue in our world.
In my opinion, the film did have a message. I think Steven Spielberg is trying to express the systematic, inhumane way that the Nazi’s treated citizens, and in this particular case it was mostly the Jews. I think he wanted use to realise the harsh reality, so it can never be relived again. I think this film touched people’s soul’s as many would have never known such evil existed. I think he also wanted us to know that we should all learn from our mistakes and that violence and marginalisation, especially racism isn’t the right option and shouldn’t be one at all.
Finally, I did think the film was interesting. Firstly, I thought the actually film was incredible realistic and especially the marginalisation of the Jews. The Ghetto was exactly how I pictured it. The way he expressed the evilness of the Nazi’s shocked me. It made you feel like you wanted to help even though you weren’t there and it occurred over sixty years ago. I think it was an extremely clever idea to do it on such a diverse character. By having such a change in personality, you don’t ever know what he’s thinking about, which makes you want to see more. Finally, the way he keeps the filming in black and white until the girl in the red coat appears he films her in colour only, it shows how such as simple character can stand out and become symbolic. I think this film must go down as one of the greatest pieces of art in history.
In conclusion, I hope I have clearly displayed my critical views on Schindler’s List using references to the film were possible.
