My Inspirations: #9 Schindler's List

 

I love it that Spielberg took a risk in making this movie. No one was thrilled about the idea of him making a movie that concerned the holocaust; Spielberg himself was hardly bubbly about the idea of it, but it was self-described as something he needed to make, and Schindler's List, a horrifyingly beautiful film was the result.

The tagline for the film, as quoted from the Talmud, states, “Whoever saves one life, saves the world entire.” It should be indisputable that the Holocaust is one of the worst abominations that humans have ever engineered. This film does it's best to show this horror so that the world will never forget the capacity for evil in every human being; but people can recognize that and work against it. This is what Oskar Schindler did. There are few instances in film where the protagonist is almost as despicable as the antagonist, but that's what we're presented with in Schindler. There isn't much that initially separates him from other Nazis who go about abusing the Jews. However, as the film progresses, he sees their plight and starts to care more about them than he does about making money. At the end, despite all he had done to eventually save over a thousand people from death, he is still deeply ashamed knowing that he could have done more.

Brilliantly acted and beautifully scored, this film reminds me that redemption comes with a price sometimes one person can make all the difference.