Schindler's List

The Jews arrive in Krakow. The film's opening, part of the exposition and one of its few color scenes, shows a close-up of a hand lighting two votive candles in a pre-war Polish Jewish family's home on a Friday night Sabbath. After the singing of a prayer, the family vanishes from view and the two Sabbath candles burn down. In a close-up shot, the candle's soft glowing flames burn out -- a symbol of the burning out of the Jewish people -- sending a wisp of smoke into the air. The smoke dissolves (and the film becomes black and white) into exhaust billowing from a trainload of Jews pulling into a station in Poland, beginning the Jewish persecution. On the train station platform is a single folding table with items for checking in the Jewish families - ink, stapler, stamp, and a list of names on a clipboard. At this point the first spoken word is said -- "Name." This scene becomes a visual motif which is repeated several times--each time with more tables and more lists.

Who is Oskar Schindler? Classical music on the radio is used as a transition from the train station to a room where a man is dressing in impeccable style and gathering money from various places. He places a Swastika button on his lapel. The camera follows this unknown man into a nightclub where Nazi officers are gathered. The gentleman buys drinks for the German's in order to become known to the them. At this point you find out that this gentleman is Oskar Schindler. Schindler is in Krakow to make money using cheap Jewish labor but he needs Jewish money to finance a company. He hires Itzhak Stern, a Jewish accountant, to recruit Jewish investors and laborers as well as manage the company. Stern arranges a deal with Jewish businessmen to purchase an enamel factory called Deutsche Emailwaren Fabrik (D.E.F.). Stern forges work certificates for people considered "non-essential" (people who aren't valuable to the war effort). Schindler bribes the German officers so they will buy his pots and pans.

Kommandant Amon Goeth, who is a dramatic foil to Schindler, is introduced riding through the ghettos where the Jewish people are divided into two halves -- Ghetto A for "essential" workers and Ghetto B for "non-essential" people.

Schindler as a Savior: Schindler and his mistress, out on a morning horseback ride, are looking down at the Krakow Ghetto when Goeth commands his troops to liquidate everyone in Ghetto B. Schindlers's attention is directed to a young girl in a red coat -- a small spot of color in a sea of black and white horror (available using RealPlayer).

Those Jews not liquidated are taken to the Plaszow labor camp under Goeth's command. Schindler, standing in his office, stars down at the empty factory floor and realizes the implications of the liquidation for his profitable business - his workers are gone. Schindler bribes Goeth and 500 Jews are returned to D.E.F. Word spreads that Schindler's factory is a haven for Jews. Schindler does not see himself as a savior but as a money-maker. After this point, unknown to others, Schindler tries to see that the Jews are treated more humanely (spraying boxcars full of people with water because they were dying from the heat). Schindler is even arrested for kissing a Jewish girl who brought him a present on his birthday. Goeth and others plead his case and he is released.

Schindler's List: Oskar learns that the labor camp at Plaszow was being shut down and that the Jews were being sent to Auschwitz (a death camp). To cover up the slaughter of Jews in the Krakow Ghetto, buried corpses were dug up and burned. Schindler sees the body of the little girl in the red coat being wheeled to the fire. (RealPlayer) Schindler realizes that he won't have workers for his factory so he decides to return home. On the brink of leaving with suitcases packed full of money, his moral conscience speaks to him. Oskar decides to attempt to save as many people as he can with his profits from the war. His motives unknown to Goeth, Schindler again pays the German Kommandant to let him have his workers for a new armaments factory in his hometown of Brinnlitz, Czechoslovakia. Schindler, in his conversation with Goeth says "Look, all you have to do is tell me what it's worth to you. What's a person worth to you?" Goeth replies "No, no, no, no. What's one worth to you?"

Stern's types while Schindler creates a list of 1,100 Jewish workers. This becomes Schindler's List. Sterns says to Schindler, "The list is an absolute good. The list is life. All around its margins lies the gulf." (RealPlayer) On the train platform at Plaszow, the workers on Schindler's List pronounce their names to clerks at folding tables with the list (motif). The men and women board separate trains to take them to Brinnlitz, however, the women's train was sent to Auschwitz due to a paperwork error. This is another motif, "Chose another person -- it creates too much paperwork." Schindler rushes to Auschwitz to rescue them where he again has to pay for their return. All the workers are reunited in Brinnlitz where Schindler produces ammunition that won't fire. Schindler tells Stern "If this factory ever produces a shell that can actually be fired, I'll be very unhappy."

"For the seven months it was fully operational, Schindler's Brinnlitz munitions factory

was a model of non-production. During this same period, he spent millions of

Reichmarks to sustain his workers and bribe Reich officials."

The End of the Holocaust: Schindler reminds a Rabbi that is Friday evening and that he should be preparing for the Sabbath (a forbidden ritual). In Schindler's office, the Rabbi and others sing and light the Sabbath candles -- the candles glow a reddish color in an otherwise black and white picture -- a symbol of rebirth of hope, life, and humanity for the Jewish people, a perfect counterpart to the candles that burn out at the beginning of the film.

The war ends and Schindler realizes that because he is a member of the Nazi party, a munitions manufacturer, and a profiteer of slave labor, he is a criminal and will have to flee or be arrested for war crimes. As Emilie and Schindler leave the factory, all 1,100 workers respectfully remove their hats. The Rabbi presents Schindler with another list containing signatures of all the workers vouching for his actions. Sterns hands Schindler a gold ring made from the filling of one of the workers that is inscribed (in Hebrew) with a saying from the Talmud, "Whoever saves one life, saves the world entire." Schindler breaks down, saying

...