by Cookie N Screen
The biggest disease that humanity has to suffer is humanity itself. Many people have been, and still are, losing their lives at the hands of other men. Some in an alarmingly high way, such as the recent attack in Niger where 3,000 men, women and children lost their lives. There’s an idea that remembering and educating people that generations have been lost due to power, corruption and the brutality of man. That idea is being forgotten. The blood of the people murdered during the Holocaust is still on the hands of this generation as is that of Slavery and ever wrongful killing in the name of prejudice.
The biggest disease that humanity has to suffer is humanity itself. Many people have been, and still are, losing their lives at the hands of other men. Some in an alarmingly high way, such as the recent attack in Niger where 3,000 men, women and children lost their lives. There’s an idea that remembering and educating people that generations have been lost due to power, corruption and the brutality of man. That idea is being forgotten. The blood of the people murdered during the Holocaust is still on the hands of this generation as is that of Slavery and ever wrongful killing in the name of prejudice.
It’s with movies such as Schindler’s List that can be and must be used to help teach the history of the Holocaust. Schindler’s List is only one story but a powerful one, about Oskar Schindler, a factory owner who, during the Nazi regime and Second World War, saved 1,200 Jews from concentration camps. His single act meant that there are now 8,500 descendants of the Schindler Jews that would not have existed otherwise.
Spielberg has adapted the story of Oskar Schindler is a way that is honest and open. Despite Schindler being deemed a hero in Jewish culture, he is not a shining example of fantastical heroism which makes his defining act more poignant and human. He was, indeed, a part of the Nazi party and was a rich, adulterous man who lavished being so. It is when he sees abhorrent human suffering that he decides to take action. And that is a real life hero. A character who died in poverty because of the money he poured into taking Jewish people out of the camps. Fleshed out here entirely and impeccably by Liam Neeson, Schindler is heralded here because of his bravery.
Spielberg has adapted the story of Oskar Schindler is a way that is honest and open. Despite Schindler being deemed a hero in Jewish culture, he is not a shining example of fantastical heroism which makes his defining act more poignant and human. He was, indeed, a part of the Nazi party and was a rich, adulterous man who lavished being so. It is when he sees abhorrent human suffering that he decides to take action. And that is a real life hero. A character who died in poverty because of the money he poured into taking Jewish people out of the camps. Fleshed out here entirely and impeccably by Liam Neeson, Schindler is heralded here because of his bravery.
But it isn’t just the courage of Schindler that is immortalised in Spielberg’s film. It is also the day to day battle of survival that “regular” Jewish folks that will fill your mind with awe. That regular is in quotations because I believe that the exponential amount of suffering caused upon them was horrific and their will to carry forward is unfathomable. Spielberg does not make this a movie solely about Schindler but about the daily heroism the Jewish population did in order to survive.
The Jewish director has captured the brutality of the film. From the coldness of the concentration camps, the utterly harrowing scenes of marching innocent lives into gas chambers and slaughtering them in Ghetto’s are not left to the imagination here. In fact, Spielberg is clearly adamant at portraying this historical atrocity in all its bleakness that there is no defining orchestra swell so akin to Hollywood war dramas. There is a belief that no other filmmaker could have shown the level of devastation the Holocaust showed like Spielberg, and I concur. Here, the movie possesses a ferocious truth that will anger and appal you in a way that is silent and haunting. Taking away the colour, with this single red entity to remind you of the innocence lost, Spielberg deftly handles the historical awfulness without begging you to listen. It’s a commandment without roars, just one of quiet shock and revered horror.
The Jewish director has captured the brutality of the film. From the coldness of the concentration camps, the utterly harrowing scenes of marching innocent lives into gas chambers and slaughtering them in Ghetto’s are not left to the imagination here. In fact, Spielberg is clearly adamant at portraying this historical atrocity in all its bleakness that there is no defining orchestra swell so akin to Hollywood war dramas. There is a belief that no other filmmaker could have shown the level of devastation the Holocaust showed like Spielberg, and I concur. Here, the movie possesses a ferocious truth that will anger and appal you in a way that is silent and haunting. Taking away the colour, with this single red entity to remind you of the innocence lost, Spielberg deftly handles the historical awfulness without begging you to listen. It’s a commandment without roars, just one of quiet shock and revered horror.
Only recently has Steve McQueen’s 12 Years A Slave been a film of Schindler’s List calibre. Where the lives of those belittled and abused by their own country are starkly unravelled for the screen. This is not emotional fodder, an attempt to make you cry and scoop up Oscars. This is brutal story telling. This is a camera grabbing you by the soul and saying, “this, this happened. Let’s never let it happen again.” Uncomfortable, unnerving and disturbing, the impact of Schindler’s List and the true story it captures is still important to generations.
Whilst there are some people who waste away their brain cells believing that the Holocaust was false, this film is not the produce of fiction. It is the produce of millions of lives that were stripped away of dignity, spirit and were murder by callousness. Seventy years ago, under the guise of war, men, women and children were killed. It is imperative that today, you take a moment to remember the losses of not just the Jewish people – but the homosexuals, disabled and other ethnicities lost in the Holocaust. It is imperative that today, you take a moment silence. It is imperative that today, you take note that the Holocaust still echoes on. And it is imperative today, that you recognise that murderous and oppressive Governments are still in
Schindler’s List is one of the few movies that honours the spirits taken from us in the Holocaust a mere seventy years ago. And it is important these people continue to live on in remembrance today as we strive to shape the world into a less bloody and prejudice way.
Whilst there are some people who waste away their brain cells believing that the Holocaust was false, this film is not the produce of fiction. It is the produce of millions of lives that were stripped away of dignity, spirit and were murder by callousness. Seventy years ago, under the guise of war, men, women and children were killed. It is imperative that today, you take a moment to remember the losses of not just the Jewish people – but the homosexuals, disabled and other ethnicities lost in the Holocaust. It is imperative that today, you take a moment silence. It is imperative that today, you take note that the Holocaust still echoes on. And it is imperative today, that you recognise that murderous and oppressive Governments are still in
Schindler’s List is one of the few movies that honours the spirits taken from us in the Holocaust a mere seventy years ago. And it is important these people continue to live on in remembrance today as we strive to shape the world into a less bloody and prejudice way.
RSS Feed
