Oskar Schindler & Steven Spielberg – Using Their Uncommon Gifts
“Watching the film, I understood more clearly how we do have the power to change our own lives, how fate doesn’t deal all of the cards.” – Roger Ebert.
Schindler’s List:
If you have not seen “Schlinder’s List,” one of the best movies ever, I encourage you to see it. It is a story about a German profiteer and his actions and choices during World War II.
After the war, Oskar Schindler was unsuccessful in most of his business ventures. Wikipedia currently notes:
“By the end of the war, Schindler had spent his entire fortune on bribes and black-market purchases of supplies for his workers. Virtually destitute, he moved briefly to Regensburg, Germany and, later, Munich, but did not prosper in postwar Germany. In fact, he was reduced to receiving assistance from Jewish organizations. Eventually, Schindler emigrated to Argentina in 1948, where he went bankrupt. Returning to Germany in 1958, he had a series of unsuccessful business ventures. Schindler settled down in a little apartment at Am Hauptbahnhof Nr. 4 in Frankfurt am Main, West Germany and tried again – with help from a Jewish organization – to establish a cement factory. This, too, went bankrupt in 1961. His business partner cancelled their partnership.”
Below are excerpts from Roger Ebert’s review of “Schindler’s List”:
“Oskar Schindler would have been an easier man to understand if he’d been a conventional hero, fighting for his beliefs. The fact that he was flawed – a drinker, a gambler, a womanizer, driven by greed and a lust for high living-makes his life an enigma. Here is a man who saw his chance at the beginning of World War II, and moved to Nazi-occupied Poland to open a factory and employ Jews at starvation wages . . .
The Holocaust was a vast, evil engine set whirling by racism and madness . . .
Schindler’s genius is in bribing, scheming, conning. He knows nothing about running a factory, and finds Itzhak Stern (Ben Kingsley), a Jewish accountant, to handle that side of things . . .
We also see the Holocaust in a vivid and terrible way. Spielberg gives us a Nazi prison camp commandant named Goeth (Ralph Fiennes), who is a study in the stupidity of evil . . .
(Schindler) bribes, he wheedles, he bluffs, he escapes discovery by the skin of his teeth. In the movie’s most audacious sequence, when a trainload of his employees is mistakenly routed to Auschwitz, he walks into the death camp himself and brazenly talks the authorities out of their victims, snatching them from death and putting them back on the train to his factory.
What is most amazing about this film is how completely Spielberg serves his story. The movie is brilliantly acted, written, directed, and seen. Individual scenes are masterpieces of art direction, cinematography, special effects, crowd control. Yet Spielberg, the stylist whose films have often gloried in shots we are intended to notice and remember, disappears into his work. Neeson, Kingsley, and the other actors are devoid of acting flourishes. There is a single-mindedness to the enterprise that is awesome.
At the end of the film, there is a sequence of overwhelming emotional impact, involving the actual people who were saved by Schindler. We learn that “Schindler’s Jews” and their descendants today number some 6,000, and that the Jewish population of Poland is 4,000. The obvious lesson would seem to be that Schindler did more than a whole nation to spare its Jews. That would be too simple. The film’s message is that one man did something, while in the face of the Holocaust, others were paralyzed. Perhaps it took a Schindler, enigmatic and reckless, without a plan, heedless of risk, a con man, to do what he did. No rational man with a sensible plan would have gotten as far.
The French author Flaubert once wrote that he disliked Uncle Tom’s Cabin because the author was constantly preaching against slavery. ”Does one have to make observations about slavery?” he asked. “Depict it; that’s enough.” And then he added, “An author in his book must be like God in the universe, present everywhere and visible nowhere.” That would describe Spielberg, the author of this film. He depicts the evil of the Holocaust, and he tells an incredible story of how it was robbed of some of its intended victims. He does so without the tricks of his trade, the directorial and dramatic contrivances that would inspire the usual melodramatic payoffs. Spielberg is not visible in this film. But his restraint and passion are present in every shot.”
~ end of excerpt ~
Wikipedia notes:
No one really knows what Schindler’s motives were. However, he was quoted as saying “I knew the people who worked for me . . . When you know people, you have to behave toward them like human beings.”
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Side notes: I don’t understand all the reasons why this blog continues to grow in readers. It’s not more every day or every week, but the moving average continues to stay strong and grow from time to time. Yesterday, the blog received 11,253 visits, the most ever for one day.
With whatever gifts you have
No matter how small
Do whatever good you can
Some artworks primarily make you mindful of the artist
Some artworks primarily make you mindful of the arts of being humane
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© All rights reserved by the respective artists.
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some credit is due to the writer thomas kenneally, who wrote schindler’s ark, from which the film was derived
This is a horrible site and it should not be on the internet and why is oskar schindler on it grrr
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OneMoreOption: I hear you. If you genuinely want a response to your comment of frustration, I’ll start with Roger Ebert’s quote from above:
“Oskar Schindler would have been an easier man to understand if he’d been a conventional hero, fighting for his beliefs. The fact that he was flawed – a drinker, a gambler, a womanizer, driven by greed and a lust for high living - makes his life an enigma.”
If you’d like a further response to your anonymous comment, I’d encourage you to read the rest of the blog. It’s not very long – readable within a few days. You might do everyone more of a service if you read it through once before making such sweeping criticisms prematurely or anonymously.
who cares whether schindler was a flawed man? it doesnt change the fact that through his action or influence he saved over 1000 people that would have nearly certainly been murdered along with the other millions!
Who is this person that says it is a horrible site? How many lives could be saved if there were more “Schindlers” in our world? This man was a true hero who risked everything because he did not get swept up in the nazi insanity.
He saved lives and manufactured weapons that were duds, thus saving even MORE lives.
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OneMoreOption: Thank you for expressing your thoughts
A true humanitarian…who if he could have saved more – would have saved more…To save ONE life is amazing..but to save how many he saved under lies and bribes…this is a true act of LOVE and the way a real CHRISTIAN should be towards all and even the people of GOD…GOD BLESS ISRAEL!! and I am not a JEW
Schindler was an amazing man. Not only did he save ‘his jews’ but he saved many other lives too, by manufacturing bad weapons. Even if he did many great things in his lifetime, he was somewhat of a sleezy man. That being said though; he will forever be one of my greatest admired heros. No matter how sleazy a person he was, he saw what was happening around him and decided to do something about it.
He watched so many fall around him, and he found the humanity inside of him when others could not. He risked his life to save others, and that makes up for any bad things he ever did in my book.
@ “Lauren”
3:45 PM CST
…Refreshing to see someone as youself capable of recognizing that a “sleezy” man of sorts can also become an enlightened hero.
Multi-dimensional thinking has become a rare ticket item to tap into within this cardboard culture unfolding around us.
Keep writing.
J.B.
10/6/09
I’ve scene Schindler’s List a number of times. Each time it makes me cry. I’m an african american woman living in NJ. When I was in college I learned our state had one of the largest consentrations of servivors of the Holocaust. The college I attended Richard Stockton College of New Jersey has a Holocaust library.
I spent hours there learning about the unjustices Jewish people went through. The Diary of Ann Frank is one of my favorite books. It pains me to hear people fighting over who suffered more black american decendents of slaves. The Jewish people during the Holocaust. I mean seriously. Native Americans, African Americans, Jewish, Chinese American, etc everyone has suffered.
I hate to hear people say the Holocaust didn’t exist. We as a race of humans need to open our eyes. Embrace each other and learn from each other. I commend Mr. Schindler for his actions. It doesn’t matter ill he may a lived like. It was unconventional. It saved lives. I applaud him.
I am indeed left to feel that humanity at the most challenging times, from all types of people do indeed exist…we often hear of the new terminalogy bandied around”paying it forward”….this is indeed one of the finest.
Despite areas of development we all endure to grow daily we are left with a piece of us wanting to pay it forward daily. Let’s again be reminded we can ALL make a difference
nice movie.
its a good thing to know that at least one person cared about people being killed and actually doing something about it!
I FIND IT INTERESTING THAT PEOPLE WHO DON’T AGREE WITH
SOMETHING ARE ALMOST ALWAYS”ANONYMOUS”. COWARDLY I WOULD
SAY. MY MOTHER IN LAW AND HUSBAND ARE FROM PLATTLING,
BAVARIA. FLOSSENBERG WORK CAMP IS JUST OUTSIDE OF
PLATTLING. READ ABOUT FLOSSENBERG, IT WAS JUST AS HORRIBLE AND MONSTOROUS AS AUSCHWITZ OR ANY OF THE OTHERS.
OF COURSE MY IN LAWS ARE IN DENIAL, BUT I GUESS YOU HAVE
TO BE RATHER THAN ADMIT TO YOUR PART IN IT. I’M SURE
THE TOWNS PEOPLE COULD SMELL THE OVENS BUT OF COURSE THEY
DIDN’T EXIST. I AM NOT JEWISH, I AM CHRISTIAN BUT I
BELIEVE THE JEWS ARE GOD’S CHOSEN PEOPLE AS ARE THE GENTILES.
Black, white, green or purple. What does that mean? The blood that runs through one’s body is ALL the same. God made us All. Schindler may have been a flawed man, but who isn’t? Right is right. Wrong is wrong. This man did what he believed was right, and may God bless him for what he did. And I hope that I could do something so selfless one day.
This man seen ugly and evil all around him, heck at some point in time he also was a part of it but, even though it may have taken him some time to do something about it the the point is that HE DID. How many of us can say that? I’m not saying he was perfect, but he decided to take action when other people just sat around and ignored it. Ask yourself this “Would you take all the money you have to help strangers?” I was reading through here and I saw that there are people who are arguing about who has suffered the most. Why does that matter? How about fighting about how to make this place were we live better? Fight about things we can change not things that there is no measurement for.
There is an irony that is out of bounds to bring up. The band wagon is how disgusted we all get with the easy to spot villains, the evil people, then there is to lift up the heroes on our shoulders and parade them forth “we need more like this to stand up to the bad ones!” Perhaps we are pretty sure we too would risk all and do the right thing, God is frequently injected into the mix and in this case mention is made also of Israel His chosen people. The irony of it all does not come out though! Or if does there is someone who keeps the site purged of those willing to let the light shine on all of it. God spews the nations out like vomit. The blood flows and disease is rampant, hero and villain, victims as well as those ignorant sharers of spoil, one event event awaits all …the death. There is no running away it’s right there staring at each of us. It can’t be beat, it can be rationalized and accepted, or we can go completely insane or we can find some religious plan to put blind faith in resting in it’s power to deliver as all the second hands on earth march us, lock stepped to or fate. The only thing that makes sense is that God is both in righteous indignation with our black hearts and that He has original love of us His creation. There is mercy or we would all be gone. Obviously we live long enough to reproduce and the numbers increase and yet anyone can see that it can’t go on and on and on! I’m no scientist but we must be so close. So there is God picking and choosing. But given a chance bad ones can do good and good ones can turn bad, we are all made of the same the stuff! So He saves not according to our measure of good but according to His own pleasure. Nothing else makes any sense! That He is a God who loves beauty and mercy and justice is obvious. He would not do all this without making it eventually known what it’s all about, surely if people humbled themselves entirely and begged with their whole being to know of Him, Why would He deny? Surely if one looked hard for evidence of His speaking to man it would be pure, protected, it would resonate louder than all lies, it would be published abroad ever more into all languages. It’s influence would be immeasurable and demand for copies above any other single work. It would inspire more seekers of Spiritual gain than any other. Like it or not the one and only qualifier is what we call the Bible even despite the myriad of religious schemes calling it their own. The obvious now adds the fact that we have God’s message to humanity! Hidden right in front of us!
@ “Doug”
8:45 AM CST
…Uh-huh…I’ll tell you what’s “right in front of” me, “Doug”. And it ain’t “hidden”.
At first I thought this endless rambling and very poor syntax was simply a bad computer translation from a Germanic or French language.
But now I see you’re just pontificating…trying to shove your religious agenda down our throats. I’m more convinced that you are a very confused man, “Doug”.
Very confused.
Get some help. I’m serious.
J.B
1/9/10
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omo: I hear you. I kept looking for a paragraph break. Sometimes, when I read passages where people are zealously talking about their religious leader or deity being the be-all end-all biggest-god ever, I insert the term “Sacred Bunny” in wherever they named their diety. Then, I re-read the passage to see if anything they said holds any reason or truth. It’s a fun game anyone can play at home.
OMO
3:45 PM CST
…I got a headache struggling through it just once; I kept telling myself, “Stop !! Stop !! It’s all just goobledygook !! Help !!”
…And don’t you make fun of my Bunny “Bucky”. He may have died in ’89, but even in death he’ll still hold his own to any human !
The Saint
1/9/10
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omo: No association to your bunny intended. Apologies.
One of histories most extraordinary stories, and one of it’s most inspiratonal. God uses whom he pleases and nothing like this could have happened without the intervention of God in a period of Satanic lunacy. Schindler was a flawed person like most of us. Unlike most of us he beggered himself to save over 1000 human beings who, without his incredible intervention would certainly have been murdered.
4:15 PM CST
…I just had a second view of the film. There is no question the performances and the cinematography were sublime, but like my first viewing, I still believe the story line was not sustained very well; at times incoherent. Anyone not familiar with the history would have difficulty following the loose narrative. This important story was too protracted, almost forced, which is the how any film feels when the story line does not remain intact, whether the film is 90 minutes, or three hours. Compare with Doctor Zhivago, a long film, but the story never gets weak or distracted by the beautiful photography, soundtrack or great performances.
If you can make it too the final quarter, the story becomes more coherent, and profound, aided by Liam Neeson’s outstanding performance.
I think it possible Spielberg was just too close to the subject and it fragmented his directorial decisions.
I await by the phone that he my receive my wise counsel.
Still for all my criticism, I believe the film should be class mandatory for all younger generations to come.
J.B.
1/23/10
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omo: I appreciate your thoughtful and clear criticisms of an artwork few are willing to criticize. I don’t know if I agree with the criticisms specifically. I’ll have to watch it again. I don’t recall ever feeling there were holes in the plot or narrative.
And even if your critiques about the narrative are valid (not fluid, linear, regular, etc.), I think Spielberg assumed that not only he, but more importantly, his audience already knew a great deal of the surrounding history and narratives. The film was not primarily intended to be a comprehensive historical, explanatory report on what happened. The film, to me, was more like an artwork, it more often focused on individuals’ actions and responses within the torrent of activity that was going on in the world conflicts during that era.
I find it amazing that in the insane and mad times of the Nazis…it took a simple, flawed and selfish man to saved so many people. In a time where he could have flourished in business and made money and left the Jews to die, he did a “saintly” act of saving those who had no voice. I am humbled by his act of humanity during a time of bloodied prejudice. Why can we (as humanity) not learn by his example. He is an outstanding hero in history.
Schindler is the humane character portrayed most infulentially, in the Schindler’s list.
Had there been no Spielberg and the author on Schindler’s Ark, these godliness would have been vanished in the air, nobody knowing that he existed in the world around them reminding of us the true humanity.
Futher, “Schindler’s List” is my best movie followed by “Forrest Gump”. 5 star to both of these
I just watched Schindler’s List for the second time – the first time was many years ago and I was really moved by it. It took a lot of guts for Oskar to do what he did – a lot more courage than anyone during that time apparently. What right does anyone have to throw stones at him? Is there anyone perfect? There is a whole group of people, namely Jews, that wouldn’t be on this earth right now if it wasn’t for him. Come on people, wake up!
Acabo de ver La Lista de Schindler, por segunda vez – la primera vez fue hace muchos años y me sentí realmente conmovido por ella. Tuvo muchas agallas de Oskar a hacer lo que hizo – valor mucho más que a nadie durante ese tiempo al parecer. ¿Qué derecho tiene alguien tiene que tirar piedras contra él? ¿Hay alguien perfecto? Hay todo un grupo de personas, es decir, Judios, que no sería en esta tierra ahora mismo, si no fuera por él. Vamos gente, despierta!
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Loosely translated: I just watched Schindler’s List for the second time – the first time was many years ago and I was really moved by it. Oskar had a lot of guts to do what he did – worth far more than anyone else during that time apparently. What right does someone have to throw stones at him? Is anyone perfect? There is a whole group of people, ie Jews, it would not be on this earth right now if it were not for him. Come on people, wake up!
i am 15 years old and just watched schindler’s list for myt english class i love the fact that they portrayed schindler exactly like he was a flawed man just like any of us but in the end he saw the humanity in this group of people and he became a HERO… a hero doesn’t have to be perfect he/she just has to know right from wrong and schindler figured it out along the way. he gave up everything he had but he saved people and every life counts.thouse of you that dont agree with this website or with oskar schindler i have a question for you…. ARE YOU PERFECT? if you were given the opportunity would you have done what he did while putting your own life on the line?He changed my point of view on many things in my life and i am inspired by what he did and i know that oskar schindler will always be one of my heros.
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OneMoreOption: Thank you for taking the time to write about what you feel.
an amazingly provocative work of cinema. my only gripe against it, if one must call it that, is the scene near the end of the film where schindler starts ranting about the extra people he could have saved if he had sold his ring, his car, etc. for me that was a bit too much as the weight of historical fact and the film itself already had tore us apart at the unbelievable amount of human evil and despair.
it’s if spielberg thought for some reason he had to pound it into our heads what had just transpired. we got it, we understand… no need for pouring on the over the top sentimentality that never actually happened in the first place (spielberg thought for some reason he needed to include that scene).