Schindler's List Culminating Assignment

Schindler's List Culminating Assignment

In Stephen Spielberg's 1993 film Schindler's List the main character, Oskar Schindler goes through a major change in his views on humanity, and people's lives, in particular the Jews. This film covers the holocaust in detail, and one man's effort to save as many Jews as he could. Throughout the course of the movie, Oskar Schindler's whole perspective on Jewish life is changed.

The beginning of the movie basically spends the first ten minutes showing us how extravagantly Oskar Schindler lives, he has all kinds of extravagant things, wads of cash, the whole nine yards. Oskar is a man that has made his riches off of other people, barely doing any work himself; some would consider Oskar a business entrepreneur. Oskar had absolutely no care for the Jews, and their plight in the beginning, because they were just a cheap source of labor. This is best illustrated when Oskar is talking to Itzhak about his workers and Itzhak is suggesting Poles, Oskar replies "Although the Jews don't see their wages, and it goes straight to the SS they're still cheaper." This just goes to show exactly how much he cares to start with.

Schindler's first change of heart comes when the ghettos are liquidated, and all of his Jews are relocated to work camps, this causes a problem for Schindler, because how can they work for him if they can't leave the camp? Another point made during the liquidation scene that may not make sense right away, but helps explain his final epiphany is that Oskar and his wife are at the top of the hill watching the liquidation, and Oskar sees a little girl in a red coat calmly walking through the streets, unworried by the gunshots, and people dying around her, completely innocent.

Oskar's major change in heart towards the Jews plight is when Amon Goeth is ordered to incinerate the bodies of the many dead Jews from his camp, and others like it. As Oskar is walking around taking the whole scene in, he comes across the burnt corpse of the little girl in the red coat heaped in a pile with all the other Jews. This is Oskar's final turning point in his understanding of what is going on. He could understand the "criminals" being executed, but this was just an innocent little girl that was shot down for hiding from people who were after her. After this point, Oskar devotes his entire