Schindler's List

This film is so powerful and emotionally heavy. And because it was so long, I would go through different reactions about it. When the violent scenes began, such as the evacuation of the Jewish ghetto, I had a hard time getting my mind to accept this as a reenactment. For a little while I couldn't forget that these are all actors, because the holocaust is such an unimaginable thing, I almost did not think it could be possible to successfully recreate the horrific occurrences. It might have also had to do with the actors speaking in English that unconvinced me. But after relaxing my mind, and opening it up, I was able to appreciate it. Spielberg did an amazing job at portraying Schindler's story, through the editing and cinematography, the music score and the acting. One of the scenes I found particularly moving and incorporated historical events was Goeth's speech about the Jews flourishing in Krakow 600 years ago. This scene is discussed Hansen's "Schindler's List is Not Shoah".

Another thing I found to be poignant was the use of black and white for almost the entirety of he film, with the exception of the two scenes when Schindler sees a little Jewish girl wearing a red coat. The coat is in ephemeral color. He watches the girl wander around the chaotic streets of the ghetto, finding a place to hide alone. Then later in the film, he sees the red coat again, on her dead body being moved to a mass grave. The red coat marks a unique person, one little girl in millions that were killed. Each person mattered and through this effect Spielberg showed this.