Oskar Schindler's List Themes

"To refuse life is a sin; it's stupid and mad. You have to accept life, cherish it, love it, fight for it as if it were a treasure, a woman, a secret happiness."
-Elie Wiesel, Holocaust survivor/writer

In 1994, Steven Spielberg created a film that represented a metaphorical backdrop for the corruptive madness and folly of war, and its effects which nearly destroyed an entire people's existence. Schindler's List presents how one man's selfish dream of riches and fame, unknowingly saved the lives of thousands of Jews during the period of Nazi rule. This film is the true story, structured around Oskar Schindler, of a man's will, determination, and transformation during a time of hate and war. Although there are many beautifully layered
The conversation being conducted by Pfefferberg is more of his expressing his thoughts about Helen to himself perhaps for the first time; in short it is a battle within himself which he is expressing. His apparent love for Helen is overshadowed by his hate for Jews, a hatred which he begins to questions first after his friendship and admiration for Schindler and now by his deep affection for a Jewish girl. He expresses to both the young girl and himself, "I realize that you are not a person in the strictest sense of the word…but maybe what's wrong, it's not us, it's this [situation]". However, in the end he cannot bear to come to senses with his own fears and weaknesses, and chooses to carry on as a ruthless coward who beats the woman he is in love with to deal with the hatred he has for himself. This, to me parallels a great theme in this film, which is that of confusion and conflict of feeling for both the Nazi's and the Jews. As Mr. Elie Wiesel very appropriately put it, "a man hates his enemy because he hates his own
Having heard rumors and horror stories of women and children being gassed to death there, they are expecting the same fate be theirs. The scene begins with the solo cry of the violin, accompanied by the loud chopping of scissors cutting the women's hair. The violin gets progressively louder as their naked and malnourished bodies enter the dark room with hollow lights hanging overhead and on the sides. This demonstrates the fear of the unknown that the women are experiencing. They hold one another close as the double doors are closed behind them, and we get a close up of the submarine type window into the room where they are. We are then seeing the victims through the stalking point of the view. There are a lot of overhead shots, which makes us see the victims and feel their sadness and fear as we are made to look down upon them in pity. The metal pipes surrounding the large room make us feel the coldness and ruthless nature of what is about to happen. Suddenly, a loud noise is heard (that of a large lever), the lights are turned off and the violin stops, and we hear the simultaneous screams of hundreds of women. The lights turn back on, and there is a shot of a woman shivering in fear, then of complete chaos with the women running around and children crying. Then we see all the women looking up at the shower heads, awaiting their doom. The