Today, there are many stories about the Second World War, and it is a well-known historical subject. A lot of writers have written about this topic, and Thomas Keneally, with his book originally named Schindler’s Ark, wrote from a different point of view and won the Booker Prize in historical fiction novel published in 1982 and later was made into a highly successful film by Steven Spielberg under the name Schindler’s list.
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Oskar Schindler – the saviour
This novel tells the story of Oskar Schindler, an Aryan who helped the Jews. Although his interests were selfish, he liked the life of plenty, and earning money was important, but either way, he became their saviour. He was a woman chaser and heavy drinker who enjoyed a good life.
First, I saw the film and then read the book. The movie was great, so I also expected the book to be great. The book did not disappoint me; it is a very good piece of work. The plot is somewhat different from the film. Some parts of the book are not shown in the movie, making it more challenging to understand the film than the book.
Read a book or watch a movie
The film has been made excellent. Steven Spielberg is a great director and producer, but for me, reading a book has more advantages; for example, no one disturbs you with his/her opinions, and those are primarily imposed in the film. The book is usually better than the movie, but I prefer the film in this case. Reading a book has its charms, and watching a movie on a big screen has its charms. It is not easy to compare these two things. Film is a better method of showing reality. The lists and how the film is titled are better seen in the film. In the book, they are only mentioned, but in the film, there is a man, Itzhak Stern, who types these lists on a typewriter, and every time, it takes him longer than the previous page he typed.
Black and white movie and the red toddler
There is a curiosity point in the film. The film was black and white, just a girl was in colour. She had a red dress, a red cap and red shoes. The book says that she had a passion for red colour, which was not mentioned in the film. She was a particular child. She did not talk to anyone and did not want to say who her parents were because they were hiding outside the ghetto. She was three years old but knew she should not believe everyone. I did not understand the meaning of the red toddler in the film, but now I think I know. She was an innocent witness of the war, and she had to see the massacre. The Aryans were killing Jewish children so that there would be no new generations, and she was one of the new generations. Later on in the film, she is shown dead, thrown in the snow. A woman from a cattle waggon saw her. She was still in her red dress, and I think that the red colour is the symbol of victory.
Oskars good deeds and bad ones
Oskar was the kind of man that could spend his time with the Nazis and sympathise with the Jews. He had to have good diplomatic relationships with the Nazis because of his factory. He was twice in prison, and every time, his powerful Nazi friends helped him to get out. He managed to stop the train and bring out workers sent to labour camp. If he had not had that kind of power, he could never have done what he had done. Despite the bad sides of his life, he had done lots of good. He promised his workers that their lives would be safe if they worked, and he kept his promise. Although he said that, the Germans undertook their “Aktions”. The “Aktion” was the massacre; they would come to the ghetto, and whomever they found was killed or taken to a “Konzentrationslager”. There was no help for them. Sometimes, they were left out of the “Aktion” if they were at the factory. They were trying to hide and avoid the massacre. The workers had a slogan – “An hour of life is still life.” They never lost their hopes in deliverance. This made them strong, and they lived and worked under pressure, but they survived. Both the book and the film realistically showed how hard they worked, and the fact is that Oskar would not have been so rich if they had not worked.
Astonishing scenes in movie and book
In the book, the massacre, torturing, and other means of violence appalled me, but seeing all these things in the film in a way that is impossible to forget shocked me even more.
Oskar’s women workers had almost been taken to Auschwitz. They were on the train with cattle waggons. He did not know where they had been driven. When it was nearly too late, he found out that they had been taken to Auschwitz. The train entered Auschwitz because the track led right into the concentration camp. The train was stopped there for several hours, and the women and children were in it. It was freezing. It was winter, and a lot of snow. In the end, the train started to move towards the exit. That was the most gripping point of the film and the book. In the book, it was not so realistically described as it was performed in the movie. I get nervous even now when I am only writing about it. Seeing all those people waiting and not knowing where they were and what happened to them was horrible. They were in the middle of the concentration camp, and maybe a minute divided them from a gas chamber. They were taken to Brinnlitz, called “Schindler’s camp in Brinnlitz”. That was the only camp where a Jew was never killed and was always treated as a human being.
Dramatic end of Oskars life
The end of the film was dramatic. The scene is on Oskar Schindler’s grave in Jerusalem, and a lot of people are coming to it. Those people were Schindler Jews. All those still alive approached his grave to honour him, and each one brought a stone and put it on it I think it is the symbol of eternity and the unbreakable spirit.
The book ends somewhat differently. The epilogue reveals Oskar’s life after the war. In America, he was not liked. People spit on him, and he was called a Jew-kisser because he once kissed a Jewish girl for her birthday. After the war, Oskar testified against the Nazis. The Jews testified in favour of him, and they had done a lot of good for him. They helped him in misery like he helped them to survive. Towards the end of his life, he used to spend six months in America and six months in Jerusalem each year. His existence in America was miserable, but he was honoured and lived well in Jerusalem. The rich man became a poor man in the materialistic sense, while Oskar’s soul found fulfilment. The book ends with his death in 1974.
Oskar was an extraordinary man who accomplished a great deal in his lifetime. Any flaws he may have had should not overshadow his contributions, and he should not be forgotten.
“Schindler’s List” resonates with equal power through Thomas Keneally’s ink-stained pages and Steven Spielberg’s cinematic canvas.
Keneally’s book is a literary masterpiece. It meticulously portrays Oskar Schindler’s heroic acts against the horrifying backdrop of the Holocaust, capturing the raw emotions and moral complexities.
With his movie camera, Spielberg transforms Keneally’s words into a visual symphony that echoes through time. He breathes life into the characters, infusing each frame with palpable tension and poignant humanity. Keneally’s prose invites readers to delve into the labyrinthine depths of Schindler’s conscience.
The movie and the book are an ode to the triumph of the human spirit amidst the darkest times. In the story of Schindler’s List, the ink and the celluloid merge, transcending boundaries to etch their permanent mark upon the collective soul of humanity.
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