Disturbing Historical Incidents In A Subtle Form example essay topic

Steven Spielbergs masterpiece Schindlers List portrays the indifference and injustice associated with the Holocaust. Those events of guilt and suffering were so terrible in their scale and intensity that it was only suitable for a documentary style of interpretation. Spielbergs strength to present a historically based event derived from the subtle way he approached to interpret it. It seems only natural that a film as powerful and disturbing as Schindlers List emerged from Spielbergs creative abilities.

His strength to use film technique and creative ability managed to interpret the Holocaust in a subtle form. The opening scene is highly significant. It displays a powerful assortment of shots of Jewish life before the Holocaust. The golden light, the atmosphere and the sounds of prayer all convey a sense of warmth and intimacy. Moments later the people are abruptly taken away leaving a candle burning and replacing the shots with a black and white look.

The death of the Jews in history's greatest crime is being evoked. Symbolically the smoke carried from the candles which were once innocent and pure, transmit into the smoke from the crematorium at Auschwitz later on in the film. This subtle representation outlines the innocence of the Jews through symbolic terms. Followed on with a documentary styled scene, Spielberg refers to historical events where the Nazis come to Poland for anti-Jewish orders.

We see the faces of the Jews who line up signing papers, implying to the audience that they are signing their lives away without even knowing this. The Nazis only see them as names on a list. It is a significant and historical scene. The portrait of the depiction of the Nazi Spirit is real subtlety. Other powerful negative settings are the quadrangle at Plaszow rows of buildings and squashed crowds of people, the long shot of Krakow ghetto from the hill. The sun rarely shines and when it does there is a depressing iron about what is happening.

The darkness of the images work powerfully on our feelings. It creates sympathetic feelings towards the Jews. Lighting, colour, camera angles, clothing, do not apply to the literary texts but all are vital part of film meaning and subtleties. As so often in the film it is not the explicit violence which grips us, but the powerful use of suggestion. For example the shower rooms turn out to be genuine however by sharing the terror of the women looking upwards and waiting for the gas, we understand by implication what millions of others experienced in their dying moments. This subtle approach did not require editorializing to make a moral point about what was being depicted.

The fear was sensed through camera angles and the looks on the womens faces. We could almost feel ourselves in that situation. This was an important historical event, where the form of subtlety was efficiently used to interpret the inhumane acts which occurred during the Holocaust. The day after the bodies of the Jews are exhumed and incinerated, a long shot of the snow falling over the death camp is captured to fool the audience. What many would of have thought was snow happens to be the ash of the cremated human bodies. This is depicted when Schindler slides his finger across the bonnet of his car to feel the ash shrivel into pieces.

Since the whole landscape was covered with ash, we are able to have a glimpse at the magnitude of crime present in this historically based event. Subtlety is yet again used to interpret the inhumanity of the system without displaying any agonized deaths. Spielbergs strength to present the film Schindlers List in a subtle way formed an excellent interpretation of the Holocaust. Without the use of violence or agonizing scenes, Spielberg managed to outlay his interpretation by using his creative ability accordingly to the usage of film technique. Not only did each scene interpret historical events, it also conveyed a meaning for the viewers. Schindlers List ultimately achieves to present sacredly embedded and disturbing historical incidents in a subtle form. of others experienced in their dying moments.

Schindlers List ultimately achieves to present sacredly embedded and disturbing historical incidents in a subtle form.