Post by klep on Oct 7, 2019 6:54:15 GMT -6
MOVIE OF THE WEEK for 10/7: Schindler's List
JUST ONE PERSON WEEK!
Note: Today's essay is graciously provided by a guest contributor
Toward the end of Steven Spielberg’s 1993 Holocaust epic Schindler’s List, Jewish accountant Itzhak Stern (Ben Kingsley) presents his now former employer, Nazi businessman Oskar Schindler (Liam Neeson), with a ring. Engraved inside the ring is a Talmudic passage in Hebrew that loosely translates in English as “Whoever saves one life saves the world entire.” The message behind the gift is clear: because of his decision to divert hundreds of Jews from relocation to Auschwitz, thereby saving their lives, Schindler has ensured that countless future generations of Jewish people will someday exist.
I’m quite certain that, when most people think of “Schindler’s List,” they think of that scene. They remember the moment when Schindler is unambiguously labeled a hero, even when he protests that there’s more that he could have done. Because of the list of names he created, Schindler is remembered as the only man protecting hundreds of Jews from certain death. Because of the generations he saved, Schindler is the Just One Person of the Shoah.
It’s a convenient and comforting narrative. Yet the movie that precedes that (admittedly moving) scene tells a different story.
Schindler is an unlikable protagonist for the vast majority of the film. We are introduced to him as a shameless womanizer and a businessman willing to suck up to any powerful Nazi officials in his orbit. When Schindler opens his enamel factory, he realizes that gentile Polish employees would be far more expensive to hire than Jews — why, then, should he hire the gentiles at all? Though he positions his commitment to Jewish workers as philanthropic, it is clear from the start that his only motivations are capitalist.
Enter Itzhak Stern, Schindler’s “clever accountant.” Stern is the one who manages the actual hiring of Schindler’s employees, and he uses his power to hire the Jews most in need of safety and security. Certainly, he brings on enough people able to fulfill the duties of “essential workers,” but when he is aware of someone in need, he makes sure that there is an opportunity for them. Stern’s thoughtful and careful work in managing Schindler’s workforce is what allows there to be a list at all. Rather than the result of “just one person,” the list was always a collaborative effort.
Still, Schindler’s role in the creation of the list cannot be ignored, and the moral journey he takes in order to reach the place where such an idea would appeal to him is the primary arc of Schindler’s List. The catalyst for his transformation is fellow Nazi, Amon Goeth (Ralph Fiennes).
Goeth is introduced about a third of the way into Schindler’s List and it quickly becomes clear that he and Schindler represent a particular duality. Both men are Nazis, and both care exclusively about their own needs and desires. But while Schindler is largely apathetic about the fate of Polish Jewry, Goeth is active and enthusiastic about his participation in the Nazi party. Minutes after he first appears on-screen, he instigates the liquidation of the Krakow ghetto, an unspeakably violent attack. Schindler watches the massacre from a distance, while riding horses with one of his mistresses. If it is not the first time he has witnessed such violence, then it is the first time he understands the true horror of it.
The switch is not immediate for Schindler — when Goeth moves the survivors of the massacre to a concentration camp, Schindler only expresses concern for the loss of his workforce, for which he expects compensation. But as Goeth continues to perpetuate atrocities, Schindler’s moral center begins to shift. He might not know how, but he knows he wants to help.
Through Schindler’s narrative development, the film depicts the reality of being a privileged bystander who witnesses and benefits from oppression, taking action against injustice when it's convenient for him to do so. When Schindler confesses that he could have done more, the viewer is implicated in all of the times when we allow our comfort and privilege dictate our actions (or lack of action, as is usually the case). Schindler’s ultimate choices may be heroic, but he, as a person, is as much of a hero as any of us who frequently choose apathy over action — which is to say, not much of a hero at all. In this way, Schindler’s List is a transgressive twist on the trope of the heroic “one person,” and it is incredibly valuable in its deconstruction of that concept.
I appreciate Schindler’s List a great deal. It is a beautiful film with a surprising amount to say. But each time I watch it, I can’t help but feel alienated as a Jewish viewer.
Schindler’s List benefits from having a Jewish director. I wonder if Stern would be as central a character as he is were it not for Spielberg’s perspective on the material. And there are subtle nods to Jewish ritual and observance scattered throughout the film that speak to a lived understanding of the culture depicted.
But the most developed characters in Schindler’s List are the gentiles. Spielberg wanted to share a Holocaust story with as wide an audience as possible, to educate and inform as many people as possible. In order to succeed at that, he needed to tell the story from the perspective of the privileged and the oppressors. The end result is an excellent film that does very little to develop and comprehend the experience of Jews in the Shoah.
The Jewish characters in Schindler’s List are largely anonymous and difficult to follow as individuals. Aside from Stern, the only other central Jewish character is Helen Hirsch (Embeth Davidtz), Goeth’s maid who he severely abuses in his deranged attempt to rationalize his attraction to her. There are others who we see throughout the film, but they exist more to establish the environment than to move the narrative forward. And they certainly do not exist to help gentile audiences better understand the Jewish culture of Eastern Europe. Admittedly, that was not the story Spielberg set out to tell, but the shallowness of the Jewish world in Schindler’s List makes it clear that it is not a film for Jewish audiences.
This Wednesday, Jewish people around the world will attend services for Yom Kippur, the holiest date on the Hebrew calendar, and recite prayers to honor Jewish martyrs throughout history, including the six million lost in the Shoah. This is a natural season for us to remember the legacy of the Jews who died, as well as the legacy of those who survived. And, yes, it is an appropriate moment for us to reflect on the good work of people like Oskar Schindler, whose actions should be an example to us all as we strive to become more active and responsible people. But to focus on the heroic acts of one individual is to miss the full story. The world is never saved by just one person.
OUR NEXT MOVIE OF THE WEEK for 10/14: Once Upon a Time in the West
WESTERN WEEK!
For Western Week we're watching a classic tale of revenge from a master of the genre in Sergio Leone's Once Upon a Time in the West. Join us next week for our discussion. Once Upon a Time in the West is available for rent in the usual place.
Toward the end of Steven Spielberg’s 1993 Holocaust epic Schindler’s List, Jewish accountant Itzhak Stern (Ben Kingsley) presents his now former employer, Nazi businessman Oskar Schindler (Liam Neeson), with a ring. Engraved inside the ring is a Talmudic passage in Hebrew that loosely translates in English as “Whoever saves one life saves the world entire.” The message behind the gift is clear: because of his decision to divert hundreds of Jews from relocation to Auschwitz, thereby saving their lives, Schindler has ensured that countless future generations of Jewish people will someday exist.
I’m quite certain that, when most people think of “Schindler’s List,” they think of that scene. They remember the moment when Schindler is unambiguously labeled a hero, even when he protests that there’s more that he could have done. Because of the list of names he created, Schindler is remembered as the only man protecting hundreds of Jews from certain death. Because of the generations he saved, Schindler is the Just One Person of the Shoah.
It’s a convenient and comforting narrative. Yet the movie that precedes that (admittedly moving) scene tells a different story.
Schindler is an unlikable protagonist for the vast majority of the film. We are introduced to him as a shameless womanizer and a businessman willing to suck up to any powerful Nazi officials in his orbit. When Schindler opens his enamel factory, he realizes that gentile Polish employees would be far more expensive to hire than Jews — why, then, should he hire the gentiles at all? Though he positions his commitment to Jewish workers as philanthropic, it is clear from the start that his only motivations are capitalist.
Enter Itzhak Stern, Schindler’s “clever accountant.” Stern is the one who manages the actual hiring of Schindler’s employees, and he uses his power to hire the Jews most in need of safety and security. Certainly, he brings on enough people able to fulfill the duties of “essential workers,” but when he is aware of someone in need, he makes sure that there is an opportunity for them. Stern’s thoughtful and careful work in managing Schindler’s workforce is what allows there to be a list at all. Rather than the result of “just one person,” the list was always a collaborative effort.
Still, Schindler’s role in the creation of the list cannot be ignored, and the moral journey he takes in order to reach the place where such an idea would appeal to him is the primary arc of Schindler’s List. The catalyst for his transformation is fellow Nazi, Amon Goeth (Ralph Fiennes).
Goeth is introduced about a third of the way into Schindler’s List and it quickly becomes clear that he and Schindler represent a particular duality. Both men are Nazis, and both care exclusively about their own needs and desires. But while Schindler is largely apathetic about the fate of Polish Jewry, Goeth is active and enthusiastic about his participation in the Nazi party. Minutes after he first appears on-screen, he instigates the liquidation of the Krakow ghetto, an unspeakably violent attack. Schindler watches the massacre from a distance, while riding horses with one of his mistresses. If it is not the first time he has witnessed such violence, then it is the first time he understands the true horror of it.
The switch is not immediate for Schindler — when Goeth moves the survivors of the massacre to a concentration camp, Schindler only expresses concern for the loss of his workforce, for which he expects compensation. But as Goeth continues to perpetuate atrocities, Schindler’s moral center begins to shift. He might not know how, but he knows he wants to help.
Through Schindler’s narrative development, the film depicts the reality of being a privileged bystander who witnesses and benefits from oppression, taking action against injustice when it's convenient for him to do so. When Schindler confesses that he could have done more, the viewer is implicated in all of the times when we allow our comfort and privilege dictate our actions (or lack of action, as is usually the case). Schindler’s ultimate choices may be heroic, but he, as a person, is as much of a hero as any of us who frequently choose apathy over action — which is to say, not much of a hero at all. In this way, Schindler’s List is a transgressive twist on the trope of the heroic “one person,” and it is incredibly valuable in its deconstruction of that concept.
I appreciate Schindler’s List a great deal. It is a beautiful film with a surprising amount to say. But each time I watch it, I can’t help but feel alienated as a Jewish viewer.
Schindler’s List benefits from having a Jewish director. I wonder if Stern would be as central a character as he is were it not for Spielberg’s perspective on the material. And there are subtle nods to Jewish ritual and observance scattered throughout the film that speak to a lived understanding of the culture depicted.
But the most developed characters in Schindler’s List are the gentiles. Spielberg wanted to share a Holocaust story with as wide an audience as possible, to educate and inform as many people as possible. In order to succeed at that, he needed to tell the story from the perspective of the privileged and the oppressors. The end result is an excellent film that does very little to develop and comprehend the experience of Jews in the Shoah.
The Jewish characters in Schindler’s List are largely anonymous and difficult to follow as individuals. Aside from Stern, the only other central Jewish character is Helen Hirsch (Embeth Davidtz), Goeth’s maid who he severely abuses in his deranged attempt to rationalize his attraction to her. There are others who we see throughout the film, but they exist more to establish the environment than to move the narrative forward. And they certainly do not exist to help gentile audiences better understand the Jewish culture of Eastern Europe. Admittedly, that was not the story Spielberg set out to tell, but the shallowness of the Jewish world in Schindler’s List makes it clear that it is not a film for Jewish audiences.
This Wednesday, Jewish people around the world will attend services for Yom Kippur, the holiest date on the Hebrew calendar, and recite prayers to honor Jewish martyrs throughout history, including the six million lost in the Shoah. This is a natural season for us to remember the legacy of the Jews who died, as well as the legacy of those who survived. And, yes, it is an appropriate moment for us to reflect on the good work of people like Oskar Schindler, whose actions should be an example to us all as we strive to become more active and responsible people. But to focus on the heroic acts of one individual is to miss the full story. The world is never saved by just one person.
OUR NEXT MOVIE OF THE WEEK for 10/14: Once Upon a Time in the West
WESTERN WEEK!
For Western Week we're watching a classic tale of revenge from a master of the genre in Sergio Leone's Once Upon a Time in the West. Join us next week for our discussion. Once Upon a Time in the West is available for rent in the usual place.
NEXT PICTURE SHOW PODCAST for 10/8: The Dark Knight
The podcast crew tackles this century's two primary portrayals of The Joker in its next pairing, starting with Heath Ledger's Oscar-winning performance in The Dark Knight. Come join us for our discussion on Wednesday! The Dark Knight is available for rent in the usual places.
The podcast crew tackles this century's two primary portrayals of The Joker in its next pairing, starting with Heath Ledger's Oscar-winning performance in The Dark Knight. Come join us for our discussion on Wednesday! The Dark Knight is available for rent in the usual places.