Schindler’s List, directed by Steven Spielberg and The Pianist, Directed by Roman Polanski

When one loses someone or something valuable to them, the grief can be intense. But what happens when what they lose is actually a piece of them? Novels depicting a witness account of The Holocaust (1941 - 1945) paint a picture of the violence and moral anguish, which is accompanied by a loss to the protagonist. The plot shows a process of events that ultimately leads to death and devastation. Both protagonists in Elie Wiesel’s Night and Wladyslaw Szpilman’s The Pianist gradually fall into the abyss of inhumane behaviour. Post Holocaust, they embark on a new life free from social restraints and become either unmindful or compliant to the losses they faced on their journey. Elie and Wladyslaw

Schindler’s List was a movie based on the novel “Schindler’s Ark”. This movie showed a heroic man who saved over 1000 jews. His name was Oskar Schindler. At first, he was wasn’t affected that much by the Holocaust, but over time he grew sympathy and felt bad for Jews. He began to bring in Jews into his factory even if they weren’t up to work. He tried getting everyone that was available to “work” in his factory. He knew how to get his way, so he wanted a new factory built and he got it. He has a list typed out listing each Jew we wanted to work for him. This is exactly where the movie title came from if you couldn’t tell. Though he did save over 1000 Jews, he lost everything at the end. But it all seemed worth it to him. All he wanted to do is save everyone from this terrible war. My opinion on this movie is that it seemed to demonstrate things way better than a documentary would. It showed at least one good man that felt bad and it showed his side of the story. How hard he tried to save everyone with trying to be very secretive about it.

In the movie Schindler's List, the story of the Holocaust is told from a dual point of view; that of the Jewish people who are downtrodden,

Jews suffered countless amounts of atrocities throughout the history of time. Both stories have themes in which man is evil to man, the will of the main character to survive and overcome evil is present, and the ability of some people to still be compassionate to each other during these times of evil. The book Maus, and the movie “The Pianist,” share many thematic similarities.

Holocaust film has emerged as its own genre throughout time. Originally, directors ignored the possibility of Holocaust films, then the content started to take form in non-fiction recordings. Eventually, the genre of Holocaust film took off and today there is an abundance of Holocaust related films that appear when one scrolls through movie streaming sites. The Pawnbroker (1964), directed by Sidney Lumet, is a perfect example of a film that deals with both the lasting effect of the Holocaust and the stereotyping of a multitude of characters. Exploring the Holocaust in media through The Pawnbroker and The Pawnbroker’s film techniques, serve as a prime example for not only how Holocaust survivors felt emotionally imprisoned, but stereotypes different groups as well. Critics responded harshly to this stereotypical labeling and this shows how the meaning of the film has been interpreted by society differently over time.

The Holocaust was a very important tragic event that occurred in history. Many of the stories belonging to the jews were lost and never told, many of the innocent souls were unknown, but never forgotten. For years, people have tried to dig up these stories and explain it to many generations, because the Holocaust wasn't something to be forgotten about or left unknown. Sometimes it is hard to understand the truth without a visual. Movies such as Schindler’s list or books such as Maus try to give a message as well as a visual to better understand the content.

The statement that, “ The most widely seen films about the holocaust tend to focus on the mystery of goodness rather than the horror of mass murder,” can be seen as a true statement, but a very skewed one. The reason that we see this patterning is the fact that many of the personal stories (by survivors) come from two split paths, those who survived through an extermination camp and those who survived outside of one. These extermination camps led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands and those people's lives were lost along with their stories. Many documentaries tend to focus on the people that were detained in an extermination camp during the Second World War. Documentaries tend to focus on the horror of the mass murder in the extermination

However, emotion is not only conveyed through the actions of the main characters. Colour also has a significant impact on how good and evil is portrayed within the film. Perhaps the most moving image in Steven Spielberg?s epic, Schindler?s List, condenses all of the sadism of the Nazi regime into one small pictorial area. One of only four colour images in a black and white film spanning over three hours, the little girl in a red coat, making her way, aimless and alone through the madness and chaos, compels Schindler?s attention during the liquidation of the Jewish ghetto. Schindler identifies with the child, the plight of the little girl touches him in a way the sheer numbers make unreal ? this image transforms the faceless mass around him into one palpable human being. This figure serves as a moral reawakening for Schindler, his conscience consequently kicks into gear. The poignant yet subtle musical score also adds to the haunting atmosphere created by the

The Holocaust is the world’s most dehumanizing incident that occurred from the years 1933 to 1945. It was a racial injustice in which Jews, along with people seen as inferior, were persecuted by the German Nazi’s. Author Elie Wiesel and director Steven Spielberg both do excellent jobs at educating an audience of the horrors people experienced during this time. In Wiesel’s novel Night, the Holocaust is shown from a Jewish boy’s perspective as Elie struggles to survive the torment of several concentration camps. Steven Spielberg’s film Schindler’s List shows the Holocaust from a German Nazi’s perspective, as Oscar Schindler faces an internal struggle while attempting to protect several Jews. The stories share numerous similarities along with differences, however, when it comes down to which is a better representation of the Holocaust, Night will come out on top due to Wiesel’s first hand experiences inside the camps.

“The Pianist” by Wladyslaw Spilman is a extraordianry story about a man’s survival in the holocaust in Warsaw, Poland. The book explains how Szpilman survives the holocaust in Poland by hiding, escaping, and with luck. Szpilman is important to society because he explains the following topics in his perspective for them not to happen again, religious discrimination, human rights, and punishment in crimes involving genocide. Many of the issues raised by the holocaust continue to have an impact on the world today.

There are many tragic events that have happened in history and one of them is The Holocaust. The book Night written by Elie Wiesel is based on him, a Holocaust survivor, and his experience in the concentration camps. There is also an article titled “Wiesel Offers Students First-Hand Account of Holocaust” by Louis Sahagun that is about Elie Wiesel speaking to students on his involvement with The Holocaust. The film Life is Beautiful is based on The Holocaust as well. It tells the story of a family in the concentration camps. The book Night, the article “Wiesel Offers Students First-Hand Account of Holocaust”, and the film Life is Beautiful share a common message of how families were affected during The Holocaust.

The Pianist is a movie that shows the life of one man, Wladyslaw Szpilman who was a popular Jewish Pole radio station pianist. In the World War II which is a background of the movie, How Szpilman suffered and how he survived are presented in the movie. While the movie portrays Szpilman’s life, it also shows how the Jewish people are dehumanized by Nazi during the war. The director, Roman Polanski, successfully uses camera angle, lighting and plot structure, and characterization to present the theme of dehumanization.

‘The Pianist’ is a cinematic masterpiece by the Polish director Roman Polanski. One of the key ideas that appear throughout much of the film is that of ‘hope being instrumental in our survival’. This idea is portrayed through Wladyslaw Szpilman, a Polish pianist, as he struggles for survival in Warsaw as everybody that he once knew and everything that he once had is lost. The idea of ‘hope being instrumental in our survival’ is worth learning about as it allows the audience to realise the importance of hope in todays society – and to understand how Polanski uses music to symbolise ‘hope’ for Szpilman in the film. Polanski effectively utilises an array of visual and oral text features such as music, dialogue, and lighting to build further

A powerful and provocative graphic novel, Maus, generates a Jewish individual’s life of grotesque and horror. With its ability of perception and interpretation, it tackles the main points of the ominous Holocaust and delivers a spooky aura to the absorbed audience. In comparison to Schindler’s List, the graphic novel shines brightly than the pale movie due to its realism and humor that is constantly present throughout the storyline. The novel has the ability to connect to the audience; thus, it gives an in-depth look and overall comprehension of the massacre that Spiegelman is trying to communicate. The graphic novel, Maus by Art Spiegelman, brings an honest account of the Holocaust to a wide audience because of its historical truth and intriguing viewpoints and characters that shows the effect and process of the genocide.

‘Schindler’s List’ is no less a “Jewish story” or a “German story” than it is a human story. And its subject matter applies to every generation.’ [Stephen Spielberg] Discuss.