Schindler’s List and its Notable Impact
‘ The SS had a lot of marksmen, and just for fun, placing bets, they threw babies out of the windows alive and shot them like skeet. I wouldn’t show that in the movie. I couldn’t, even with dolls.’ - Steven Spielberg
The aforementioned remark subtly lays down the aura of the movie. Set in the hour of Holocaust, the story is a conglomeration of hope, fear, greed and uncontrollable hatred taking its essence from the real life events of a cryptic businessman Mr. Oskar Schindler. The film is in black and white, and there is no obvious flamboyance whatsoever, yet manages to theatrically depict all the emotions in their extremity giving a lifelike portrayal to the viewer. Much like its concluding line, the film revolves around the actions of a single person affecting the lives of many. In its broader sense, the film is Manichean in nature focusing on two strong pillars of right and wrong, yet it has managed to draw a comparison to the real events in its nearest possible manner.
Portrayed to be a war-profiteer, the movie starts with Oskar Schindler appearing in his Kraków hotel room, he soon with his charm and sumptuous ways manages to treat an entire table to wine and food while constantly making lucrative war contacts. Through consecutive scenes of Oskar approaching people he could utilize, it is inferred that his aim is to exploit the adverse conditions of Polish Jews and give them minimum sustenance in return, he basically proposes free labour to all which in today’s day and age would be an unfair practice.
As the movie progresses, the brutality towards this race grows exponentially which makes the viewer rethink their opinion about Oskar. With the help of Itzhak Stern he gets the Jews to not only invest in his Enamelware Factory but also work in it. Successful establishment brings him money and that is all he cares about. He is quoted stating as he makes a toast to Stern for the success:
“All you need is a good doctor, a forgiving priest and a clever accountant.”
The movie jumps from a continuous storyline to clips of masses of Jews being forcefully evacuated from their settled homes to Ghetto. This was just the tip of the iceberg, the film goes on to spill the dark side of reality as it introduces Commander Amon Goeth, a power driven, sadistic and ruthless functionary and probably the biggest form of Nazi evil after Hitler (let’s not kid ourselves, we don’t know about many others). At this juncture of the film, Jews were treated harshly and were even often times killed for violation of the prevailing antisemitic laws, this bar of violence and atrocity soar high with the activities of Commander Amon who literally and figuratively started treating these Jews as vermin by arbitrarily shooting them from the balcony of his “unsatisfactory Villa” as if he were on a hunting spree. There were instances in the film wherein he would just shoot an engineer for trying to do her job correctly or a woman for going about with her daily chores. He refused to refer to their race as “people” and managed to point it out to the viewer every now and then.
A faceoff between Oskar Schindler and Amon Goeth, brought about a temporary effort to change in the defiant. This conversation was one of the major scenes of the film, where a distinction of power and justice was made. Amon, in his intoxicated state, took pride in his power of being able to kill Jews and fear among people because of it. Oskar then exclaimed, that it is the arbitrariness of this power that stirs fear among the people.
“They fear us because we have the power to kill arbitrarily. A man commits a crime, he should know better. We have him killed, and we feel pretty good about it or we kill him ourselves and we feel even better. That’s not power though. That’s justice. It’s different than power. Power is when we have ever justification to kill, and we don’t.” This was a brilliant take on power asserted by Schindler, hoping to manipulate Goeth’s self-image as a powerful man. If power is important to him, then he can wield it by sparing someone in a greater sense of the term than by killing someone.
Arbitrariness could also be seen when Helen states, “the more you see there is no set rules that you can live by.” A single phrase highlighting the unjustified actions on account of policy framed by the sovereign. The massacre of Jews was backed up by a bad sense of morality with veil of stringent laws to cover the real truth of total extermination.
The film in its final stages shows us the glimpse of the horrors faced by people in Auschwitz especially by disregarding the names on the list. Schindler successfully provides refuge to 1100 Jews and makes sure that the factory sustains itself by spending all his money on it. The man really outdoes himself by making sure that none of the artillery bullet shells made by his factory workers pass the quality tests. His conviction to end the war by less supply as well as the concern for other Jewish brethren shines a light on his altered outlook towards life.
He bids adieu to his workers by stating that, he is a member of Nazi Party, a Profiteer of Slave labour and a Part of Munitions, he will be hunted just after midnight as a criminal. The next morning, a Russian soldier informs the Jews in the camp that they are free. As they walk towards a nearby town, the scene disbands into colour and displays a group of real Holocaust survivors walking across a field. These real life survivors are accompanied by the actors who play them, and place rocks on Schindler’s grave as mark of their mutual respect towards his unflinching resilience. The last person at the grave is Liam Neeson (Oskar Schindler). He places a rose on the tombstone.
The film, takes us to a time where Rule of law was not in consonance with the sovereign. Rule of law within its ambit conveys virtue, fairness, morality, people’s will and the practices that have spanned through generations. Sovereign on the other hand changes with time and place. A society needs coalescence of both to function merrily. This film, exposes us vividly to the horrors that can prevail when sovereign supersedes the rule of law, ultimately gaining an unchecked power to mould the law and the state according to his desire.
(All images from here)
