Schindler’s List Parent Guide

When the Second World War broke out in September of 1939, Poland was the first country to fall to the advancing Nazi hordes. Under the German occupation, Polish citizens of Jewish descent find themselves living in a world where their lives are worth nothing – unless they can work in one of the big factories producing war materiel for the Reich. Oskar Schindler (Liam Neeson), has just moved to Krakow to take advantage of the new source of cheap labor. But running a factory takes a lot of busy work and attention, things which Schindler does not enjoy. To get his factory up and running, Schindler turns to Itzhak Stern (Ben Kingsley), a Jewish official with good community contacts and a steady head for business. Schindler handles the contracts and keeps the Nazi officials and military leaders happy – but he’s beginning to realize just how terrible things are going to get. With Stern’s help, Schindler starts to shelter Jewish families in his factory, insisting that he needs specific laborers to keep up with his contracts. Now he just needs to protect them through the most dangerous stretch of the war, and keep the psychotic local Commandant Amon Göth (Ralph Fiennes) from discovering what he’s really doing.

Let’s get the obvious out of the way: This is not in any sense a movie for young children. It is full of appalling violence, graphic nudity, and some of the most depressing and horrifying imagery in human history. It’s also over three hours long, which means there’s lots of time to fill with upsetting content. This isn’t an easy watch for a long list of reasons, and if you’re already feeling stressed or depressed, I’d recommend waiting before you press “play”. The movie (and the history) will still be there when you’re mentally ready to handle it.

The problem is that you can’t make this movie without most of that content. This is about the Holocaust, and the Holocaust is a monstrous part of modern history. Movies which try and shy away from that tend to feel disingenuous – take The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, which plays an aggravating game of make-believe by acting like anyone living near a concentration camp could be ignorant of what was going on. Schindler’s List, while not historically flawless, forces its audience to confront some of the atrocities which typified Nazi rule. Ghettoes, massacres, random executions, torture, and discrimination are all integral parts of how the fascist regime sought to control and ultimately eliminate the global Jewish population.

This is one of the most important films I’ve ever reviewed. By the time I learned about the holocaust in school, Schindler’s List was mentioned with some reverence as one of the most complex and compelling films about the subject that had ever been made. That’s not really an exaggeration, either as the movie is an incredible achievement. I would call Schindler’s List mandatory viewing for anyone who can cope with the most horrifying fact of all: that reality is worse than the film.