The Schindler's List by Steven Speilberg

The Schindler's List is a film directed by Steven Speilberg and is based on the novel by Thomas Keneally. The film depicted the collective personal accounts of the survivors and their recollection of what happened during the time of the holocaust and how they were saved by the factory owner and businessman employing them named Oskar Schindler. The movie is a powerful representation of the events surrounding Schindler and his Jewish employees. Historical debate has been presented in order to maintain the objectivity of learning the truth.

It is necessary to examine the evidence that supports the facts that shape history. The film garnered several awards from experts but have received a number of sharp criticisms regarding the validity and effectiveness of the source and delivery of important historical information which have great implications on the development of historical views (Barkan 8). The novel named Schindler's ark is the main proponent of the movie and have been subjected to great examination and evaluation regarding its effectiveness in delivering historical facts.

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The experts have concluded that items such as journals, records and photographs that came from Nazi, European, Jewish and Russian people which have been authenticated and proven to contain supporting evidence and facts regarding the story that transpired about Shindler and his Jews are necessary elements to prove its validity. The point of contention is the great reliance of the novel and film with the personal accounts of the survivors in which factors such as bias, memory deficiency and confusion could be an issue that could change the known truth in what really transpired.

By this time, the people who survived the holocaust involved with Schindler have reached the age of early 90's and majority of them have now succumbed to death. Although the novel Schindler's Ark was written and published during the 80's, the length of time from the occurrence of the event to the present age of the survivors could prove to be a deterrent in the part of the persons giving their account.

Insufficiency on the validity of the accounts have been established due to the fact that majority of the personal output of the survivors lacked concrete evidence in which their memory served as the only source of evidence on what have transpired. Due to this, many scholars have argued on its establishment as a non-fiction novel since the story itself is based on the hidden operation by Schindler to save the Jews in which the people involved deliberately avoided putting evidence on paper, records and ledgers so as to protect the interest of the people involved, most especially the Jews and Shindler himself (Bernstein 32).

Another issue that has been continually raised by critics is the ambiguity and unclear image that is sent by the author of the novel regarding the main character of Oscar Schindler. Basically in the start of the novel, he is seen as someone who is immoral and insensitive since he is an infidel who has a number of mistresses and he also participates in illegal trades that violate the laws. This has been the base for speculations on the character of Schindler.

Critics argue that the story was bias and deceptively presented Schindler as a man of great integrity during the time of the holocaust when in fact evidence has shown that he participated in swindling schemes during the time the story was set in the movie. He supposedly deceived the Nazis as a way of earning money and serving his purpose of helping the Jewish people. His factory in Cracow producing mess kits for the soldiers proved to be unviable since the income the company receives, he ventured in the production of shells for cannon and mortars.

When the Nazis contracted him, he used this to his advantage by producing defective shells that would only pass the initial inspection but would fail during actual exercises. He was paid the due amount with this deception. His factory was able to produce and supply this defective shells to different Nazi stations which and he was able to evade suspicion by appearing to have accidents that led to the defect of his products (Loshitzky 5).

The novel is argued to have an irregular and unclear method of delivering the story behind the events that have transpired. The movie was presented in a dramatic way in which the horror of the acts could amplify the real events that happened. It is important to consider that storytelling in the case of non fiction literature should not compromise the factual integrity of the subjects but would only function for better delivery and establishments of the details that have transpired.

The movie and the novel suffered the same insufficiencies with regards to the lack of explicit discussion of the personal implications of the things that happened to the characters but only focuses on the moral and ethical dilemmas which are presented for the readers. The personal accounts of the survivors became rather impersonal at some point since suffering was viewed at a general level rather on a personal note. Other than Oskar Schindler, minor characters such as the Jews were given no significant depth of character and served only as the subjects of the conflicting interests of the authorities in the novel.