Spielberg's vision makes "List"

To be on the list for work at German industrialist Oskar Schindler's enamelware factory meant more than extra pieces of bread and hot rather than cold soup; it meant life. The chance for survival is what this German industrialist gave to thousands of Jews during Nazi occupation in Poland. "Schindler's List," an epic piece of work unlike any of director Steven Spielberg's former endeavors, painstakingly and ingeniously tells the story of the Holocaust through the story of one man who happened to have a good heart.

Schindler wasn't a simple man, though. He obviously has his weaknesses for succumbing to temptations - drinking, carousing, women, etc. But he undergoes a transformation as the horrors of the Holocaust slowly unfold in front of his eyes. Initially he picks up Itzhak Stern, a smart and diligent former businessman who, to the advantage of being a Jew, is able to help Schindler find capable workers from the Plaszow forced labor camp in Poland, but more importantly, to help him run the business.

Courtesy of Universal Pictures Liam Neeson somehow looks cool at the end of an all-nighter in "Schindler's List."

Schindler's sole purpose at first is the success of his business. Yet as conditions worsen in Krakow and forced labor camps are turned into death camps, Schindler can't ignore the slow progress of dehumanization and loss of all morality practiced by the Nazi officers involved. He even questions his own morality when he discovers how many Germans are involved in such inhumane practices. Over a couple of drinks Schindler impressively conveys to Amon Goeth (Ralph Fiennes), the commandant of the Plaszow camp, the meaning of power. Power, he says, doesn't equal unjustified, cold-blooded killings, it equals saving one person's life, sparing him from what's unjust. For a little while it seems Amon may be able to turn around and become a changed man. He makes several attempts, but in the end he fails - he is a Nazi fanatic, and is no Oskar Schindler.

Then, when Schindler is forced to move his factory to Brinnlitz, his focus changes - no longer is he fighting for his business, he is now fighting to save as many Jews as he can, hiring 1,100 more to his factory. He is able to bargain with German officers and convince them that it is necessary he get as many workers as possible for his factory. In reality he saves lives.

Spielberg shoots the film in black and white, creating the necessary dramatic effect not only by giving a dark and intense feel, but also heightening the stark emotional extremes of joy, pain, sorrow and hope through careful attention to the degree of light and dark shadows in the scenes. Spielberg's scenes are powerful, real and intense. When one man is dragged outside and onto his knees to be killed because he isn't making hinges fast enough, horror is realized when the SS officers can't seem to get any of their guns to shoot. We see the officers baffled by the malfunction, and we also see the excruciating pain of waiting for death by the old man.

"Schindler's List" moves the audience as it recounts; it does not merely document a historical atrocity, but it adds perspective through the moral character of one person, and the lives he affected.

11-18-99