How to Tell the Story

People fear that Schindler’s List was more of a movie than a narrative of real events. For example, a critic named Jacobs said “I don’t think there is any point during this movie when you are not aware of watching a movie. It is all done in movie terms and clichés, music… it’s saturated with movieness,” shows how some people view Schindler’s List. What could the directors have done to make the movie more real? Was it the lack of fact or was it the “moviness” that took away from the authenticity of it? The people who survived the holocaust might see the character Schindler as a fake hope to the people because in a terrible time in history there is one guy who tries to save the Jews from being killed but at that time period, the Jews felt like no one was there who wanted to save them. Schindler is like a stereotypical character in the movie that plays the hero. Survivors want to share the truth and the grizzly horror to express their lack of hope sharing with the world what they have been through.  I feel like Schindler’s List was a movie more for entertainment rather than to be an actual testimony because if I had been a survivor, I would be upset that the directors were giving the public a false sense of hope and goodness to a terrible event. But, I feel like the only way people would watch a movie is if there are heroes. Without a hero, a move almost seems pointless to the public. People want to believe that no matter what, here is good in everything and that here is also hope in the world’s darkest places. People love movies where there is a hero who overcomes all of the evil obstacles for the good of the people because of the good things and the hope; it makes the movie easier to watch rather than watching movie where there is no good. Had Schindler not been in the movie, I think that people would not have watched it even though Goeth is more accurate to history. Is it right to fanaticize what happened when retelling a story from history even though it goes against what the survivors felt? When people make movies such as Schindler’s List should it target survivors who want to share the ugly truth, or should it target the mass media who want a stereotypical hero/bad guy movie? The holocaust was so much more than a struggle for good over evil. People criticized the over dramatic parts of the movie and the use of music to add tone. But they had to over dramatize parts of the movie so that it would appeal to audiences because certain parts of the movie people would have seen as boring to watch. Sometimes dramatizations will help win over the public. There is a struggle to find a balanced movie in which both victims and the public can enjoy.

Kayla Reid