Schindler's List

Schindler's List was a 1993 movie, based on the book Schindler's Ark[?] by Thomas Keneally (later renamed to Schindler's List itself). The movie, directed by Steven Spielberg, related the tale of Oskar Schindler, a German entrepreneur who was instrumental in saving the lives of over one thousand Polish Jews during the holocaust.

The List

Towards the end of the book, the order is given to shut down the concentration camp at Plaszow, where the workers in Schindler's factory stay. The inmates are to be transferred to various other concentration camps, to face almost certain death. Schindler moves his factory further away from the Eastern Front, and - pleading that his factory needs skilled inmates to function - manages to convince Amon Goethe, who is in charge of the camp, to let him move some of the jews to his new factory site.

This list of "skilled" inmates was Schindler's List, and for many of the inmates of Plaszow camp, being on the list meant the difference between life and death. Except for a railway mishap, in which one of the trains carrying women was accidently redirected to Auschwitz, all the people on Schindler's list arrived safely at the new site, and were to survive until the end of the war.

The Movie

The movie was directed by famed director Steven Spielberg, who later spoke of the making of the movie as affecting him deeply. It was produced as an almost-black-and-white movie. It starred Liam Neeson as Oskar Schindler, Ben Kingsley as Itzhak Stern, and Ralph Fiennes as Amon Goethe. Its tagline was simply, "Whoever saves one life saves the world entire", a quote from the Thomas Keneally book. Critically acclaimed, the film won praise for depicting - often in exceptional, graphic detail - the horrible brutality of the holocaust.

Nominated for twelve Academy Awards, this movie finally won seven, including the coveted Best Picture and Best Director awards.

External Links

• The Filmsite review of the movie (http://www.filmsite.org/schi.html)