"Schindler's List"

Paper Summary:

This paper explains why the movie and the book, "Schindler's List," while not conforming to typical Hollywood formula films, is nonetheless a great work of art and why it so successfully delivers its intended message. The paper analyzes the main character, Oskar Schindler, and Liam Neeson's portrayal of that character and examines how they so effectively make viewers and readers question, not so much why Schindler acted in the moral and ethical manner that he did, but why the rest of the German citizens didn't.

From the Paper:

"In the novel Schindler's List by Thomas Kenneally, the story of the Holocaust is told from a dual point of view--that of the Jewish people who are downtrodden, rounded up and taken to camps, murdered and degraded by the Nazis, and that of the German industrialist who takes it upon himself to save a large number of Jewish people from their fate. The question raised by the book is not as much why does he do this as why does everyone else not. Some of the reasons have been given before--many of the most culpable, the Nazi bureaucrats who assisted directly in the deportation and murder of millions of people, argued that they were under orders and had no choice, and they pleaded during their trials that they had all acted under orders. The novel and the film both tell the story of a man who did not leave it to others and who saw it as a personal need to do what he could to alleviate if not change the situation. Much of the critical response to the film has centered on issues related to this central character and to why he acted as he did."

More papers on "Schindler's List":

• Essay # 70894 : "Schindler's List"
• Research Paper # 119292 : "Oskar Schindler, Choice and the Holocaust"
• Term Paper # 94439 : "'Schindler's List'"

APA Citation:

MLA Citation: