This is yet another great movies that I have seen. It makes me think of how horrible war can be and how fortunate that we as Malaysian live in a rather peaceful country. For 6 years, 600million Jews has been killed in this mascara, only 4000 Jews are alive after the killing. This is what people called ethnic cleansing...I don't get this idea and I hope I will never do...how can n human being been so ruthless and cruel, how can this sort of things happened?
For my visit to Cambodia, we went to the killing field and the genocide museum in Pnome Penh on the 4th/last day of our trip there. Theirs is also a kind of ethnic cleansing by the Pol Pots, a native tribe there...and again for political reason. Many are killed throughout the 3 years + ruling there.
In Malaysia, many are kills during the Japanese occupancy, 3 years 8 months...it's a horrible horrible time...i remember doing a project for my Form 3 assignments and going around interviewing the older generation of people who went through this terrible ordeal. I was too young then to realize that this is such a terrible incident happening in the world...not until we saw the visual photos of the cruelty of the Japanese army then...
In this new world, 21st century, I really hope for world peace...If you can't really appreciate it now, please go and watch movies or documentaries or a visit to the museum to see this...I can guarantee you that, those visual impacts will really stay with you, in your heart and soul...
Movie sypnosis:
In 1940s Poland, the German conquerers have issued new anti-Jewish directives. All Jews must leave the countryside and concentrate in the major cities. They are crammed into the "Jewish Quarter" of town, in this case Krakow. They are relieved that the Nazis have not killed them, but life is very hard in the Ghetto.
Enter Oskar Schindler (Liam Neeson), a scam artist from the German part of Czechoslovakia. He arrives in Krakow, intent on making his fortune as part of the "new order." He spreads money freely among the SS and Nazi hierarchy, and eventually makes contact with Itzhak Stern (Ben Kingsley), a Jewish businessman. Stern agrees to raise money for Schindler to buy a cookware factory in exchange for product to trade on the black market. Schindler is "Director", but Stern actually runs the operation.
Things go well for Schindler until the Nazis decide to remove all Jews to concentration camps. A new one is built not far from Krakow, and the Jews are forcibly removed there. Schindler quickly realizes that his slave-labor force is at risk, and comes to an accommodation with the camp commander, the sociopathic SS officer Amon Goeth (Ralph Fiennes). Schindler is allowed to continue using people on a "list," and these will not be send off to the death camps. An equilibrium is again reached, though conditions in the camp are even worse than in the Krakow Ghetto.
As the war progresses, the SS becomes increasing frantic in its efforts to implement the "final solution." Goeth begins sending increasing numbers of people to Auschwitz, and Schindler's people are again at risk. Stern reminds his boss that the List is all that stands between them and extermination. Schindler even has to rescue Stern and a trainload of his workers from the gas chambers at one point.
Realizing that Poland is too dangerous, Schindler buys a munitions factory in his native Czechoslovakia and moves "his" people there. Several hundred Jews are saved by his actions, though the bribes and other expenses required to do this bankrupt Schindler, who was wealthy at the height of the war. In the end, Schindler is ruined, but the people on his List are saved.
