Oskar Schindler's List: Discussion Questions

Schindler’s List Discussion Questions
Category 1: Power
Compare and contrast the meaning of power to Oskar Schindler and Amon Goeth. Schindler says to Goeth, “Power is when we have every justification to kill and we don’t.” What do you think he means by that? Is this power justified? Why or why not?
The difference of power for Schindler and Goeth is very evident in the fact that Schindler does not kill people just because he can, but he instead forgives the people that work for him and that makes them love and trust him more. Goeth on the other hand does differently and kills people for the sport of it, and he does that because, as Schindler says, “He kills those who mean nothing to him”. When somebody means nothing to you
Do you think it is an absolute good? Why or why not? Is there such a thing as an “absolute good?” An “absolute evil?” Why or why not?
I think that Sterne meant that the list is a really good thing to do when he says that the list is an absolute good, and I think that when Sterne says this he is trying to keep Schindler from giving up on it. As his Jews put on his ring at the end of the movie, “Whoever saves one life, saves the world entire”. I think that an absolute good is something that is good, no harm comes from them, and the list was an absolute good because it helped more than it hurt. Even though it hurt the Nazi’s with loss of prisoners, there was a large gain in life, mostly the lives of the Jews.
I think there is such a thing as an absolute good and an absolute evil because I think that an absolute good is when there is more good than evil in the scene, and the opposite for absolute evil, with more evil than good. I think that what Hitler did with taking the Jews away to make a stronger was an absolute evil. I know that what Schindler did to save the Jews that Hitler had taken was an absolute good, and I believe that there was no real bad in what Schindler
There is only one time where it is in color. It was a little girl in a red coat. Why do you think the filmmaker decided to include that one splash of color? Do you think there is a reason the filmmaker decided to film in black and white? When you see the little girl again, what is going on? What impact did this have on you as a viewer? When the film is shot in black and white I think that the producer wanted to keep the viewer focused on the seriousness of the film, and it also fit the time era for the movie, making the movie seem more realistic. The splash of color in the girl in the red coat is meant to show a lot of symbolism. The red coated girl shows the hope that the people in the Ghetto’s had, and the filmmaker decided on this for a representation of hope because the little girl is innocent and she goes between the police who are killing people and is not noticed. The next time we see the Red Coat girl is when she is in the body cart, dead. I think that this is to show the death of the hope in the Jews. This impacted me greatly because the death of the hope seemed to make me feel like there is nothing better coming and there would never be hope again. I think that the red coat is very important because it really makes the scenes in the movie more severe. I think the movie really wants to show how the scene was grim in the Holocaust