Oskar Schindler is portrayed in the first two sequences as being a neat, precise and particular man. It focuses on his clothes set out ready for him to wear, it then shows him getting dressed and focuses on his hands and body and does not show his face. The camera then focuses on a large stash of money that he has, making the audience believe that he is a wealthy man and that money plays an important part in his life. The last shot of Schindler getting ready to go out is an extreme close up of him fixing his Nazi pin in place. Due to it being the last shot of the sequence we are made to remember this. Schindler is then seen entering a sophisticated party held by the Nazi officers. The camera shows his view of the room as if he is observing the Nazis from the outside looking in. The camera follows him around the room, in and out of the shadows, watching officers and women having a good time. We hear his voice before we see his face. The camera deliberately shows the side of Schindler’s head as he is having a conversation with someone, this is very unusual when filming someone having a conversation with someone else. He appears self satisfied and confident as he walks around the room. The cutting between the shots of Schindler’s view of the room are very fast. There is lots of food and wine at the party and all of the Nazis appear to be having a good time. The film cross cuts between the view of the party and that of the Jews being ordered to register with the Nazis and the first list of the names of the Jews being compiled. In the first two sequences Schindler is represented as a man who likes his money and his women. He is shown as a precise and well organised man, both personally and in his work . He is always seen wearing his Nazi pin and is represented as a womaniser. For instance, when he is trying to find a typist, he dismisses a woman who is very good at typing but is not very pretty whereas, when a younger, prettier woman comes along but can not type very well, he sits in his chair admiring her.
As the film continues we start to see Schindler in a different way. He is shown riding his horse with his wife. At the same time we see soldiers shooting Jews, and men, women and children being separated. Schindler is rarely included in the footage of the Jews being treated badly and, on the odd occasion when he is he is only watching what is happening and not taking part. Schindler stops above the city looking down on the scene below. This is a turning point for Schindler, the way he is positioned above the city gives the impression that he need to stand back from the situation to realise what is really happening. It is often very hard to stand back from a situation and take a different view on it to the way everyone else has. He does this though and realises what the Nazis are doing is wrong. Each gunshot lights a room in a house signifying another death. Hand held cameras are used again to show confusion and panic, this shows the impact of what is happening. Schindler stays hard faced whilst watching the city until he sees a young girl in a red coat. His gaze is fixed on her wandering the streets alone. Red signifies death and danger and makes Schindler’s face soften as he watches the girl walk the streets below. The red of the girl’s coat disintegrates as he turns away. Schindler’s character develops once again when he kisses a Jewish girl, as he would have been very unlikely to have done this at the start. He is later sent to jail for doing this. When he leaves the jail he sees what he first thinks is snow on his car but then realises that it is ash from the incineration of the Jews. He goes to watch the incineration of the Jews and sees Jews who are still alive having to carry the dead bodies to be incinerated and sees the same girl in her red coat, but this time she is dead.
Amon Goethe is always in full Nazi uniform, giving him a military appearance. He is shown beating his servant and shooting Jews off his balcony for fun. Goethe has a harsh German accent and a hard look, he is shown to be threatening and intimidating. Goethe enjoys being in power and says “Control is power” he pushes people around to show that he has that power. Goethe is a man who goes over the top with everything. He is shown having drunk far too much and is often shown shooting Jews for fun. Anyone who says a thing wrong to Goethe is shot. For instance, when a Jewish woman tells him that a building that is being built is going to collapse because it has been built incorrectly, he orders his officers to shoot her. Goethe is always shown to be taking part in the way the Jews are treated badly, whereas Schindler is only ever watching. For instance, Goethe cons a Jewish factory worker by telling him to make a hinge which he does really fast to impress Goethe. Goethe times how long it takes him and, when he does it quicker than normal, Goethe orders him to be shot because he can do it faster than he has been. Schindler and Goethe are both shown on separate occasions talking to Helen, Goethe’s Jewish maid. When she was alone with Schindler she was talking and he was listening to her and she relaxed in his company. Whereas when she was alone with Goethe he was talking and she was listening but she did not relax in Goethe’s company. When Goethe and Helen were alone together it juxtaposed the singer at the party with Schindler. It showed Goethe being threatening towards Helen and the singer being kind and nice towards everyone. When Goethe is on his balcony he is shown looking down on what is happening to the Jews, just like the time when Schindler is out riding his horse. The difference, is that seeing the way the Jews are being treated has no affect on Goethe, he just joins in and shoots at them.
The way in which Amon Goethe is presented affects the audience’s perception of Schindler. This is because Schindler is presented in a very different way. He never gets involved in the killing of the Jews because he has very different intentions to Goethe. After his turning point, when he realises what is happening to the Jews is wrong his character appears to change and his actions and intentions become very different. When all of the Jews are packed into train carriages he orders the officers to spray them with water. He makes a joke out of it and Goethe and the other officers laugh about it. Whereas he is really doing this because he sees it as a way to give the Jews some water to drink which he can see they are desperate for. The camera is used to help Schindler appear powerful, successful and important throughout the film by showing shots of him with the camera framing his face well and looking up at him. This emphasizes his importance. Whereas shots of Goethe are often taken looking down at him.
The speech that Schindler makes at the end of the film before he leaves the Jews is very truthful and honest. He does not try to make out that he is the one that saved them. “Six long years of murder, thank yourselves, thank the ones among you who faced death at every moment.” “I am a criminal, I will be hunted”. This part shows a complete reversal of what has happened to the Jews. At the start of the film it was the Jews being hunted, now that the war is over it is the Germans that will be hunted. Goethe is shown being hanged and it takes five kicks to get the chair to move from under his feet which reminds the audience of the time when Goethe and the officers were trying to shoot a Jew but the gun would not fire. Once again this role has been reversed. When Schindler is giving his speech, the camera once again focuses on Schindler’s Nazi pin, showing he is not one of the Jews. He is being upfront and honest about the situation and not taking praise for what he has done. The ring that the factory workers make and give to Schindler at the end of the film represents the circle of life. On the ring are written the words ‘He who saves one life, saves the world entire’. Schindler collapses with emotion when he is given this gift saying he could have saved more. Schindler appears more of a hero than many others because he never experienced for himself how the Jews suffered, he only ever watched, but he still gave all of his money that he had and risked his life to try and stop their suffering and to save some of their lives.
The importance of the name of the film ‘Schindler’s List’ is stressed at the end when the film changes from black and white into colour. This is because the people shown at the end are the Jews that survived the war. They are shown united and strong and the reason they are still alive today is because their names were on Schindler’s list. This also explains why the tagline for the film is “the list is life” because the people whose name were down on the list had their lives saved due to Oskar Schindler.
