A Comparison Of Freedom In Oskar Schindler And T. E.

Freedom is an aspect of life that every being values; confinement and conformity make one mentally and physically unstable. Throughout history there have been individuals who devote much or all of their life to helping others attain the freedom they deserve. Many of these individuals have been celebrated for their work. Both T.E. Lawrence, a British soldier during World War I who helped the Arabs in the Ottoman Empire gain their freedom, and Oskar Schindler, a business owner who saved hundreds of Jewish people from the horrors of concentration camps during World War II, helped to give a large group of people their freedom. Through the lenses of David Lean and Steven Spielberg, audiences become acquainted with these men. Lean’s Lawrence of Arabia,
Lawrence both answer to and interact with army officials during their respective conflicts. Throughout the movie, Schindler has more interactions with German Nazis than with Jews. He always wears a Nazi party pin on his lapel and is not afraid to hail Hitler. No one of his Nazi peers would have known that he was secretly helping the Jews. Schindler is able to keep his undercover operation working successfully until the end of the war when the Jew are freed. He receives minimal suspicion from his superiors and peers. If they had found out what Schindler was doing, he would have been imprisoned; potentially killed. On the other hand, when Lawrence first returns to Cairo after working with the Arabs, his commanding officers are extremely happy with his work. Lawrence is helping them take down the Turks and, unknowingly, helping the British take over the Arabs. Even though Lawrence adopts much of the Arab culture and isn’t what most people would call a typical British officer, the work he is doing shows his superiors that they made the right choice putting him on this mission. Nearer to the end of Lawrence of Arabia though, Lawrence discovers the British’s plan to take over the Arabs when the Turks are defeated. He vehemently disagrees with this plan and begins to work solely for the Arabs, trying to help them achieve true freedom and let them govern their own people. By the end of the movie Lawrence is much closer to Schindler in that his leaders would not have approved of his actions. Another difference on this front is that, in the end, Lawrence is found out. He is taken away from his position within the Arabs and brought back to British life. Schindler, on the other hand, leaves the Jews of his own accord and is never found out by anyone in a position of