World War II: As Portrayed Through the Story of Oskar Schindler

World War II as Portrayed through the story of Oskar Schindler

Schindler's List begins when Oskar Schindler comes to Krakow just after Germany's invasion of Poland. Determined to become a war profiteer using his late father's bankrupt manufacturing company, Schindler soon finds himself living the high life on the Nazi Reichmark. But Schindler does not enter and exit the war the same man. Through Stephen Spielberg's rendition of Schindler's List we see a blunt view of what things were like for the "Schindler Jews" and for Oskar Schindler himself during WWII without excessive special effects, unnecessary plot twists, and over-dramatizations of character.

The first thing that one notices when watching this movie is that it was filmed in black and white, even though it was produced in 1993 (Schindler's List). At first one may see this as a weakness, but in fact it is nothing of the sort.

English: Close-up of grave of Oskar Schindler in t...

English: Side view of grave of Oskar Schindler in ...

Schindler's grave

By producing this film in black and white instead of color the director, Stephen Spielberg, does not allow the film's audience to stray far from the storyline or get distracted by the vivid colors in the background. This also sets the mood for the film's 1940's era setting and allows for the emphasis of certain parts of the film more than others. The best example of this is the girl with the red coat.

The girl with the red coat is the only speck of color in the body of the movie and was what completed Oskar Schindler's change of heart from a cold war profiteer to a harbor of "un-essential" Jewish workers during the Holocaust, and henceforth, a man who saved over 1,100 lives (Schindler's List). Although the girl with the red coat had only two walk on appearances in the movie, her role far outweighed the...