Schindler's List
...shows a close-up of a hand lighting two votive candles in a pre-war Polish Jewish family's home on a Friday night Sabbath. After the singing of a prayer, the family vanishes from view and the two Sabbath candles burn down. In a close-up shot, the candle's soft glowing flames burn out -- a symbol of the burning out of the Jewish people -- sending a wisp of smoke into the air. The smoke dissolves (and the film becomes black and white) into exhaust billowing from a trainload of Jews pulling into a station in Poland, beginning the Jewish persecution. On the train station platform is a single folding table with items for checking in the Jewish families - ink, stapler, stamp, and a list of names on a clipboard. At this point the first spoken word is said -- "Name." This scene becomes a visual motif which is repeated several times--each time with more tables and more lists.
Who is Oskar Schindler? Classical music on the radio is used as a transition from the train station to a room where a man is dressing in impeccable style and gathering money from various places. He places a Swastika button on his lapel. The camera follows this unknown man into a nightclub where Nazi officers are gathered. The gentleman buys drinks for the German's in order to become known to the them. At this point you find out that this gentleman is Oskar Schindler. Schindler is in Krakow to make money using cheap Jewish labor but he needs Jewish money to finance a company. He hires Itzhak Stern, a Jewish accountant, to recruit Jewish investors and laborers as well as manage the company. Stern arranges a deal with Jewish businessmen to purchase an enamel factory called Deutsche Emailwaren Fabrik (D.E.F.). Stern forges work certificates for people considered "non-essential" (people who aren't valuable to the war effort). Schindler bribes the German officers so they will buy his pots and pans....
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