by Chris Marshall:
Steven Spielberg is one of the greatest directors of all time,
and I think it’s unfortunate that, at least in some circles, his contributions
to cinema aren’t appreciated to the fullest extent. I think most people enjoy
his movies, but he’s not often considered as one of the top “artistic” auteurs
in the medium. Perhaps there’s some truth to that, but when you have a filmography
like his, it’s impossible not to acknowledge his genius.
I believe this lack of universal respect for his artistry is
the main reason why only one of his movies has won Best Picture. He’s considered
more of a populist director, and while many of his biggest blockbusters have
been nominated, only Schindler’s List
took home the top prize, likely because it is an “important” movie in addition
to just being a great one. Just to be clear, I am taking nothing away from Schindler’s List; it is brilliant, but I
wish his more “fun” films garnered more respect.
Anyway, about the movie. I assume it’s a movie where, even
if not everybody has seen it, at least everybody knows what it’s about. It is a
holocaust film, yes, but more than that, it’s about a man who dared to take
action, at great personal risk, in an attempt to save the lives of more than
1,000 Jews.
Oskar Schindler is a very complicated man. He has many qualities,
both good and bad, but most importantly, he is a man of compassion. He starts a
factory in order to make a huge profit from cheap Jewish labor. He succeeds,
but in the process, he realizes that the factory is also a way to save many
lives.
I think the decision to show Schindler’s personality in all
its ambiguity was the proper one. Because he did so much good for so many
people, it must have been tempting to portray him in an almost saint-like
manner. But Spielberg’s films always have a message, and here, the message is
that anybody can make a difference. Oskar Schindler is deeply flawed, but in
spite of his negative traits, he still does a tremendous amount of good. If he
were a perfect man, it would be hard to identify with him, and it would seem
like only another perfect man could do something similar.
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| The famous girl in the red dress. |
The villain—well, there are many villains, but only one is
given a real personality—lacks any such ambiguity. Amon Goeth, played by Ralph
Fiennes as a character whose evil is comparable to Lord Voldemort’s, is a
ruthless killer who makes many of the other Nazis seem cuddly. He is the
counterpoint to Schindler’s morality; Goeth coldly murders Jews without any
thought.
There are many other characters who populate the film, both
Jews and Nazis, and as in real life, it’s hard to imagine why one group hated
the other so much. Anti-Semitism is such a strange hatred, and it is impossible
to understand how such a horrific act could have ever occurred, especially on
such a systematic basis. But perhaps the bureaucratic nature of the
extermination made it even easier to carry out. It allowed the Nazis to believe
they were following orders, carrying out directives, and made it more difficult
to view the Jews as actual people.
Whatever the reason, Schindler’s
List offers a ray of hope during one of the darkest periods in human
history. Schindler proved that, no matter how strong the pressures might be,
you can always do something. He saved so many lives, and yet he felt like he
had not done enough. One of the most famous lines from the film is “He who
saves one life saves the world entire.” Schindler saved over a thousand. Who
else could claim even a fraction of that? In the epilogue, it is mentioned that
there are over 6,000 descendants of the Schindler Jews, compared to 4,000
remaining Jews in all of Poland. He is directly responsible for all of those
lives.
This is one of those movies that should be seen by everyone,
not only for the cinematic skill on display, but because of its cultural
importance. Maybe it’s Spielberg’s greatest movie, and maybe it’s not, but
either way, it’s hard to come up with many more meaningful films.
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