Spielberg made a film glorifying a German Nazi as a hero!
Because he was.
Spielberg won best director, best picture.
So?
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MovieChat Forums > Schindler's List (1994) Discussion > Spielberg made a film glorifying a Germa...
Was Schindler supposed to be a hero? I mean, he was a member of the nazi party and a war profiteer. Sure, he saved the lives of many jews but he used them to make money at the same time. Of course, you could look at this in two ways. What he did might have been necessary to save a few of them but he also took advantage of the situation.
I think what he did deserves some recognition, he had some ethics and morals but he was still looking to make a dime off the backs of jewish slaves.
Isn't that one of the main points of the film; his 'arc'? How he recognized the evil that was being commited and the VALUE of a life. Yes he was a profiteer in the beginning but he went through a transformation throughout the film and gave it all up to save lives. That's one of the most beautiful aspects of the film. He wasn't perfect, as NONE of us are, but he recognized this and did something completely selfless for 1000s of people. It's a beautiful story and yes he is a hero, he risked his life and gave up all his wealth to save lives... not many people did this in Nazi Germany. Almost everyone either turned a blind eye or even contributed in some way.
shareYes there's a scene where he says he could retire with his money but demands to keep working, pivoting from making pots to artillery shells. He didn't want his workers killed.
shareThat's the way I always saw Schindler from everything I read. The final scene where he cries because he couldn't save any more lives never really happened.
In real life, his workers did smuggle him out to get him out of the hands of the advancing Russian army because they thought the Americans would be fairer to him. So they did recognize that he saved a lot of them.
I never saw him being portrayed as a hero at all, but rather a redemption story. He was portrayed as a man who initially was a slimy opportunist who would ally with anyone if it served his interests, but who could not stomach the horrors of what he had involved himself in and chose to do what he needed to to try to save as many as he could from a situation he had initially been complicit in.
shareStupid interpretation. In any case, Munich was a better and more complex film. In Schindler's List, everyone knew exactly who the bad guys were.
shareThat's not true.
Schindler had many troubles in life after the war and a wide variety of jews got together and helped him out with money, business, etc.
The best cover in Nazi Germany would have been to say you were a Nazi.
You would be killed if not and wouldn't be able to accomplish anything.