Schindler's List

We watched both of these movies in the same day, so I figured that I would save all my rambling about the holocaust for my post on this movie, but my observations apply to both. There is a certain ammount of evil within every man, woman, and child that will grow and fester and destroy if given the right conditions and spurred by the right cause. In the same stroke, there is a certain ammount of good within each of us that will do the same under comprable circumstances. Nowhere do we see this more beautifully and barbarously depicted than in those mediums attempting to grasp the quantity and quality of suffering we are able and disposed to inflict on one another during times of war. From the general's comment "They have no future. This is not just the old Jew hating talk. Now it's policy." to Schindler's "I could have saved one more, and I didn't." we attempt to comprehend the scale of life, how the choices of individuals affect nations, and how the paths of nations sculpt the choices of individuals. How do these people become who they are? Schindler observes of Amon Goeth that he would otherwise be quite an enjoyable fellow, but here in this time of war we get a man who drifts to an almost sub-human level, his life ending at the end of a rope for crimes against humanity.

Total: 72