UNCUT - Schindler's List (1993)

Also after seeing this, I can see how Ralph Fiennes got typecast into playing villains.

I didn't see a mention here, but if you are looking for a long, slow, burn then "Band of Brothers" would be the one to see. It's based on true situations, and in my opinion it's the best mini series ever made. Produced by Spielberg and staring quite a few well known actors in some earlier roles before they "broke out". Of course "Saving Private Ryan" is way up there, too.

So my mom made me watch this movie in the theatre when I was 9 (when it came out) because she wanted us to understand what my family went through. I rewatch it every few years, because it is that important of film

I had never seen more than clips of this film until today(or a couple days ago when I watched the reaction). I knew what it was about, and the Liam Neeson was playing Schindler. I knew it was a Spielberg film of course, but that was about it. I think going in I expected more of the film to be from the perspective of Schindler's factory and his efforts to shield Jews from the holocaust. It was much more graphic and disturbing than what I expected, but that's not a criticism. It's extremely effective at making you understand the horror of what happened to all those people. I have seen the scene where Schindler is lamenting not having done more, weighing the value of his car and other possessions, and the money he's wasted in his life vs how many more lives he could have saved. It's doubly impactful after seeing the whole film. One scene that stood out to me was when the one woman was describing the extermination process and everyone else dismissed it as a rumor, even though as Josh pointed out they see nazis killing them every day. If the people being killed day by day can talk themselves into believing "that could never happen", imagine how easy it is for someone living a comfortable life who's been fed years of propaganda. Far too many people turn a blind eye and just keep their heads down and mind their own business, until the world forces them to see the things they've been ignoring. I'll probably get some things wrong here, but I've heard that before the camps existed, they initially just had soldiers gunning down groups of Jews. For many of them though, this started to break them psychologically and they would have to rotate them out. One of the most messed up things about the camps and the industrialized nature of the extermination was it was actually designed to separate the people doing it as much as possible from personal accountability. Different people responsible for different parts of the process. The ones herding them into the chambers weren't the same ones removing the bodies. The ones removing the bodies weren't the ones who released the gas. Again, I'm probably getting details wrong, but the whole process was designed to spare the perpetrators of the genocide as much personal guilt as possible. No doubt they all knew what was happening, and I'm sure a good many felt no guilt and got off on the whole thing. It's basically the same idea as 1 man in a firing squad firing a blank, so each of them can tell themselves they didn't actually fire a shot. Following WW1, the allies forced Germany to sign the Treaty of Versailles. They essentially saddled Germany with repaying the cost of the war while placing many restrictions on them. It was very much a punishment and a huge factor leading to WW2. You may hear people talk about "hyperinflation" at times. Some people talk about 5% or 6% annual inflation as being hyperinflation because 1-2% is normal. Real hyperinflation is in a different universe. If you lived in 1918 Germany, and something cost 1 German mark, a cup of coffee let's say, then by 1924, that same cup of coffee would cost 1 TRILLION marks. Elon Musk is worth something like 800 billion. Most of that will be stocks and other assets, very little in the bank. But it's crazy to think that if all that were in the bank, and he went into a coma for 6 years, during which that kind of hyperinflation happened, the richest man in the world would only be able to buy something that 80 cents can buy today. Suffice it to say, hyperinflation is an economic death sentence. When a large enough percentage of a population or an entire population are forced into an impossible situation like that, feeling like there's no path forward, where every day they're poor, hungry, and desperate, they will get angry, and they will look for someone to blame. I understand that. What I don't understand is why so often it seems that blame is directed at the Jews. In contrast to the treaty of Versailles, the US took a completely different approach after WW2. Japan and Germany weren't shamed and punished after the war. They had already lost, their cities had been bombed, their people killed. Instead the allies were magnanimous in victory this time. While measures like "denazification"(the years long process of deprogramming the German population of Hitler's propaganda and showing them the truth of what happened) were implemented, both countries were rebuilt and offered a better path than war, conquest, and genocide. As a result both countries did a complete 180 and are now 2 of the strongest economies in the world, and among the last places we would expect such atrocities to happen today. If only they'd tried that approach after WW1 instead. A lot of people have recommended Saving Private Ryan, and it's certainly a must watch. But in regards to this subject matter specifically, I think a good palate cleanser is 2008's Defiance, about a group of Jews who escape into the forest and wage a guerrilla war against the nazis. As a film it's certainly not on the level writing or production wise as this movie or SPR, but with how depressed and angry Schindler's List can make you feel, I think there's something cathartic in seeing that at least some of them managed to fight back.

You said you'd be interested in looking at the 30s and the 20s etc to see what led up to this, but the sad reality is that it started many, many years before that. Antisemitism was rife around Europe for decades, and even further back in history, and it was the leaving it unchecked for so long and it becoming so normalised that ultimately led up to something like the Holocaust being possible. It blows my mind how today, people have the audacity to bemoan Jews that are concerned about the insane levels of antisemitism we're currently seeing. It happened once, it can happen again.

Amistad and Saving Private Ryan are 'important' Spielberg movies you should check out at some point.

Regarding what you found baffling and how it can happen, you see it happening today to a smaller scale with what starts out as theoretical anti-zionism as an intellectual exercise, and the next thing you know Columbia students are chasing Jews who have to barricade themselves in, Candace Owens is talking about jewish animals, Susan Sarandon is saying "now jews know what it feels like" , Kanye is selling swastikas, and the wife of the mayor of NY is giving likes to Hamas snuff films on Instagram, and simultaneously jews are getting machine gunned on Australian beaches and attacked weekly in Golders Green, London. I believe today it is in Texas where the Dem candidate for congress wants to put jews in camps and castrate them, while in Maine I think it is the Dem candidate had an SS tattoo for 20 years. I would think the other "important" Spielberg film is "Saving Private Ryan".

Glad to see you watch this. I’m a history teacher and I have used this film to help my student understand the visceral realty of the Holocaust. I know y’all are busy and it’s not the focus of the channel, but I’d like to offer the opportunity to answer some of your questions about how the Nazis rose to power, how we got to he holocaust and so on. Please just hit me up here and I’ll find a way to reach you, if you are interested. Teaching this stuff and answering questions is literally my job.

Yeah it’s a tough movie to comment on without getting political so I’ll say nothing

I would recommend this two part documentary it's on YouTube I'll leave a link it's really good at explaining how the Nazis came to power from the ground from the people's perspective. https://youtu.be/AG726uamib0?si=BPOLfuJw8D_yIZlg

Josh, you've asked the most important question, the one that this film is driven on -- "How did we get to this point". Without going into the ramifications of the Treaty of Versailles which ended WW 1 and set Germany on a path that precipitated the events of WW 2 (This is the historical context that lead to the conditions in Germany that made Hitler's rise to power possible) -- How did we get here -- Apathy. Apathy and demonization of people who are different. It's easy to scapegoat a group of people -- blame all of the problems in the world around you on them, and then seek to purge them. We see it happening now -- in this country at this moment. I'll spare you the political diatribe, but it's an old trick and it's an effective one that has been used since time immemorial. The enduring lesson of this movie, is to remember what happened in an effort to prevent it from happening again. Every person who seeks to learn more about the atrocities that happened, everyone who arms themselves with the knowledge of what was, brings us one step closer to realizing a better world where such horror will never exist again. As someone who has family members who both died and survived the holocaust, I would encourage you to do some additional research. I can recommend some great books / movies / documentaries if you have interest. "He Who Saves One Life Saves The World Entire"

In Germany, entire school classes went to the cinema together (organized by the school). We had special morning screenings, followed by a post-screening discussion back at school. We were already familiar with the subject matter, but seeing it presented visually as a feature film really affected us in a completely different way.

"What happened the day after?" The book answers some of those questions.

Steven Spielberg's career masterpiece. His first Best Picture Oscar. He called Robin Williams to cheer him up while making this film. You guys like horror. We'll, it was.

I think the reason this movie is important is exemplified by Josh’s reaction at the end. If this inspires someone to go learn more about the Holocaust and how it caused good men to do evil things, then it has done its job. Even better if that person then asks how they can protect themselves from falling victim to this mentality. The Holocaust is very well studied and there are great resources out there. You just have to seek them out. A good starting point might be "They Thought They Were Free" by Milton Mayer. It has interviews with 10 ordinary men who were members of the Nazi party in Germany. A baker, a cabinetmaker, a student, etc.

The women on the train weren't using their own blood as makeup to look prettier. They were trying to make themselves look healthier by covering up their sickly pallor from being locked up and malnourished for so long. They knew that the Germans were separating the strong to work and the weak to be exterminated. Spielberg also chose to use black and white for the film because all the footage and photos he ever saw from the Holocaust were never in color. He wanted that grim reflection of reality in his film. In 2002, Spielberg returned to California State University to finish his degree in Arts and Film after dropping out in the late 1960s. For his final assignment, he submitted "Schindler's List" for his professor's consideration. Spielberg did not receive a single penny for making this movie. All profits went directly to the Shoah Foundation - an NPO dedicated to preserving the memories of the victims of the Holocaust by recording the words of the remaining survivors before they all passed away

You were wondering if it was awkward in Germany afterwards. I know that the German people had that stigma on them for a long time. But immediately after the war they had other things to worry about as most cities were leveled by the Allied forces.

When they were rubbing blood on their faces they weren't trying to look pretty, just to look healthier so they wouldn't be sent away.

Saving Private Ryan is another important Spielberg film.

We’ve been doing this for millenniums and have learn nothing.

How do you get to a place like this. Yeah. That's the major question to ask after a movie like this. Truth is, it's a slow insidious crawl that starts one step at a time. You demonize an entire group of people daily. You embed the mindset of their inferiority or "threat" into the zeitgeist. Every day. For years. You blame all the ills people suffer on them. Eventually, when this mind-virus has spread sufficiently, you can begin to advocate to restrict that group's freedoms, to isolate them, and eventually... the final answer.

How does this happen? Fear, anger, hate. You make the "other" to be demonized and dehumanized and are the cause of all of your problems, then you direct all of your hate at them and convince other people their problems are due to those people and to join you.

Lift your spirits and watch Trek

I finally watched this film only a few years ago after the Holocaust exhibit was passing through our city; our daughter had some questions after that experience. We spent a couple of weeks watching some "educational" films, this being one of them. Others included episodes of Band of Brothers (a Spielberg produced mini-series) and The Longest Day. I was hoping we would get to Saving Private Ryan, but by that point I think the subject matter was just too serious and overwhelming, so she decided she had seen enough. Nice that we had the choice to be able to "turn off the Second World War". I highly recommend if you ever get the chance to visit a Holocaust exhibit or museum to do so - it can provide answers and more questions, and that is a good thing.

The Devil’s arithmetic is the movie Alex was thinking of, Hidden in Silence is also powerful

Please, Bridge Crew, don't ever make them watch Grave of the Fireflies.

Now go watch "The Raincoats", Season 5 of Seinfeld for a cleanse...

Also, this was a movie I also thought "I don't need to see this again" when I first watched it. But having watched it today with you guys at age 42, and I think I was probably closer to 22 or so when I first saw it, I'm glad I did after all this time. I think having seen it once, and just being older and wiser now, helped me pay closer attention to the details this time. So... maybe in another decade or two I might give it a watch again. Maybe.

Also, if you guys could endure 3+ hours of this, it gives me a little hope that one day Alex can convince Josh to watch The Fellowship of the Ring, preferably the even longer extended edition. Hell, react to it in two parts, if it helps. The physical copy I believe still has a break to switch discs about halfway through to give you a break. It's very well done, and while I can't speak to whether Josh will love it, it's almost impossible to imagine he wouldn't at least like it.

There's just so much that can be said about this movie and this subject / history. Younger me did not understand how people could think or behave the way some of these people thought and behaved in this movie. Unfortunately, the longer I have lived, and the more I have paid attention to the world, and the more history I have learned about, I came to realize that this was not a quality or trait of just one specific generation, or one group, or one ideology. It's happened before. It happened after. It happens now. It'll probably keep happening. It's not always this bad, or this many deaths, but other times even more people died. It's not always war, it's not always this deliberate of an extermination attempt, but variations of it keep happening, centering around politics and ideologies and the necessary dehumanization required in order for people to 'justify' doing it or excusing what is happening, refusing to stop it. Hell, one eye-opener for me was how people started to treat each other during Covid. I saw a lot of nastiness, a lot of dehumanizing, wishing death, cheering death, shaming, hatred, ending relationships, and fear, all over differences of opinions on how best to handle the pandemic. Then I step back and imagine that kind of nasty passion paired with the tribalism centered around nationality, or ethnicity, or religion, or economics, and it becomes even more clear how these kinds of things happen. I think in life, most people just 'go along to get along', feeling powerless and afraid, hoping that if they just mind their own business, they won't get hurt or they won't lose everything. They may not like what is happening, but they feel like the only thing they can do is mind their own business and hope for the best. The 'true believers' are at the center of it, providing fuel for the fire, or steering the ship, but I think the majority just want to keep their heads down. And when it's governments organizing things like this, there's always the bureaucratic elements of everyone being a 'small cog in a big machine', where most people may not see the bigger picture, or even if they do, they feel like there's nothing they can do but be a 'good little cog' and hope they don't get hurt. One of the most sobering realizations I had was that this could easily happen again, and it could be two completely different groups of people next time (the oppressors, and the oppressed), for a variety of different 'reasons'.

Well, this won't be fun.

The crowning cinematic achievement depicting Man’s inhumanity to Man, as only my favorite director of all time could tell it. Spielberg had the script for years before he felt he was ready as a filmmaker to tackle the subject matter. Why did he make this film? So that we would NEVER allow this to happen again. I watch “Schindler’s List” at least once each year. And I always get something more out of it with repeat viewings. Oskar Schindler and Amon Goeth were very much the same individual…both strong, business-minded, self-serving scumbags. But while Amon was the devil, Oskar was nothing short of an angel on earth…and each life he saved was a miracle in the evilest of times. If you guys like character arcs, here then is the ultimate redemption arc. Ben Kingsley once recalled breaking down during filming and Spielberg asked if he was okay. Ben: “Steven, I’m filled with rage.” Steven: “I’m filled with rage too. Let’s go to work.” I’ve been looking forward to you both tackling this one. I hope it stays with you in the best of ways.

Josh- you ask how does this happen? Apathy- ordinary people doing nothing and things getting worse and worse and people still doing nothing

The end has the actors along with the real people who are now 48 years older- so the kids are 50 year old people and Schindler's wife is in the wheel chair as an old woman

Before I ever met her, my wife was on vacation in Germany and visited one of these camps that had been turned into a Museum. After 30 minutes she was so grossed out she had to leave and as soon as she got outside she just started vomiting from the horror and evil that was in the air and negative aura that was coming from the ruins

I think I first saw this movie when I wasn't even a teenager, at school. Not the whole movie, but an abridged version. Still scarred me.

I watched this movie for the first time in 11th grade world history. It fucked me up as a little 16 year old boy and humbled the shit out of me. It lingered in my mind for weeks as I contemplated life while still developing, and maturing. 10 years later now as a 26 year old man it has definitely played a part in shaping my morals, and the kind of person I aspire to be. Definitely one of the most important movies I have ever, and probably will ever see in my life. A very difficult watch indeed. I haven't seen it since then but will brave watching it again with yall to get the perspective of 2 people I highly respect.