Winning a total of seven awards and nominated in almost every genre including best musical score and makeup, The film Schindler's List is hardly unknown to today's audiences. Released in 1993, Steven Spielberg retold the story of Oskar Schindler; as played by Liam Neeson, who's tale of business prowess and profiteering later gave way to the housing and protecting of Jews against the Nazi occupation. The film itself was adapted from a novel entitled Schindler's Ark, which is named so after the tale of Noah's ark that protected its inhabitants and gave way to a new generation after the great flood had receded. So did the Jews receive protection under the care of Schindler, so that the race of Jews would not be entirely wiped off the face of the earth.
In the beginning of the film, we see Oskar as an individual that is hardly worth any respect. He portrays himself as someone that is simply in the business of making money, and whether his workers be Jew or German, it never concerned him because he was only concerning himself with making a quick buck and sleeping with any woman that caught his fancy. This explains why Oskar's right-hand-man was a Jewish man known as Itzhak Stern; played by Ben Kingsley, so when all Germans were more concerned with the removal of the Jews because they considered them to be beneath the human race, Oskar paid them no mind and regularly looked after Stern because he believed him to be the best employee that he possessed.
The demeanour of Oskar Schindler starts changing after a particular scene in the film where he looks down from his place on a hill at the Nazi liquidation of the Ghetto, where the Jews were forcefully moved into the occupation camps and anyone that dared to defy that order was shot immediately. But amongst this chaos and gut-wrenching pain, he sees a little girl. This girl wearing a red coat was walking along the street littered with dead bodies, trying to find a safe place to hide from the trauma that was all around her. According to Spielberg, the introduction of this little girl was about more than the real girl that this character was based off of, she was meant to portray a sense of innocence in the film so that the audience watching could feel a deeper understanding of what it meant for the Jews to be persecuted for crimes that they did not commit and how no one was spared from the torment of the Germans, not women, not children, no one's innocence was spared.
After witnessing the great persecution of the Jews, Oskar Schindler later uses his own business as a manner to save individuals from the torment that they were experiencing in the occupation camps. How he does this is in creating a list. A list with the names of every Jew that he had ever come across, them and their families were saved and were working for Schindler, escaping the inevitable death that befell the others that were left in the camps. At this point Schindler had concerned himself less with the money that he could profit from those that he was employing, and more so with the fact that he was sparing these people from being completely erased from history. Each person on his list was bought with a price, money, gadgets, watches, Schindler gave everything he could to spare but one more life, one more person.
But as with anything, the consequences we have to pay for our choices comes to us sooner than we think. By the end of the film, Oskar Schindler had lost all his wealth as the German army surrenders itself, thus ending the war in Europe. But as a Nazi and declared 'profiteer of slave labor', Oskar now has to flee for his life, leaving behind his wife and the many grateful employees under his care. The film ends with Schindler being titled a 'righteous man' by the Jewish elders and the actors in the film walking abreast with the actual people they were portraying toward Schindler's grave as it was told that 1,100 Jews were spared due to the actions of Oskar Schindler, his memory now lives on in these people.
Ryan and Deci's (2000) approach to the self-determination theory, brings about the concept that every human being will come to a place where growth both mentally and emotionally is a compulsive need. We as part of the human race simply cannot remain stagnant in the position that we are in, just waiting for death. Human beings want very much to grow and become more than we were yesterday, hence the three inane needs that we must possess in order for growth to occur in an individual.
However of those three needs, only one can be seen in the character of Oskar Schindler in this film, the need of Relatedness. The need of relatedness is one that is defined as a universal wanting to interact, be connected to, and experience caring for others. Now this driving force to be connected to others around us and care for others was very clearly exhibited in the film where Schindler empathises with the Jews, trying his best to relieve them of the suffering they are experiencing. One of which is Helen Hirsch; a maid working in the home of Amon Goeth, who is physically and sexually abused by her master. Schindler takes it upon himself to not only stoop to the level of the help, but to also listen to the persecutions being faced by this woman without thought to gain anything from her. Schindler had used all methods of persuasion on Amon in order to release Helen from those hellish experiences and come into his employ, he felt compelled to care for her after having heard her story even though there were others in worse off situations than herself.
Emerson's (1976) social exchange theory can also be related to this film as this theory defines itself through the understanding that human relationships are based off of a cost and benefit analysis. And that the worth of any relationship can be equated through seeing how the rewards from that relationship outweigh the costs of the same. If an individual feels that the costs of being in that relationship supersede the rewards that are accumulated, then the individual may be more inclined to end the relationship altogether, deeming it unfair in his eyes.
This theory relates very strongly to the relationship between Oskar Schindler and Itzhak Stern. The relationship between these two gentlemen goes far beyond one of employer and employee. They seem almost like brothers in the way they look out for one another and work together under the same cause, the cause to help others. On more than a single occasion, Itzhak was put into difficult situations because of his race as a Jew, and the way that Oskar risks his wealth, his reputation, and his very life for Itzhak makes him do the same in his willingness to do anything for Oskar. They were willing to do anything for the other, and yet have a common goal of playing a part on protecting those being persecuted.
Although I was greatly moved by the film, had I been alive during the time of the Nazi occupation I do not know how I would have reacted had I been in Schindler's shoes. Would I have risked my reputation, my wealth, my name and business, or even my life for a community of people that I was not a part of? No one knows.
I grew up with the understanding that it is an obligation of those that have much to give to those that have little, to not only work hard for what you have but to also not forget those that still need the aid of others in order to survive. To me this need to help others goes beyond religion and culture, it comes down to being a human that simply cares for others. It does not take much for us to help another person, spending a little more money, taking the time to talk to someone, or even just smiling at another person are all indicative of letting others know that there are good people amongst humankind.
Sometimes I feel myself saddened by the horror and corruption I see around me, but choosing to be different even in the smallest way, can give hope to others that change can happen if we only make a decision to do so.
References:
Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2000). Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being. American psychologist, 55(1), 68.
Emerson, R. M. (1976). Social exchange theory. Annual review of sociology, 335-362. Retrieved from http://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev.so.02.080176.002003?journalCode=soc
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