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Au revoir les enfants

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Jump to: navigation, search


Au revoir les enfants
Goodbye, children film.jpg
Film poster
 
Directed by
Louis Malle
Produced by
Louis Malle
Written by
Louis Malle
Starring
Gaspard Manesse
Raphael Fejtö
Philippe Morier-Genoud
Francine Racette
Music by
Schubert
Saint-Saëns
Cinematography
Renato Berta
Edited by
Emmanuelle Castro
Distributed by
MK2 Diffusion (France)

Release dates

29 August 1987 (Venice)
7 October 1987 (France)
 

Running time
 104 minutes
Country
France
 West Germany
Language
French
 German
Box office
$4.5 million
Au revoir les enfants (French pronunciation: ​[o ʁə.vwaʁ le zɑ̃.fɑ̃], meaning "Goodbye, Children") is an autobiographical 1987 film written, produced and directed by Louis Malle.[1] The screenplay was published by Gallimard in the same year. The film won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival.


Contents  [hide]
1 Plot
2 Cast
3 Actual events
4 Reception
5 Awards and nominations
6 See also
7 References
8 External links

Plot[edit]
During the winter of 1943-44, Julien Quentin, a student at a Carmelite boarding school in occupied France, is returning to school from vacation. He acts tough to the students at the school, but he is actually a pampered mother's boy who still wets his bed. Saddened to be returning to the tedium of boarding school, Julien's classes seem uneventful until Père Jean, the headmaster, introduces three new pupils. One of them, Jean Bonnet, is the same age as Julien. Like the other students, Julien at first despises Bonnet, a socially awkward boy with a talent for arithmetic and playing the piano.
One night, Julien wakes up and discovers that Bonnet is wearing a kippah and is praying in Hebrew. After digging through his new friend's locker, Julien learns the truth. His new friend's name is not Bonnet, but Jean Kippelstein. Père Jean, a compassionate, sacrificing priest of the old school, had agreed to grant a secret asylum to hunted Jews. After a game of treasure hunt, however, Julien and Jean bond and a close friendship develops between them.
When Julien's mother visits on Parents' Day, Julien asks his mother if Bonnet, whose parents could not come, could accompany them to lunch at a gourmet restaurant. As they sit around the table, the talk turns to Julien's father, a factory owner. When Julien's brother asks if he is still for Marshal Pétain, Madame Quentin responds, "No one is anymore." However, the Milice arrive and attempt to expel a Jewish diner. When Julien's brother calls them "Collabos," the Milice commander is enraged and tells Madam Quentin, "We serve France, madam. He insulted us." However, when a Wehrmacht officer coldly orders them to leave, the Milice officers grudgingly obey. Julien's mother comments that the Jewish diner appears to be a very distinguished gentleman. She insists that she has nothing against Jews, but would not object if the socialist politician Léon Blum were hanged.
Shortly thereafter, Joseph, the school's assistant cook, is exposed for selling the school's food supplies on the black market. He implicates several students as accomplices, including Julien and his brother, François. Although Père Jean is visibly distressed by the injustice, he fires Joseph but does not expel the students for fear of offending their wealthy and influential parents.
On a cold morning in January 1944, the Gestapo raid the school. As his classroom is being searched, Julien unintentionally gives away Bonnet by looking in his direction. As the other two Jewish boys are hunted down, Julien encounters the person who denounced them, Joseph the kitchen hand. Trying to justify his betrayal in the face of Julien's mute disbelief, Joseph tells him, "Don't act so pious. There's a war on, kid."
As the students are lined up in the school courtyard, a Gestapo officer denounces the illegal nature of Père Jean's actions. He further accuses all French people of being weak and undisciplined. Meanwhile, Père Jean and the three Jewish students are led away by the officers. Père Jean shouts: "Au revoir, les enfants! À bientôt!" to the children and they respond: "Au revoir, mon père!"
The film ends with an older Julien providing a voiceover epilogue:
"Bonnet, Negus and Dupre died at Auschwitz; Father Jean at Mauthausen. The school reopened its doors in October. More than 40 years have passed, but I'll remember every second of that January morning until the day I die."
Cast[edit]
Gaspard Manesse as Julien Quentin
Raphaël Fejtö as Jean Kippelstein, alias "Jean Bonnet"
Francine Racette as Mme Quentin (Julien's mother)
Stanislas Carré de Malberg as François Quentin (Julien's older brother)
Philippe Morier-Genoud as Father Jean/Père Jean
François Berléand as Father Michel/Père Michel
Irène Jacob as Mlle Davenne
François Négret as Joseph (kitchen helper)
Peter Fitz as Muller
Pascal Rivet as Boulanger
Benoît Henriet as Ciron
Richard Leboeuf as Sagard
Xavier Legrand as Babinot
Arnaud Henriet as Negus
Actual events[edit]
The film is based on events in the childhood of the director, Louis Malle, who at age 11 was attending a Roman Catholic boarding school near Fontainebleau. One day, he witnessed a Gestapo raid in which three Jewish students and a Jewish teacher were rounded up and deported to Auschwitz. The school's headmaster, Père Jacques, was arrested for harboring them and sent to the concentration camp at Mauthausen. He died shortly after the camp was liberated by the U.S. Army, having refused to leave until the last French prisoner was repatriated. Forty years later Yad Vashem, Israel's official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust, granted Père Jacques the title of Righteous Among the Nations.
Reception[edit]
The film was extremely well received by critics and has a 96% positive rating at the critics-aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes.[2][3][4][5][6]
The film was also a box office success having 3,488,460 admissions in France and grossing $4,542,825 in North America.[7]
Awards and nominations[edit]
The film won the Golden Lion award at the 1987 Venice Film Festival. At the 1988 César Awards, it won in seven categories, including Best Director, Best Film and Best Writing. It was nominated for two Academy Awards: Best Foreign Language Film and Best Original Screenplay at the 60th Academy Awards.[8] It was also nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the 1988 Golden Globe Awards.
See also[edit]
List of submissions to the 60th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film
List of French submissions for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ Champlin, Charles (18 February 1988). "'Au Revoir Les Enfants' Rooted in the Memory of Louis Malle". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 29 June 2012.
2.Jump up ^ Thomas, Kevin (16 December 1987). "Movie Review: Les Enfants, Malle's Tale of Occupied France". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 29 June 2012.
3.Jump up ^ Ebert, Roger (18 March 1988). "Au Revoir Les Enfants". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved 29 June 2012.
4.Jump up ^ Canby, Vincent (12 February 1988). "Au revoir, les enfants (1987)". The New York Times. Retrieved 29 June 2012.
5.Jump up ^ Corliss, Richard (1988). "Cinema: Hard Rites Of Passage". TIME. Retrieved 29 June 2012.(subscription required)
6.Jump up ^ Rotten Tomatoes (2012). "Au Revoir, les Enfants". Rottentomatoes.com. Flixster. Retrieved 29 June 2012.
7.Jump up ^ Klady, Leonard (8 January 1989). "Box Office Champs, Chumps". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 29 June 2012.
8.Jump up ^ "The 60th Academy Awards (1988) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Retrieved 16 August 2015.
External links[edit]
Au revoir les enfants at the Internet Movie Database
Au revoir les enfants at AllMovie
Au Revoir les Enfants screenplay at Google Books
Criterion Collection essay by Philip Kemp


[show]
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Films directed by Louis Malle

 






















 






 









 








 


[show]
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French submissions for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film

 











 























 























 


















 


[show]
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César Award for Best Film

 



























 



















 


[show]
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Golden Lion winning films

 























 
























 


















 


[show]
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 e
 
London Film Critics' Circle Foreign Language Film of the Year

 





































  


Categories: 1987 films
1980s drama films
French films
French coming-of-age films
French war films
French drama films
French-language films
West German films
Holocaust films
War drama films
Films about Roman Catholicism
Films about the French Resistance
Films directed by Louis Malle
Leone d'Oro winners
The Holocaust in France
Louis Delluc Prize winners
Films whose director won the Best Direction BAFTA Award




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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Au_revoir_les_enfants





 



Au revoir les enfants

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search


Au revoir les enfants
Goodbye, children film.jpg
Film poster
 
Directed by
Louis Malle
Produced by
Louis Malle
Written by
Louis Malle
Starring
Gaspard Manesse
Raphael Fejtö
Philippe Morier-Genoud
Francine Racette
Music by
Schubert
Saint-Saëns
Cinematography
Renato Berta
Edited by
Emmanuelle Castro
Distributed by
MK2 Diffusion (France)

Release dates

29 August 1987 (Venice)
7 October 1987 (France)
 

Running time
 104 minutes
Country
France
 West Germany
Language
French
 German
Box office
$4.5 million
Au revoir les enfants (French pronunciation: ​[o ʁə.vwaʁ le zɑ̃.fɑ̃], meaning "Goodbye, Children") is an autobiographical 1987 film written, produced and directed by Louis Malle.[1] The screenplay was published by Gallimard in the same year. The film won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival.


Contents  [hide]
1 Plot
2 Cast
3 Actual events
4 Reception
5 Awards and nominations
6 See also
7 References
8 External links

Plot[edit]
During the winter of 1943-44, Julien Quentin, a student at a Carmelite boarding school in occupied France, is returning to school from vacation. He acts tough to the students at the school, but he is actually a pampered mother's boy who still wets his bed. Saddened to be returning to the tedium of boarding school, Julien's classes seem uneventful until Père Jean, the headmaster, introduces three new pupils. One of them, Jean Bonnet, is the same age as Julien. Like the other students, Julien at first despises Bonnet, a socially awkward boy with a talent for arithmetic and playing the piano.
One night, Julien wakes up and discovers that Bonnet is wearing a kippah and is praying in Hebrew. After digging through his new friend's locker, Julien learns the truth. His new friend's name is not Bonnet, but Jean Kippelstein. Père Jean, a compassionate, sacrificing priest of the old school, had agreed to grant a secret asylum to hunted Jews. After a game of treasure hunt, however, Julien and Jean bond and a close friendship develops between them.
When Julien's mother visits on Parents' Day, Julien asks his mother if Bonnet, whose parents could not come, could accompany them to lunch at a gourmet restaurant. As they sit around the table, the talk turns to Julien's father, a factory owner. When Julien's brother asks if he is still for Marshal Pétain, Madame Quentin responds, "No one is anymore." However, the Milice arrive and attempt to expel a Jewish diner. When Julien's brother calls them "Collabos," the Milice commander is enraged and tells Madam Quentin, "We serve France, madam. He insulted us." However, when a Wehrmacht officer coldly orders them to leave, the Milice officers grudgingly obey. Julien's mother comments that the Jewish diner appears to be a very distinguished gentleman. She insists that she has nothing against Jews, but would not object if the socialist politician Léon Blum were hanged.
Shortly thereafter, Joseph, the school's assistant cook, is exposed for selling the school's food supplies on the black market. He implicates several students as accomplices, including Julien and his brother, François. Although Père Jean is visibly distressed by the injustice, he fires Joseph but does not expel the students for fear of offending their wealthy and influential parents.
On a cold morning in January 1944, the Gestapo raid the school. As his classroom is being searched, Julien unintentionally gives away Bonnet by looking in his direction. As the other two Jewish boys are hunted down, Julien encounters the person who denounced them, Joseph the kitchen hand. Trying to justify his betrayal in the face of Julien's mute disbelief, Joseph tells him, "Don't act so pious. There's a war on, kid."
As the students are lined up in the school courtyard, a Gestapo officer denounces the illegal nature of Père Jean's actions. He further accuses all French people of being weak and undisciplined. Meanwhile, Père Jean and the three Jewish students are led away by the officers. Père Jean shouts: "Au revoir, les enfants! À bientôt!" to the children and they respond: "Au revoir, mon père!"
The film ends with an older Julien providing a voiceover epilogue:
"Bonnet, Negus and Dupre died at Auschwitz; Father Jean at Mauthausen. The school reopened its doors in October. More than 40 years have passed, but I'll remember every second of that January morning until the day I die."
Cast[edit]
Gaspard Manesse as Julien Quentin
Raphaël Fejtö as Jean Kippelstein, alias "Jean Bonnet"
Francine Racette as Mme Quentin (Julien's mother)
Stanislas Carré de Malberg as François Quentin (Julien's older brother)
Philippe Morier-Genoud as Father Jean/Père Jean
François Berléand as Father Michel/Père Michel
Irène Jacob as Mlle Davenne
François Négret as Joseph (kitchen helper)
Peter Fitz as Muller
Pascal Rivet as Boulanger
Benoît Henriet as Ciron
Richard Leboeuf as Sagard
Xavier Legrand as Babinot
Arnaud Henriet as Negus
Actual events[edit]
The film is based on events in the childhood of the director, Louis Malle, who at age 11 was attending a Roman Catholic boarding school near Fontainebleau. One day, he witnessed a Gestapo raid in which three Jewish students and a Jewish teacher were rounded up and deported to Auschwitz. The school's headmaster, Père Jacques, was arrested for harboring them and sent to the concentration camp at Mauthausen. He died shortly after the camp was liberated by the U.S. Army, having refused to leave until the last French prisoner was repatriated. Forty years later Yad Vashem, Israel's official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust, granted Père Jacques the title of Righteous Among the Nations.
Reception[edit]
The film was extremely well received by critics and has a 96% positive rating at the critics-aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes.[2][3][4][5][6]
The film was also a box office success having 3,488,460 admissions in France and grossing $4,542,825 in North America.[7]
Awards and nominations[edit]
The film won the Golden Lion award at the 1987 Venice Film Festival. At the 1988 César Awards, it won in seven categories, including Best Director, Best Film and Best Writing. It was nominated for two Academy Awards: Best Foreign Language Film and Best Original Screenplay at the 60th Academy Awards.[8] It was also nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the 1988 Golden Globe Awards.
See also[edit]
List of submissions to the 60th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film
List of French submissions for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ Champlin, Charles (18 February 1988). "'Au Revoir Les Enfants' Rooted in the Memory of Louis Malle". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 29 June 2012.
2.Jump up ^ Thomas, Kevin (16 December 1987). "Movie Review: Les Enfants, Malle's Tale of Occupied France". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 29 June 2012.
3.Jump up ^ Ebert, Roger (18 March 1988). "Au Revoir Les Enfants". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved 29 June 2012.
4.Jump up ^ Canby, Vincent (12 February 1988). "Au revoir, les enfants (1987)". The New York Times. Retrieved 29 June 2012.
5.Jump up ^ Corliss, Richard (1988). "Cinema: Hard Rites Of Passage". TIME. Retrieved 29 June 2012.(subscription required)
6.Jump up ^ Rotten Tomatoes (2012). "Au Revoir, les Enfants". Rottentomatoes.com. Flixster. Retrieved 29 June 2012.
7.Jump up ^ Klady, Leonard (8 January 1989). "Box Office Champs, Chumps". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 29 June 2012.
8.Jump up ^ "The 60th Academy Awards (1988) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Retrieved 16 August 2015.
External links[edit]
Au revoir les enfants at the Internet Movie Database
Au revoir les enfants at AllMovie
Au Revoir les Enfants screenplay at Google Books
Criterion Collection essay by Philip Kemp


[show]
v ·
 t ·
 e
 
Films directed by Louis Malle

 






















 






 









 








 


[show]
v ·
 t ·
 e
 
French submissions for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film

 











 























 























 


















 


[show]
v ·
 t ·
 e
 
César Award for Best Film

 



























 



















 


[show]
v ·
 t ·
 e
 
Golden Lion winning films

 























 
























 


















 


[show]
v ·
 t ·
 e
 
London Film Critics' Circle Foreign Language Film of the Year

 





































  


Categories: 1987 films
1980s drama films
French films
French coming-of-age films
French war films
French drama films
French-language films
West German films
Holocaust films
War drama films
Films about Roman Catholicism
Films about the French Resistance
Films directed by Louis Malle
Leone d'Oro winners
The Holocaust in France
Louis Delluc Prize winners
Films whose director won the Best Direction BAFTA Award




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The Pianist (soundtrack

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The Pianist (soundtrack

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List of accolades received by The Pianist

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The Pianist is a 2002 French-German-British historical film directed by Roman Polanski. It is based on the autobiographical novel The Pianist written by Władysław Szpilman.
Awards and nominations[edit]

Award
Category
Recipient/Nominee
Result
75th Academy Awards Best Actor Adrien Brody Won[1]
Best Director Roman Polanski Won[1]
Best Adapted Screenplay Ronald Harwood Won[1]
Best Picture Roman Polanksi
 Robert Benmussa
 Alain Sarde Nominated
Best Cinematography Pawel Edelman Nominated
Best Costume Design Anna B. Sheppard Nominated
Academy Award for Best Film Editing Hervé de Luze Nominated
60th Golden Globe Awards Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama Adrien Brody Nominated
Best Motion Picture - Drama  Nominated
56th British Academy Film Awards Best Film Roman Polanski
 Robert Benmussa
 Alain Serde Won[2]
Best Director Roman Polanski Won[2]
Best Music Wojciech Kilar Nominated
Best Screenplay - Adapted Ronald Harwood Nominated
Best Actor Adrien Brody Nominated
Best Cinematography Pawel Edelman Nominated
Best Sound Gerard Hardy
 Dean Humphreys
 Jean-Marie Blondel Nominated
9th Screen Actors Guild Awards Best Actor Adrien Brody Nominated
American Screenwriters Association Discover Screenwriting Award Ronald Harwood Nominated
American Society of Cinematographers Best Cinematography Pawel Edelman Nominated
Argentine Film Critics Association Best Foreign Film Roman Polanski Nominated
Awards of the Japanese Academy Best Foreign Film  Won[3]
Boston Society of Film Critics Awards 2002 Best Film  Won[4]
Best Actor Adrien Brody Won[4]
Best Director Roman Polanski Won[4]
British Society of Cinematographers Best Cinematographer Pawel Edelman Nominated
8th Critics' Choice Awards Best Director Roman Polanski Nominated
Best Film  Nominated
2002 Cannes Film Festival Palme d'Or Roman Polanski Won[5]
Chicago Film Critics Association Awards 2003 Best Film  Nominated
Best Director Roman Polanski Nominated
Best Actor Adrien Brody Nominated
Grande Prêmio do Cinema Brasileiro Best Foreign Film  Nominated
Cinema Writers Circle Awards Best Foreign Film  Won[6]
Czech Lion Best Foreign Film Roman Polanski Won[7]
28th César Awards Best Film Roman Polanski Won[8]
Best Actor Adrien Brody Won[8]
Best Director Roman Polanski Won[8]
Best Music Wojciech Kilar Won[8]
Best Cinematography Pawel Edelman Won[8]
Best Production Allan Starski Won[8]
Best Sound Jean-Marie Blondel
 Gérard Hardy
 Dean Humphreys Won[8]
Best Writing Ronald Harwood Nominated
Best Editing Hervé de Luze Nominated
Best Costume Design Anna B. Sheppard Nominated
Dallas–Fort Worth Film Critics Association Best Actor Adrien Brody Nominated
David di Donatello Best Foreign Film Roman Polanski Won[7]
European Film Awards Best Cinematographer Pawel Edelman Won[9]
Best Actor Adrien Brody Nominated
Best Film  Nominated
Best Director Roman Polanski Nominated
Utah Film Critics Association Awards Best Picture  Nominated
Best Director Roman Polanski 2nd place
Best Actor Adrien Brody 2nd place
Best Screenplay Ronald Harwood
(together with Hayao Miyazaki, Cindy Davis Hewitt, and Donald H. Hewitt for Spirited Away) Tied
References[edit]
1.^ Jump up to: a b c "2003: The 75th Academy Award Winners". Oscar.go.com. Retrieved 2015-02-15.
2.^ Jump up to: a b "BAFTA 2002". Oscarsijmen.com. Retrieved 2015-02-15.
3.Jump up ^ "Japan Academy Prize" (in Japanese). Japan-academy-prize.jp. Retrieved 2015-02-15.
4.^ Jump up to: a b c "Boston crix key up ‘Pianist’". Variety.com. 2002-12-15. Retrieved 2015-02-15.
5.Jump up ^ Marcucci, Stephanie (2002-05-26). "Cannes Film Festival Winners Announced". Hollywood.com. Retrieved 2015-02-15.
6.Jump up ^ Schwartz, Ronald. Great Spanish Films Since 1950. Scarecrow Press. p. 283. ISBN 978-0810854055. Retrieved 2015-02-15.
7.^ Jump up to: a b Mazierska, Ewa. Polish Cinema in a Transnational Context. p. 63. ISBN 978-1580464680. Retrieved 2015-02-15.
8.^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g "Cesar Awards". academie-cinema.org. Retrieved 2015-02-15.
9.Jump up ^ "European Film Academy". Europeanfilmacademy.org. Retrieved 2015-02-15.
External links[edit]
Accolades for The Pianist at the Internet Movie Database
  


Categories: Lists of accolades by film




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List of accolades received by The Pianist

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The Pianist is a 2002 French-German-British historical film directed by Roman Polanski. It is based on the autobiographical novel The Pianist written by Władysław Szpilman.
Awards and nominations[edit]

Award
Category
Recipient/Nominee
Result
75th Academy Awards Best Actor Adrien Brody Won[1]
Best Director Roman Polanski Won[1]
Best Adapted Screenplay Ronald Harwood Won[1]
Best Picture Roman Polanksi
 Robert Benmussa
 Alain Sarde Nominated
Best Cinematography Pawel Edelman Nominated
Best Costume Design Anna B. Sheppard Nominated
Academy Award for Best Film Editing Hervé de Luze Nominated
60th Golden Globe Awards Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama Adrien Brody Nominated
Best Motion Picture - Drama  Nominated
56th British Academy Film Awards Best Film Roman Polanski
 Robert Benmussa
 Alain Serde Won[2]
Best Director Roman Polanski Won[2]
Best Music Wojciech Kilar Nominated
Best Screenplay - Adapted Ronald Harwood Nominated
Best Actor Adrien Brody Nominated
Best Cinematography Pawel Edelman Nominated
Best Sound Gerard Hardy
 Dean Humphreys
 Jean-Marie Blondel Nominated
9th Screen Actors Guild Awards Best Actor Adrien Brody Nominated
American Screenwriters Association Discover Screenwriting Award Ronald Harwood Nominated
American Society of Cinematographers Best Cinematography Pawel Edelman Nominated
Argentine Film Critics Association Best Foreign Film Roman Polanski Nominated
Awards of the Japanese Academy Best Foreign Film  Won[3]
Boston Society of Film Critics Awards 2002 Best Film  Won[4]
Best Actor Adrien Brody Won[4]
Best Director Roman Polanski Won[4]
British Society of Cinematographers Best Cinematographer Pawel Edelman Nominated
8th Critics' Choice Awards Best Director Roman Polanski Nominated
Best Film  Nominated
2002 Cannes Film Festival Palme d'Or Roman Polanski Won[5]
Chicago Film Critics Association Awards 2003 Best Film  Nominated
Best Director Roman Polanski Nominated
Best Actor Adrien Brody Nominated
Grande Prêmio do Cinema Brasileiro Best Foreign Film  Nominated
Cinema Writers Circle Awards Best Foreign Film  Won[6]
Czech Lion Best Foreign Film Roman Polanski Won[7]
28th César Awards Best Film Roman Polanski Won[8]
Best Actor Adrien Brody Won[8]
Best Director Roman Polanski Won[8]
Best Music Wojciech Kilar Won[8]
Best Cinematography Pawel Edelman Won[8]
Best Production Allan Starski Won[8]
Best Sound Jean-Marie Blondel
 Gérard Hardy
 Dean Humphreys Won[8]
Best Writing Ronald Harwood Nominated
Best Editing Hervé de Luze Nominated
Best Costume Design Anna B. Sheppard Nominated
Dallas–Fort Worth Film Critics Association Best Actor Adrien Brody Nominated
David di Donatello Best Foreign Film Roman Polanski Won[7]
European Film Awards Best Cinematographer Pawel Edelman Won[9]
Best Actor Adrien Brody Nominated
Best Film  Nominated
Best Director Roman Polanski Nominated
Utah Film Critics Association Awards Best Picture  Nominated
Best Director Roman Polanski 2nd place
Best Actor Adrien Brody 2nd place
Best Screenplay Ronald Harwood
(together with Hayao Miyazaki, Cindy Davis Hewitt, and Donald H. Hewitt for Spirited Away) Tied
References[edit]
1.^ Jump up to: a b c "2003: The 75th Academy Award Winners". Oscar.go.com. Retrieved 2015-02-15.
2.^ Jump up to: a b "BAFTA 2002". Oscarsijmen.com. Retrieved 2015-02-15.
3.Jump up ^ "Japan Academy Prize" (in Japanese). Japan-academy-prize.jp. Retrieved 2015-02-15.
4.^ Jump up to: a b c "Boston crix key up ‘Pianist’". Variety.com. 2002-12-15. Retrieved 2015-02-15.
5.Jump up ^ Marcucci, Stephanie (2002-05-26). "Cannes Film Festival Winners Announced". Hollywood.com. Retrieved 2015-02-15.
6.Jump up ^ Schwartz, Ronald. Great Spanish Films Since 1950. Scarecrow Press. p. 283. ISBN 978-0810854055. Retrieved 2015-02-15.
7.^ Jump up to: a b Mazierska, Ewa. Polish Cinema in a Transnational Context. p. 63. ISBN 978-1580464680. Retrieved 2015-02-15.
8.^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g "Cesar Awards". academie-cinema.org. Retrieved 2015-02-15.
9.Jump up ^ "European Film Academy". Europeanfilmacademy.org. Retrieved 2015-02-15.
External links[edit]
Accolades for The Pianist at the Internet Movie Database
  


Categories: Lists of accolades by film




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The Pianist (memoir)

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  (Redirected from The Pianist (memoir)
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This article is about the memoir. For the film by Roman Polanski, see The Pianist (2002 film).
The Pianist
 
Author
Wladyslaw Szpilman
Original title
Śmierć miasta
Translator
Anthea Bell
Country
Warsaw, Poland
Language
Polish
Genre
Diary, memoir, autobiography
Media type
Print (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages
224 pp
ISBN
978-0-7538-1405-5 (new ed.)
OCLC
59463310
The Pianist is a memoir of the Polish composer of Jewish origin Władysław Szpilman, written and elaborated by Jerzy Waldorff, who met Szpilman in 1938 in Krynica and became a friend of his. The book is written in the first person, as Szpilman's memoir. It tells how Szpilman survived the German deportations of Jews to extermination camps, the 1943 destruction of the Warsaw Ghetto, and the 1944 Warsaw Uprising during World War II.[1]
The book, originally entitled Death of a City (Śmierć miasta), was first published by the Polish publishing house Wiedza in 1946.[2] In the introduction to its first edition, Jerzy Waldorff stated that he wrote "as closely as he could" the story told to him by Szpilman, and that he used his brief notes in the process. In the same year, novelists Jerzy Andrzejewski and Czesław Miłosz wrote a screenplay based on it, for the movie called Robinson of Warsaw (Robinson warszawski). In the next three years a number of drastic revisions were requested by the Communist Party, prompting Miłosz to quit and withdraw his name from the credits. The movie was released during the Conference of Poland's Filmographers in Wisła on November 19–22, 1949 and met with a new wave of political criticism. Further revisions were requested and new music commissioned, and the movie was re-released in popular movie theatres in December 1950 under a different title: Unsubjugated City (Miasto nieujarzmione).[1]
Because of Stalinist cultural policy and the ostensibly "grey areas" in which Szpilman (Waldorff) asserted that not all Germans were bad and not all of the oppressed were good, the actual book remained sidelined for more than 50 years. The subsequent prints of Szpilman's memoir omitted the name of Waldorff altogether and asserted that it was authored by the subject himself. Szpilman was not a writer, according to his own son Andrzej. The latest edition was slightly expanded by Andrzej Szpilman himself and printed under a different title, The Pianist.[3]
In 1998, Szpilman’s son Andrzej Szpilman republished his father's memoir, first in German as Das wunderbare Überleben (The Miraculous Survival) and then in English as The Pianist. It was later published in more than 30 languages.[citation needed]
In 2002, Roman Polanski directed a screen version, also called The Pianist, but Szpilman died before the film was completed. The movie won three Academy Awards, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Film Award, and the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival.[citation needed]


Contents  [hide]
1 Synopsis 1.1 Creation of the Ghetto
1.2 Life in the Ghetto
1.3 The Umschlagplatz
1.4 Death of a City
1.5 Wilm Hosenfeld
2 After the war
3 Movie
4 Concert with reading
5 References
6 External links

Synopsis[edit]
Władysław Szpilman studied the piano in the early 1930s in Warsaw and Berlin. In Berlin, he was instructed by Leonid Kreutzer and, at the Berlin Academy of Arts, by Artur Schnabel. During his time at the academy he also studied composition with Franz Schreker. In 1933, he returned to Warsaw after Adolf Hitler and his Nazi Party rose to power in Germany.
Upon his return to Warsaw, Szpilman worked as a pianist for Polish Radio until the German invasion of Poland in 1939. He was forced to stop work at the station when German bombs destroyed the power station that kept Polish Radio running. He played Polish Radio’s last ever pre-war live recording (a Chopin recital) the day the station went off the air.
Only days after Warsaw’s surrender, German leaflets appeared, hung on the walls of buildings. These leaflets, issued by the German commandant, promised Poles the protection and care of the German State. There was even a special section devoted to Jews, guaranteeing them that their rights, their property, and their lives would be absolutely secure. At first, these proclamations seemed trustworthy, and opinion was rife that Germany’s invasion may have even been a good thing for Poland; it would restore order to Poland’s present state of chaos. But, soon after the taking of the city, popular feeling began to change. The first clumsily organised race raids, in which Jews were taken from the streets into private cars and tormented and abused, began almost immediately after peace had returned to the city. But the occurrence that first outraged the majority of Poles was the murder of a hundred innocent Polish citizens in December 1939. After this, Polish opinion turned strongly against the occupying army, especially the organisation responsible for the majority of civilian murders, the SS.
Soon, decrees applying only to Jews began to be posted around the city. Jews had to hand real estate and valuables over to German officials and Jewish families were only permitted to own 2000 złoty each. The rest had to be deposited in a bank in a blocked account. Unsurprisingly, very few people handed their property over to the Germans willingly in compliance with this decree. Szpilman’s family (he was living with his parents, his brother Henryk, and his sisters Regina and Halina) were among those who did not. They hid their money in the window frame, an expensive gold watch under their cupboard, and the watch’s chain beneath the fingerboard of Szpilman’s father’s violin.
Creation of the Ghetto[edit]
By 1940, many of the roads leading into the area set aside for the ghetto were being blocked off with walls. No reason was given for the construction work. Also in January and February 1940, the first decrees appeared ordering Jewish men and women each to do two years of labour in concentration camps. These years would serve to cure Jews of being "parasites on the healthy organism of the Aryan peoples". But the threats of labour camps didn’t come into effect until May, when Germany took Paris. Now, having expanded the bounds of the Reich by a significant distance, the Nazis had time to spare to persecute the Jews. Deportations, German robberies, murders, and forced labour were stepped up significantly. To avoid the concentration camps, rich, intellectual Jews like Szpilman’s family and many of his acquaintances could pay to have poorer Jews deported in their place. These payments would be made to the Judenrat, the Jewish organisation that the Germans had put in charge of arranging the deportation. Most of the money went to supporting the high-cost living standards of those at the head of the council.
For the Jews of Warsaw, the worst was yet to come. In The Pianist, Szpilman describes a newspaper article that appeared in October 1940 soon after the Ghetto was officially pronounced by the German Governor-General Hans Frank:

A little while later the only Warsaw newspaper published in Polish by the Germans provided an official comment on this subject: not only were the Jews social parasites, they also spread infection. They were not, said the report, to be shut up in a ghetto; even the word “ghetto” was not to be used. The Germans were too cultured and magnanimous a race, said the newspaper, to confine even parasites like the Jews to ghettos, a medieval remnant unworthy of the new order in Europe. Instead, there was to be a separate Jewish quarter of the city where only Jews lived, where they would enjoy total freedom, and where they could continue to practise their racial customs and culture. Purely for hygienic reasons, this quarter was to be surrounded by a wall so that typhus and other Jewish diseases could not spread to other parts of the city.
And so the Warsaw Ghetto was formed.
Life in the Ghetto[edit]
Szpilman’s family was lucky to already be living in the ghetto area when the plans were announced. Other families, living outside the boundaries, had to find new homes within the ghetto’s confines. They had been given just over a month’s warning by the notices and many families were forced to pay exorbitant amounts of money for tiny slums in the bad areas of the ghetto.
On 15 November 1940, the gates of the ghetto were closed. However, this didn’t stop the smuggling trade into the “Jewish Quarter". Expensive luxury goods as well as food and drink came into the ghetto, heaped in wagons and carts. Although these convoys were not strictly legal, the two men in charge of the business, Kon and Heller (who were in the service of the Gestapo and through them could run many such ventures), paid the guards at the ghetto gate to turn a blind eye at a prearranged time and allow the carts through. There were other, less organised types of smuggling that occurred regularly in the ghetto. Every afternoon (afternoon was the best time for smuggling as by then the police guarding the wall were tired and uninterested) carts would pass by the ghetto wall, a whistle would be heard, and bags of staple food would be thrown into the ghetto. The poor inhabitants of the houses by the wall would scamper out of cover, grab the food, and return to their lodgings. Szpilman played piano at an expensive café which pandered to the ghetto’s upper class, largely smugglers and other war profiteers, and their wives or mistresses. On his way to or from work, Szpilman would sometimes pass by the wall during smuggling hours. In addition to the methods of smuggling mentioned previously, Szpilman observed many child smugglers at work. These smugglers were children who, of their own volition or on the instructions of family members or employers, sneaked out of the ghetto through gutters that ran from the Aryan side of the wall to the Jewish side. Children did the work as they were the only ones small enough to squeeze through without becoming stuck. Once they had gotten to the other side and received their bags of goods, they would return to the ghetto through the gutters. In his memoir, Szpilman describes one of these forays:

One day when I was walking along beside the wall I saw a childish smuggling operation that seemed to have reached a successful conclusion. The Jewish child still on the far side of the wall only needed to follow his goods back through the opening. His skinny little figure was already partly in view when he suddenly began screaming, and at the same time I heard the hoarse bellowing of a German on the other side of the wall. I ran to the child to help him squeeze through as quickly as possible, but in defiance of our efforts his hips stuck in the drain. I pulled at his little arms with all my might, while his screams became increasingly desperate, and I could hear the heavy blows struck by the policeman on the other side of the wall. When I finally managed to pull the child through, he died. His spine had been shattered.
As time went by, the area of the ghetto was slowly decreased until there was a small ghetto, made up mostly of intelligentsia and middle – upper class, and a large ghetto that held the rest of the Warsaw Jews. Szpilman and his family were fortunate to live in the small ghetto, which was less crowded and dangerous than the other. The large ghetto was reached from the small ghetto by crossing Chłodna Stree in the Aryan part of the city. Again, the experience of those in the bigger ghetto is best described by Szpilman:

Dozens of beggars lay in wait for this brief moment of encounter with a prosperous citizen, mobbing him by pulling at his clothes, barring his way, begging, weeping, shouting, threatening. But it was foolish for anyone to feel sympathy and give a beggar something, for then the shouting would rise to a howl. That signal would bring more and more wretched figures streaming up from all sides, and the good Samaritan would find himself besieged, hemmed in by ragged apparitions spraying him with tubercular saliva, by children covered with oozing sores who were pushed into his path, by gesticulating stumps of arms, blinded eyes, toothless, stinking open mouths, all begging for mercy at this, the last moment of their lives, as if their end could be delayed only by instant support.
Whenever he went into the large ghetto, Szpilman would visit a friend, Jehuda Zyskind, who worked as a smuggler, trader, driver, or carrier when the need arose. He was also an enthusiastic Socialist. This interest was what eventually led to his and his family’s death: shot on the spot by Military Police officers after being caught sorting out a pile of socialist documents, illegally smuggled into the ghetto. But before his death, in the winter of 1942, Zyskind supplied Szpilman with the latest news from outside the ghetto, received via radio. After hearing this news and completing whatever other business he had in the large ghetto, Szpilman would head back to his house in the small ghetto. On his way, Szpilman would meet up with his brother, Henryk, who made a living by trading books in the street. He would help Henryk to carry the books back to the family house, where they would have lunch.
Henryk, like Władysław, was cultured and well educated. Many of his friends advised him, at one time or another, to do as most young men of the intelligentsia and join the Jewish Ghetto Police, an organisation of Jews who worked under the SS, upholding their laws in the ghetto. Henryk, however, refused to work with “bandits”. Soon enough, Henryk’s decision was proved to have been a wise one. In May 1942, the Jewish Police began to carry out the task of “human-hunting” for the Germans, mistreating Jews almost as viciously as their German employers. Szpilman describes the Jewish Police:

You could have said, perhaps, that they caught the Gestapo spirit. As soon as they put on their uniforms and police caps and picked up their rubber truncheons, their natures changed. Now their ultimate ambition was to be in close touch with the Gestapo, to be useful to Gestapo officers, parade down the street with them, show off their knowledge of the German language and vie with their masters in the harshness of their dealings with the Jewish population.
During a “human-hunt” conducted by the Jewish Police, Henryk was picked up and arrested. As soon as he heard the news of his brother’s arrest, Szpilman went to the labour bureau building, determined to secure Henryk’s release. His only hope was that his popularity as a pianist would be enough to secure Henryk’s release and stop himself from being arrested as well, for none of his papers were in order. Still, Szpilman made his way to the building and, amongst a crowd of prisoners being herded into captivity, managed to find the deputy director of the labour bureau. After much effort, Szpilman managed to extract from him a promise that Henryk would be home by that night, which he was.
The rest of the men who had been arrested during the sweep were taken to Treblinka, a German extermination camp, to test the new gas chambers and crematorium furnaces.
The Umschlagplatz[edit]
On 22 July 1942, the resettlement plan was first put into action. Buildings, randomly selected from all areas of the Ghetto, were surrounded by German officers leading troops of Jewish Police. The inhabitants were called out, the building was searched, and every single person removed from the building, including babies and old men and women, was loaded into wagons and taken to the Umschlagplatz (the assembly area). From there, Jews were loaded into trains and taken away. Notices posted around the city said that all Jews fit to work were going to the East to work in German factories. They would each be allowed 20 kilograms of luggage, jewelry, and provisions for two days. Only Jewish officials from the Judenräte or other social institutions were exempt from resettlement.
In the hope of being allowed to stay in Warsaw if they were useful to the German community, Jews tried to find work at German firms that were recruiting within the ghetto. If they managed to find work, often by paying their employer to hire them, Jews would be issued with certificates of employment. They would pin notices bearing the name of the place where they were working onto their clothing.
After six days searching and deal making, Szpilman managed to procure six work certificates, enough for his entire family. At this time, Henryk, Władysław and their father were given work sorting the stolen possessions of Jewish families at the collection centre near the Umschlagplatz. They and the rest of the family were allowed to move into the barracks for Jewish workers at the centre.
But, on 16 August 1942, Szpilman’s luck ran out. On that day there was a selection carried out at the collection centre and only Henryk and Halina were passed as fit to work and allowed to stay. The rest of the family was taken to the Umschlagplatz.
Soon after they arrived, Szpilman’s family was reunited. Henryk and Halina, working in the collection centre, had heard about the plight of the rest of the family and volunteered of their own will to go to the Umschlagplatz. Szpilman was horrified and angered by his siblings’ headstrong decision, and only accepted their presence after his appeal to the guards had failed to secure their release. The family sat together in the large open space that was the Umschlagplatz. Szpilman describes their last moments together before the train arrived:

At one point a boy made his way through the crowd in our direction with a box of sweets on a string round his neck. He was selling them at ridiculous prices, although heaven knows what he thought he was going to do with the money. Scraping together the last of our small change, we bought a single cream caramel. Father divided it into six parts with his penknife. That was our last meal together.
That night, at around six o’clock, the transports were filled, in preparation for leaving the Umschlagplatz. Szpilman describes his last moments with his family:

By the time we had made our way to the train the first trucks were already full. People were standing in them pressed close to each other. SS men were still pushing with their rifle butts, although there were loud cries from inside and complaints about the lack of air. And indeed the smell of chlorine made breathing difficult, even some distance from the trucks. What went on in there if the floors had to be so heavily chlorinated? We had gone about halfway down the train when I suddenly heard someone shout, 'Here! Here, Szpilman!’ A hand grabbed me by the collar, and I was flung back and out of the police cordon.
Who dared do such a thing? I didn't want to be parted from my family. I wanted to stay with them!
Death of a City[edit]
Szpilman never saw any members of his family again. The train they were on took them to Treblinka. None of them survived the war.
Szpilman got work to keep himself safe. His first job was as part of a column of workers the Germans were using to demolish the walls of the large ghetto, for now that most of the Jews there had been deported, it was being reclaimed by the rest of the city. Whilst doing this new work, Szpilman was permitted to go out into the Gentile side of Warsaw. If they could slip away from the wall, Szpilman and the other workers visited Polish food stalls and purchased such staples as potatoes and bread. These precious purchases could either be eaten by the buyer or taken into the ghetto, where their value skyrocketed. By eating some of their food and selling or trading the rest in the ghetto, the men working on the wall could feed themselves adequately and still raise enough money to repeat the exercise the next day.
After his work on the wall Szpilman survived another selection in the ghetto and was sent to work on many different tasks, such as cleaning out the yard of the Jewish council building. Eventually, Szpilman was posted to a steady job as "storeroom manager". In this position, Szpilman organised the stores at the SS accommodation, which his group was preparing. At around this time, the Germans in charge of Szpilman’s group decided to allow each man five kilograms of potatoes and a loaf of bread every day, to make them feel more secure under the Germans; fears of deportation had been running at especially high levels since the last selection. To get this food, the men were allowed to choose a representative to go into the city with a cart everyday and buy it for all of them. To do this they chose a young man known to Szpilman as “Majorek” (Little Major). Majorek acted not only to collect food, but as a link between the Jewish resistance in the ghetto and similar organisations outside, as well. Hidden inside his bags of food every day, Majorek would bring weapons and ammunition into the ghetto to be passed on to the resistance by Szpilman and the other workers. Majorek was also a link to Szpilman’s Polish friends and acquaintances on the outside; through Majorek, Szpilman managed to arrange his escape from the ghetto.
On February 13, 1943, Szpilman slipped through the ghetto gate and met up with his friend Andrzej Bogucki on the other side. As soon as he saw Szpilman coming, Bogucki turned away and began to walk towards the hiding place they had arranged for him. Szpilman followed, careful not to reveal himself as Jewish (Szpilman had prominent Jewish features) by straying into the light of a street lamp while a German was passing.
Szpilman only stayed in his first hiding place for a few days before he moved on. While hiding in the city, Szpilman had to move many times from flat to flat. Each time he would be provided with food by friends involved in the Polish resistance who, with one or two exceptions, came irregularly but as often as they were able. These months were long and boring for Szpilman; he passed his time by learning to cook elaborate meals silently and out of virtually nothing, by reading, and by teaching himself English. During this entire period Szpilman lived in fear of capture by the Germans. If he were ever discovered and unable to escape, Szpilman planned to commit suicide so that he would be unable to compromise any of his helpers under questioning. During the months Szpilman spent in hiding, he came extremely close to suicide on several occasions, but never had to carry out his plans.
Szpilman continued to live in his various hiding places until August 1944. In August, the Warsaw Uprising, the Polish underground's large-scale effort to fight the German occupiers, began, only weeks after the first Soviet shells had fallen on the city. As a result of this Soviet attack the German authorities had begun tentatively to evacuate the civilian population of the city, but there was still a strong military presence within Warsaw, and this was what the Warsaw rebellion was aimed at.
From the window of the flat in which he was hiding, Szpilman had a good vantage point from which to watch the beginnings of the rebellion. Hiding in a predominantly German area, however, Szpilman was not in a good position to go out and join the fighting: first he would need to get past several units of German soldiers who were holding the area against the main power of the rebellion, which was based in the city centre. So Szpilman stayed in his building. However, on August 12, 1944, the German search for the culprits behind the rebellion reached Szpilman’s building. It was surrounded by Ukrainian fascists and the inhabitants were ordered to evacuate before the building was destroyed. A tank fired a couple of shots into the building and then it was set alight. Szpilman, hiding in his flat on the fourth floor, could only hope that the flats on the first floor were the only ones that were burning and that he would be able to escape the flames by staying high. Within hours, however, his room began to fill with smoke and he began to experience the beginning effects of carbon monoxide poisoning. Now, Szpilman was resigned to dying. To quicken his passing, Szpilman decided to commit suicide. To do this, he planned on swallowing first sleeping pills and then a bottle of opium to finish himself off. But he didn’t manage to see his plans through to completion. As soon as he took the sleeping pills, which acted almost instantly on his empty stomach, Szpilman fell asleep.
When he woke up, the fire was no longer burning as powerfully. All of the floors below Szpilman’s were burnt out to varying degrees, and Szpilman left the building to escape the poisonous smoke that filled all the rooms. He stopped and sat down just outside the building, leaning against a wall to conceal himself from the Germans on the road on the other side. He remained hidden behind the wall, recovering from the poison, until dark. Then he struck out across the road to an unfinished hospital building that had been evacuated already. He crossed the road on hands and knees, lying flat and pretending to be a corpse (of which there were many on the road) whenever a German unit came into sight on their way to or from fighting in the city centre. When he eventually reached the hospital, Szpilman collapsed onto the floor in the first available area and fell asleep.
The next day, Szpilman explored the hospital thoroughly. To his dismay he found that it was full of items the Germans would be intending to take away with them, meaning he would have to be careful travelling around the building in case a group should come in to loot. To avoid the patrols that occasionally swept the building, Szpilman hid in a lumber room, tucked in a remote corner of the hospital. Food and drink were scarce in the hospital, and for the first four or five days of his stay in the building, Szpilman couldn’t find anything. When, again, he went searching for food and drink, Szpilman managed to find some crusts of bread to eat and a fire bucket full of water. Even though the stinking water was covered in an iridescent film, Szpilman drank deeply, although he stopped after inadvertently swallowing a considerable amount of dead insects.
On 30 August, Szpilman moved back into his old building, which by this time had entirely burnt out. Here, in larders and bathtubs (which, due to the ravages of the fire, were now open to the air) Szpilman found bread and rainwater, which kept him alive. During his time in this building the Warsaw Uprising was defeated and the evacuation of the civilian population was completed. By October 14, Szpilman and the German army were all but the only humans still living in Warsaw, which had been completely destroyed by the Germans.
As November set in, so did winter. Living in the attic of the block of flats, with very little protection from the cold and the snow, Szpilman began to get extremely cold. As a result of the cold and the squalor, he eventually developed an insatiable craving for hot porridge. So, at great risk, Szpilman came down from the attic to find a working oven in one of the flats. He was still trying to get the stove lit when he was discovered by a German soldier. Szpilman describes the encounter:

He was as alarmed as I was by this lonely encounter in the ruins, but he tried to seem threatening. He asked, in broken Polish, what I was doing here. I said I was living outside Warsaw now and had come back to fetch some of my things. In view of my appearance, this was a ridiculous explanation. The German pointed his gun at me and told me to follow him. I said I would, but my death would be on his conscience, and if he let me stay here I would give him half a litre of spirits. He expressed himself agreeable to this form of ransom, but made it very clear that he would return, and then I would have to give him more strong liquor. As soon as I was alone I climbed quickly to the attic, pulled up the ladder and closed the trapdoor. Sure enough, he was back after quarter of an hour, but accompanied by several other soldiers and a non-commissioned officer. At the sound of their footsteps and voices I clambered up from the attic floor to the top of the intact piece of roof, which had a steep slope. I lay flat on my stomach with my feet braced against the gutter. If it had buckled or given way, I would have slipped to the roofing sheet and then fallen five floors to the street below. But the gutter held, and this new and indeed desperate idea for a hiding place meant that my life was saved once again. The Germans searched the whole building, piling up tables and chairs, and finally came up to my attic, but it did not occur to them to look on the roof. It must have seemed impossible for anyone to be lying there. They left empty-handed, cursing and calling me a number of names.
From then on, Szpilman decided to stay hidden on the roof every day, only coming down at dusk to search for food. He planned to go to this extra measure only until the troop of Germans who knew of his hiding place had left the area. However, he was soon forced to change his plans drastically.
Lying on the roof one day Szpilman suddenly heard a burst of firing near him. Turning, he saw that it was he that the bullets were aimed at. Two Germans, standing on the roof of the hospital, had discovered his latest hiding spot and had begun to shoot at him. Szpilman slithered, as fast as he could, off the roof and down through the trapdoor into the stairway. Then, as his last hiding place in the building had now been discovered, he hurried out of the building and into the expanse of burnt out buildings.
Wilm Hosenfeld[edit]
Szpilman headed quickly away from his old building and soon found another, similar building that he could live in. It was the only multi-story building in the area and, as was now his custom, Szpilman made his way up to the attic.
Some days later, Szpilman searched the building for food. This time his aim was to collect as much food as possible and take it all up to his attic so he would not have to come down so often and expose himself to danger. He found a kitchen and was raiding it intently when suddenly he was surprised by the voice of a German officer behind him.
The officer asked him what he was doing. Szpilman said nothing, but sat down in despair by the larder door. The officer asked him his occupation and Szpilman answered that he was a pianist. On hearing this, the officer led him to a piano in the next room and instructed him to play. Szpilman describes the scene:

I played Chopin's Nocturne in C sharp minor. The glassy, tinkling sound of the untuned strings rang through the empty flat and the stairway, floated through the ruins of the villa on the other side of the street and returned as a muted, melancholy echo. When I had finished, the silence seemed even gloomier and even more eerie than before. A cat mewed in a street somewhere. I heard a shot down below outside the building—a harsh, loud German noise.
The officer looked at me in silence. After a while he sighed, and muttered, "All the same, you shouldn't stay here. I’ll take you out of the city, to a village. You'll be safer there."
I shook my head. "I can’t leave this place," I said firmly.
Only now did he seem to understand my real reason for hiding among the ruins. He started nervously.
"You're Jewish?" he asked
"Yes."
He had been standing with his arms crossed over his chest; he now unfolded them and sat down in the armchair by the piano, as if this discovery called for lengthy reflection.
"Yes, well," he murmured, "in that case I see you really can’t leave."
The officer went with Szpilman to take a look at his hiding place. Inspecting the attic thoroughly, he found a loft above the attic that Szpilman hadn’t noticed as it was in a gloomy area of the roof. He helped Szpilman find a ladder amongst the apartments and helped him climb up into the loft. From then until his unit retreated from Warsaw, the German officer supplied Szpilman with food, water and encouraging news of the Soviet advance.
The officer’s unit left during the first half of December, 1944. The officer left Szpilman with food and drink and with a German Army great coat, so he would be warm while he foraged for food until the Soviets arrived. Szpilman had little to offer the officer by way of thanks, but told him that if he should ever need help, that he should ask for the pianist Szpilman of the Polish Radio.
The Soviets finally arrived on 15 January 1945. When the city was liberated, troops began to come in with civilians following after them, alone or in small groups. Szpilman, wishing to be friendly, came out of his hiding place and greeted one of these civilians, a woman carrying a bundle on her back. But, before he had finished speaking, the woman dropped her bundle, turned and fled, shouting that Szpilman was “A German!” Szpilman ran back inside his building.
Looking out the window minutes later, Szpilman saw that his building had been surrounded by troops and that they were already making their way in via the cellars. So Szpilman came slowly down the stairs, shouting “Don’t shoot! I’m Polish!” A young Polish officer came up the stairs towards him, pointing his pistol and telling him to put his hands up. Again Szpilman said that he was Polish. The officer came and inspected him closer. He eventually agreed that Szpilman was Polish and lowered the pistol.
After the war was over, Szpilman was visited by a violinist friend named Zygmunt Lednicki. Lednicki told Szpilman of a German officer he had met at a Soviet Prisoner of War camp on his way back from his wanderings after the defeat of the Warsaw Uprising. The officer, learning that he was a musician, had asked him if he knew Władysław Szpilman. Lednicki had said that he did, but before the German could tell him his name, the guards at the camp had asked Lednicki to move on and sat the German back down again with his fellows.
When Szpilman and Lendnicki returned to the place where the POW camp had been, it was no longer there. Although after this disappointment Szpilman did everything in his power to find the officer, it took him five years even to discover his name, Wilm Hosenfeld. From there Szpilman went to the government in an attempt to locate Hosenfeld and secure his release. But Hosenfeld and his unit, which was suspected of spying, had been moved to a POW camp at a secret location somewhere in Soviet Russia, and there was nothing the Polish government could do. Hosenfeld died in captivity in 1952.
After the war[edit]
After the war Szpilman resumed his musical career at Radio Poland in Warsaw. His first piece at the newly reconstructed recording room of Radio Warsaw was the same as the last piece he had played six years before. He went on to become the head of Polish Radio’s music department until 1963, when he retired the position to devote more of his time to composing and to touring as a concert pianist. In 1986, he retired from the latter and became a full-time composer. Szpilman died in Warsaw on 6 July 2000 at the age of 88.
Movie[edit]
Main article: The Pianist (2002 film)
A 2002 film version was adapted by Ronald Harwood and stars Adrien Brody, Emilia Fox, Thomas Kretschmann and Michał Żebrowski. The story was filmed by Roman Polanski in 2001. Polanski was awarded the Palme d'Or (Golden Palm) award of the Cannes film festival on May 26, 2002. The film eventually premiered in Cannes on May, 2002. The Pianist was nominated for several Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Brody won the Oscar for Best Actor and Polanski the one for Best Director. It has also received the César Award for Best Film in 2003.
Tagline: Music was his passion. Survival was his masterpiece.
Concert with reading[edit]
As part of the 2007 Manchester International Festival, the memoir was performed as a two-man presentation, with pianist Mikhail Rudy and actor Peter Guinness reading part of the book "The Pianist" by Władysław Szpilman as he recounts his experiences.[4] Directed by Neil Bartlett, the performance took place in an oak-beamed 1830s warehouse, which is part of the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester site. Outside the building there are disused railway tracks, recalling the trains that took the Jews from the Ghetto to the concentration camps in Szpilman's memoirs.
The idea for the performance was originally conceived by the pianist, Mikhail Rudy, who gained the backing of Andrzej Szpilman (Władysław Szpilman's son). He also performed at the first concert dedicated to his Szpilman's music, where he met all of his living descendants. He was also shown the remains of the real-world settings of Szpilman's memoirs by the family, and has remained in contact with them since.[5]
References[edit]
1.^ Jump up to: a b "Film fabularny Miasto nieujarzmione (the Unsubjugated City)". Film fabularny 1945 (in Polish). Internetowa Baza Filmu Polskiego filmpolski.pl. 1998–2012. Retrieved July 31, 2012.
2.Jump up ^ Jan Parker, Timothy Mathews (2011). Tradition, Translation, Trauma: The Classic and the Modern Classical Presences. Oxford University Press. pp. 278–. ISBN 0199554595. Retrieved May 27, 2012. "Google Books preview"
3.Jump up ^ Henryk Grynberg (September 18, 2001). "Pianista i Waldorff ?". Książki. Portal Księgarski. Retrieved May 27, 2012.
4.Jump up ^ Billington, Michael (4 July 2007). "Theatre review: The Pianist / Museum of Science and Industry, Manchester". The Guardian.
5.Jump up ^ Rudy, Mikhail (29 June 2007). "Staging The Pianist". The Guardian.
External links[edit]
Władysław Szpilman information and biography
Szpilman's Warsaw: The History behind The Pianist (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum)
  


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The Pianist (memoir)

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This article is about the memoir. For the film by Roman Polanski, see The Pianist (2002 film).
The Pianist
 
Author
Wladyslaw Szpilman
Original title
Śmierć miasta
Translator
Anthea Bell
Country
Warsaw, Poland
Language
Polish
Genre
Diary, memoir, autobiography
Media type
Print (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages
224 pp
ISBN
978-0-7538-1405-5 (new ed.)
OCLC
59463310
The Pianist is a memoir of the Polish composer of Jewish origin Władysław Szpilman, written and elaborated by Jerzy Waldorff, who met Szpilman in 1938 in Krynica and became a friend of his. The book is written in the first person, as Szpilman's memoir. It tells how Szpilman survived the German deportations of Jews to extermination camps, the 1943 destruction of the Warsaw Ghetto, and the 1944 Warsaw Uprising during World War II.[1]
The book, originally entitled Death of a City (Śmierć miasta), was first published by the Polish publishing house Wiedza in 1946.[2] In the introduction to its first edition, Jerzy Waldorff stated that he wrote "as closely as he could" the story told to him by Szpilman, and that he used his brief notes in the process. In the same year, novelists Jerzy Andrzejewski and Czesław Miłosz wrote a screenplay based on it, for the movie called Robinson of Warsaw (Robinson warszawski). In the next three years a number of drastic revisions were requested by the Communist Party, prompting Miłosz to quit and withdraw his name from the credits. The movie was released during the Conference of Poland's Filmographers in Wisła on November 19–22, 1949 and met with a new wave of political criticism. Further revisions were requested and new music commissioned, and the movie was re-released in popular movie theatres in December 1950 under a different title: Unsubjugated City (Miasto nieujarzmione).[1]
Because of Stalinist cultural policy and the ostensibly "grey areas" in which Szpilman (Waldorff) asserted that not all Germans were bad and not all of the oppressed were good, the actual book remained sidelined for more than 50 years. The subsequent prints of Szpilman's memoir omitted the name of Waldorff altogether and asserted that it was authored by the subject himself. Szpilman was not a writer, according to his own son Andrzej. The latest edition was slightly expanded by Andrzej Szpilman himself and printed under a different title, The Pianist.[3]
In 1998, Szpilman’s son Andrzej Szpilman republished his father's memoir, first in German as Das wunderbare Überleben (The Miraculous Survival) and then in English as The Pianist. It was later published in more than 30 languages.[citation needed]
In 2002, Roman Polanski directed a screen version, also called The Pianist, but Szpilman died before the film was completed. The movie won three Academy Awards, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Film Award, and the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival.[citation needed]


Contents  [hide]
1 Synopsis 1.1 Creation of the Ghetto
1.2 Life in the Ghetto
1.3 The Umschlagplatz
1.4 Death of a City
1.5 Wilm Hosenfeld
2 After the war
3 Movie
4 Concert with reading
5 References
6 External links

Synopsis[edit]
Władysław Szpilman studied the piano in the early 1930s in Warsaw and Berlin. In Berlin, he was instructed by Leonid Kreutzer and, at the Berlin Academy of Arts, by Artur Schnabel. During his time at the academy he also studied composition with Franz Schreker. In 1933, he returned to Warsaw after Adolf Hitler and his Nazi Party rose to power in Germany.
Upon his return to Warsaw, Szpilman worked as a pianist for Polish Radio until the German invasion of Poland in 1939. He was forced to stop work at the station when German bombs destroyed the power station that kept Polish Radio running. He played Polish Radio’s last ever pre-war live recording (a Chopin recital) the day the station went off the air.
Only days after Warsaw’s surrender, German leaflets appeared, hung on the walls of buildings. These leaflets, issued by the German commandant, promised Poles the protection and care of the German State. There was even a special section devoted to Jews, guaranteeing them that their rights, their property, and their lives would be absolutely secure. At first, these proclamations seemed trustworthy, and opinion was rife that Germany’s invasion may have even been a good thing for Poland; it would restore order to Poland’s present state of chaos. But, soon after the taking of the city, popular feeling began to change. The first clumsily organised race raids, in which Jews were taken from the streets into private cars and tormented and abused, began almost immediately after peace had returned to the city. But the occurrence that first outraged the majority of Poles was the murder of a hundred innocent Polish citizens in December 1939. After this, Polish opinion turned strongly against the occupying army, especially the organisation responsible for the majority of civilian murders, the SS.
Soon, decrees applying only to Jews began to be posted around the city. Jews had to hand real estate and valuables over to German officials and Jewish families were only permitted to own 2000 złoty each. The rest had to be deposited in a bank in a blocked account. Unsurprisingly, very few people handed their property over to the Germans willingly in compliance with this decree. Szpilman’s family (he was living with his parents, his brother Henryk, and his sisters Regina and Halina) were among those who did not. They hid their money in the window frame, an expensive gold watch under their cupboard, and the watch’s chain beneath the fingerboard of Szpilman’s father’s violin.
Creation of the Ghetto[edit]
By 1940, many of the roads leading into the area set aside for the ghetto were being blocked off with walls. No reason was given for the construction work. Also in January and February 1940, the first decrees appeared ordering Jewish men and women each to do two years of labour in concentration camps. These years would serve to cure Jews of being "parasites on the healthy organism of the Aryan peoples". But the threats of labour camps didn’t come into effect until May, when Germany took Paris. Now, having expanded the bounds of the Reich by a significant distance, the Nazis had time to spare to persecute the Jews. Deportations, German robberies, murders, and forced labour were stepped up significantly. To avoid the concentration camps, rich, intellectual Jews like Szpilman’s family and many of his acquaintances could pay to have poorer Jews deported in their place. These payments would be made to the Judenrat, the Jewish organisation that the Germans had put in charge of arranging the deportation. Most of the money went to supporting the high-cost living standards of those at the head of the council.
For the Jews of Warsaw, the worst was yet to come. In The Pianist, Szpilman describes a newspaper article that appeared in October 1940 soon after the Ghetto was officially pronounced by the German Governor-General Hans Frank:

A little while later the only Warsaw newspaper published in Polish by the Germans provided an official comment on this subject: not only were the Jews social parasites, they also spread infection. They were not, said the report, to be shut up in a ghetto; even the word “ghetto” was not to be used. The Germans were too cultured and magnanimous a race, said the newspaper, to confine even parasites like the Jews to ghettos, a medieval remnant unworthy of the new order in Europe. Instead, there was to be a separate Jewish quarter of the city where only Jews lived, where they would enjoy total freedom, and where they could continue to practise their racial customs and culture. Purely for hygienic reasons, this quarter was to be surrounded by a wall so that typhus and other Jewish diseases could not spread to other parts of the city.
And so the Warsaw Ghetto was formed.
Life in the Ghetto[edit]
Szpilman’s family was lucky to already be living in the ghetto area when the plans were announced. Other families, living outside the boundaries, had to find new homes within the ghetto’s confines. They had been given just over a month’s warning by the notices and many families were forced to pay exorbitant amounts of money for tiny slums in the bad areas of the ghetto.
On 15 November 1940, the gates of the ghetto were closed. However, this didn’t stop the smuggling trade into the “Jewish Quarter". Expensive luxury goods as well as food and drink came into the ghetto, heaped in wagons and carts. Although these convoys were not strictly legal, the two men in charge of the business, Kon and Heller (who were in the service of the Gestapo and through them could run many such ventures), paid the guards at the ghetto gate to turn a blind eye at a prearranged time and allow the carts through. There were other, less organised types of smuggling that occurred regularly in the ghetto. Every afternoon (afternoon was the best time for smuggling as by then the police guarding the wall were tired and uninterested) carts would pass by the ghetto wall, a whistle would be heard, and bags of staple food would be thrown into the ghetto. The poor inhabitants of the houses by the wall would scamper out of cover, grab the food, and return to their lodgings. Szpilman played piano at an expensive café which pandered to the ghetto’s upper class, largely smugglers and other war profiteers, and their wives or mistresses. On his way to or from work, Szpilman would sometimes pass by the wall during smuggling hours. In addition to the methods of smuggling mentioned previously, Szpilman observed many child smugglers at work. These smugglers were children who, of their own volition or on the instructions of family members or employers, sneaked out of the ghetto through gutters that ran from the Aryan side of the wall to the Jewish side. Children did the work as they were the only ones small enough to squeeze through without becoming stuck. Once they had gotten to the other side and received their bags of goods, they would return to the ghetto through the gutters. In his memoir, Szpilman describes one of these forays:

One day when I was walking along beside the wall I saw a childish smuggling operation that seemed to have reached a successful conclusion. The Jewish child still on the far side of the wall only needed to follow his goods back through the opening. His skinny little figure was already partly in view when he suddenly began screaming, and at the same time I heard the hoarse bellowing of a German on the other side of the wall. I ran to the child to help him squeeze through as quickly as possible, but in defiance of our efforts his hips stuck in the drain. I pulled at his little arms with all my might, while his screams became increasingly desperate, and I could hear the heavy blows struck by the policeman on the other side of the wall. When I finally managed to pull the child through, he died. His spine had been shattered.
As time went by, the area of the ghetto was slowly decreased until there was a small ghetto, made up mostly of intelligentsia and middle – upper class, and a large ghetto that held the rest of the Warsaw Jews. Szpilman and his family were fortunate to live in the small ghetto, which was less crowded and dangerous than the other. The large ghetto was reached from the small ghetto by crossing Chłodna Stree in the Aryan part of the city. Again, the experience of those in the bigger ghetto is best described by Szpilman:

Dozens of beggars lay in wait for this brief moment of encounter with a prosperous citizen, mobbing him by pulling at his clothes, barring his way, begging, weeping, shouting, threatening. But it was foolish for anyone to feel sympathy and give a beggar something, for then the shouting would rise to a howl. That signal would bring more and more wretched figures streaming up from all sides, and the good Samaritan would find himself besieged, hemmed in by ragged apparitions spraying him with tubercular saliva, by children covered with oozing sores who were pushed into his path, by gesticulating stumps of arms, blinded eyes, toothless, stinking open mouths, all begging for mercy at this, the last moment of their lives, as if their end could be delayed only by instant support.
Whenever he went into the large ghetto, Szpilman would visit a friend, Jehuda Zyskind, who worked as a smuggler, trader, driver, or carrier when the need arose. He was also an enthusiastic Socialist. This interest was what eventually led to his and his family’s death: shot on the spot by Military Police officers after being caught sorting out a pile of socialist documents, illegally smuggled into the ghetto. But before his death, in the winter of 1942, Zyskind supplied Szpilman with the latest news from outside the ghetto, received via radio. After hearing this news and completing whatever other business he had in the large ghetto, Szpilman would head back to his house in the small ghetto. On his way, Szpilman would meet up with his brother, Henryk, who made a living by trading books in the street. He would help Henryk to carry the books back to the family house, where they would have lunch.
Henryk, like Władysław, was cultured and well educated. Many of his friends advised him, at one time or another, to do as most young men of the intelligentsia and join the Jewish Ghetto Police, an organisation of Jews who worked under the SS, upholding their laws in the ghetto. Henryk, however, refused to work with “bandits”. Soon enough, Henryk’s decision was proved to have been a wise one. In May 1942, the Jewish Police began to carry out the task of “human-hunting” for the Germans, mistreating Jews almost as viciously as their German employers. Szpilman describes the Jewish Police:

You could have said, perhaps, that they caught the Gestapo spirit. As soon as they put on their uniforms and police caps and picked up their rubber truncheons, their natures changed. Now their ultimate ambition was to be in close touch with the Gestapo, to be useful to Gestapo officers, parade down the street with them, show off their knowledge of the German language and vie with their masters in the harshness of their dealings with the Jewish population.
During a “human-hunt” conducted by the Jewish Police, Henryk was picked up and arrested. As soon as he heard the news of his brother’s arrest, Szpilman went to the labour bureau building, determined to secure Henryk’s release. His only hope was that his popularity as a pianist would be enough to secure Henryk’s release and stop himself from being arrested as well, for none of his papers were in order. Still, Szpilman made his way to the building and, amongst a crowd of prisoners being herded into captivity, managed to find the deputy director of the labour bureau. After much effort, Szpilman managed to extract from him a promise that Henryk would be home by that night, which he was.
The rest of the men who had been arrested during the sweep were taken to Treblinka, a German extermination camp, to test the new gas chambers and crematorium furnaces.
The Umschlagplatz[edit]
On 22 July 1942, the resettlement plan was first put into action. Buildings, randomly selected from all areas of the Ghetto, were surrounded by German officers leading troops of Jewish Police. The inhabitants were called out, the building was searched, and every single person removed from the building, including babies and old men and women, was loaded into wagons and taken to the Umschlagplatz (the assembly area). From there, Jews were loaded into trains and taken away. Notices posted around the city said that all Jews fit to work were going to the East to work in German factories. They would each be allowed 20 kilograms of luggage, jewelry, and provisions for two days. Only Jewish officials from the Judenräte or other social institutions were exempt from resettlement.
In the hope of being allowed to stay in Warsaw if they were useful to the German community, Jews tried to find work at German firms that were recruiting within the ghetto. If they managed to find work, often by paying their employer to hire them, Jews would be issued with certificates of employment. They would pin notices bearing the name of the place where they were working onto their clothing.
After six days searching and deal making, Szpilman managed to procure six work certificates, enough for his entire family. At this time, Henryk, Władysław and their father were given work sorting the stolen possessions of Jewish families at the collection centre near the Umschlagplatz. They and the rest of the family were allowed to move into the barracks for Jewish workers at the centre.
But, on 16 August 1942, Szpilman’s luck ran out. On that day there was a selection carried out at the collection centre and only Henryk and Halina were passed as fit to work and allowed to stay. The rest of the family was taken to the Umschlagplatz.
Soon after they arrived, Szpilman’s family was reunited. Henryk and Halina, working in the collection centre, had heard about the plight of the rest of the family and volunteered of their own will to go to the Umschlagplatz. Szpilman was horrified and angered by his siblings’ headstrong decision, and only accepted their presence after his appeal to the guards had failed to secure their release. The family sat together in the large open space that was the Umschlagplatz. Szpilman describes their last moments together before the train arrived:

At one point a boy made his way through the crowd in our direction with a box of sweets on a string round his neck. He was selling them at ridiculous prices, although heaven knows what he thought he was going to do with the money. Scraping together the last of our small change, we bought a single cream caramel. Father divided it into six parts with his penknife. That was our last meal together.
That night, at around six o’clock, the transports were filled, in preparation for leaving the Umschlagplatz. Szpilman describes his last moments with his family:

By the time we had made our way to the train the first trucks were already full. People were standing in them pressed close to each other. SS men were still pushing with their rifle butts, although there were loud cries from inside and complaints about the lack of air. And indeed the smell of chlorine made breathing difficult, even some distance from the trucks. What went on in there if the floors had to be so heavily chlorinated? We had gone about halfway down the train when I suddenly heard someone shout, 'Here! Here, Szpilman!’ A hand grabbed me by the collar, and I was flung back and out of the police cordon.
Who dared do such a thing? I didn't want to be parted from my family. I wanted to stay with them!
Death of a City[edit]
Szpilman never saw any members of his family again. The train they were on took them to Treblinka. None of them survived the war.
Szpilman got work to keep himself safe. His first job was as part of a column of workers the Germans were using to demolish the walls of the large ghetto, for now that most of the Jews there had been deported, it was being reclaimed by the rest of the city. Whilst doing this new work, Szpilman was permitted to go out into the Gentile side of Warsaw. If they could slip away from the wall, Szpilman and the other workers visited Polish food stalls and purchased such staples as potatoes and bread. These precious purchases could either be eaten by the buyer or taken into the ghetto, where their value skyrocketed. By eating some of their food and selling or trading the rest in the ghetto, the men working on the wall could feed themselves adequately and still raise enough money to repeat the exercise the next day.
After his work on the wall Szpilman survived another selection in the ghetto and was sent to work on many different tasks, such as cleaning out the yard of the Jewish council building. Eventually, Szpilman was posted to a steady job as "storeroom manager". In this position, Szpilman organised the stores at the SS accommodation, which his group was preparing. At around this time, the Germans in charge of Szpilman’s group decided to allow each man five kilograms of potatoes and a loaf of bread every day, to make them feel more secure under the Germans; fears of deportation had been running at especially high levels since the last selection. To get this food, the men were allowed to choose a representative to go into the city with a cart everyday and buy it for all of them. To do this they chose a young man known to Szpilman as “Majorek” (Little Major). Majorek acted not only to collect food, but as a link between the Jewish resistance in the ghetto and similar organisations outside, as well. Hidden inside his bags of food every day, Majorek would bring weapons and ammunition into the ghetto to be passed on to the resistance by Szpilman and the other workers. Majorek was also a link to Szpilman’s Polish friends and acquaintances on the outside; through Majorek, Szpilman managed to arrange his escape from the ghetto.
On February 13, 1943, Szpilman slipped through the ghetto gate and met up with his friend Andrzej Bogucki on the other side. As soon as he saw Szpilman coming, Bogucki turned away and began to walk towards the hiding place they had arranged for him. Szpilman followed, careful not to reveal himself as Jewish (Szpilman had prominent Jewish features) by straying into the light of a street lamp while a German was passing.
Szpilman only stayed in his first hiding place for a few days before he moved on. While hiding in the city, Szpilman had to move many times from flat to flat. Each time he would be provided with food by friends involved in the Polish resistance who, with one or two exceptions, came irregularly but as often as they were able. These months were long and boring for Szpilman; he passed his time by learning to cook elaborate meals silently and out of virtually nothing, by reading, and by teaching himself English. During this entire period Szpilman lived in fear of capture by the Germans. If he were ever discovered and unable to escape, Szpilman planned to commit suicide so that he would be unable to compromise any of his helpers under questioning. During the months Szpilman spent in hiding, he came extremely close to suicide on several occasions, but never had to carry out his plans.
Szpilman continued to live in his various hiding places until August 1944. In August, the Warsaw Uprising, the Polish underground's large-scale effort to fight the German occupiers, began, only weeks after the first Soviet shells had fallen on the city. As a result of this Soviet attack the German authorities had begun tentatively to evacuate the civilian population of the city, but there was still a strong military presence within Warsaw, and this was what the Warsaw rebellion was aimed at.
From the window of the flat in which he was hiding, Szpilman had a good vantage point from which to watch the beginnings of the rebellion. Hiding in a predominantly German area, however, Szpilman was not in a good position to go out and join the fighting: first he would need to get past several units of German soldiers who were holding the area against the main power of the rebellion, which was based in the city centre. So Szpilman stayed in his building. However, on August 12, 1944, the German search for the culprits behind the rebellion reached Szpilman’s building. It was surrounded by Ukrainian fascists and the inhabitants were ordered to evacuate before the building was destroyed. A tank fired a couple of shots into the building and then it was set alight. Szpilman, hiding in his flat on the fourth floor, could only hope that the flats on the first floor were the only ones that were burning and that he would be able to escape the flames by staying high. Within hours, however, his room began to fill with smoke and he began to experience the beginning effects of carbon monoxide poisoning. Now, Szpilman was resigned to dying. To quicken his passing, Szpilman decided to commit suicide. To do this, he planned on swallowing first sleeping pills and then a bottle of opium to finish himself off. But he didn’t manage to see his plans through to completion. As soon as he took the sleeping pills, which acted almost instantly on his empty stomach, Szpilman fell asleep.
When he woke up, the fire was no longer burning as powerfully. All of the floors below Szpilman’s were burnt out to varying degrees, and Szpilman left the building to escape the poisonous smoke that filled all the rooms. He stopped and sat down just outside the building, leaning against a wall to conceal himself from the Germans on the road on the other side. He remained hidden behind the wall, recovering from the poison, until dark. Then he struck out across the road to an unfinished hospital building that had been evacuated already. He crossed the road on hands and knees, lying flat and pretending to be a corpse (of which there were many on the road) whenever a German unit came into sight on their way to or from fighting in the city centre. When he eventually reached the hospital, Szpilman collapsed onto the floor in the first available area and fell asleep.
The next day, Szpilman explored the hospital thoroughly. To his dismay he found that it was full of items the Germans would be intending to take away with them, meaning he would have to be careful travelling around the building in case a group should come in to loot. To avoid the patrols that occasionally swept the building, Szpilman hid in a lumber room, tucked in a remote corner of the hospital. Food and drink were scarce in the hospital, and for the first four or five days of his stay in the building, Szpilman couldn’t find anything. When, again, he went searching for food and drink, Szpilman managed to find some crusts of bread to eat and a fire bucket full of water. Even though the stinking water was covered in an iridescent film, Szpilman drank deeply, although he stopped after inadvertently swallowing a considerable amount of dead insects.
On 30 August, Szpilman moved back into his old building, which by this time had entirely burnt out. Here, in larders and bathtubs (which, due to the ravages of the fire, were now open to the air) Szpilman found bread and rainwater, which kept him alive. During his time in this building the Warsaw Uprising was defeated and the evacuation of the civilian population was completed. By October 14, Szpilman and the German army were all but the only humans still living in Warsaw, which had been completely destroyed by the Germans.
As November set in, so did winter. Living in the attic of the block of flats, with very little protection from the cold and the snow, Szpilman began to get extremely cold. As a result of the cold and the squalor, he eventually developed an insatiable craving for hot porridge. So, at great risk, Szpilman came down from the attic to find a working oven in one of the flats. He was still trying to get the stove lit when he was discovered by a German soldier. Szpilman describes the encounter:

He was as alarmed as I was by this lonely encounter in the ruins, but he tried to seem threatening. He asked, in broken Polish, what I was doing here. I said I was living outside Warsaw now and had come back to fetch some of my things. In view of my appearance, this was a ridiculous explanation. The German pointed his gun at me and told me to follow him. I said I would, but my death would be on his conscience, and if he let me stay here I would give him half a litre of spirits. He expressed himself agreeable to this form of ransom, but made it very clear that he would return, and then I would have to give him more strong liquor. As soon as I was alone I climbed quickly to the attic, pulled up the ladder and closed the trapdoor. Sure enough, he was back after quarter of an hour, but accompanied by several other soldiers and a non-commissioned officer. At the sound of their footsteps and voices I clambered up from the attic floor to the top of the intact piece of roof, which had a steep slope. I lay flat on my stomach with my feet braced against the gutter. If it had buckled or given way, I would have slipped to the roofing sheet and then fallen five floors to the street below. But the gutter held, and this new and indeed desperate idea for a hiding place meant that my life was saved once again. The Germans searched the whole building, piling up tables and chairs, and finally came up to my attic, but it did not occur to them to look on the roof. It must have seemed impossible for anyone to be lying there. They left empty-handed, cursing and calling me a number of names.
From then on, Szpilman decided to stay hidden on the roof every day, only coming down at dusk to search for food. He planned to go to this extra measure only until the troop of Germans who knew of his hiding place had left the area. However, he was soon forced to change his plans drastically.
Lying on the roof one day Szpilman suddenly heard a burst of firing near him. Turning, he saw that it was he that the bullets were aimed at. Two Germans, standing on the roof of the hospital, had discovered his latest hiding spot and had begun to shoot at him. Szpilman slithered, as fast as he could, off the roof and down through the trapdoor into the stairway. Then, as his last hiding place in the building had now been discovered, he hurried out of the building and into the expanse of burnt out buildings.
Wilm Hosenfeld[edit]
Szpilman headed quickly away from his old building and soon found another, similar building that he could live in. It was the only multi-story building in the area and, as was now his custom, Szpilman made his way up to the attic.
Some days later, Szpilman searched the building for food. This time his aim was to collect as much food as possible and take it all up to his attic so he would not have to come down so often and expose himself to danger. He found a kitchen and was raiding it intently when suddenly he was surprised by the voice of a German officer behind him.
The officer asked him what he was doing. Szpilman said nothing, but sat down in despair by the larder door. The officer asked him his occupation and Szpilman answered that he was a pianist. On hearing this, the officer led him to a piano in the next room and instructed him to play. Szpilman describes the scene:

I played Chopin's Nocturne in C sharp minor. The glassy, tinkling sound of the untuned strings rang through the empty flat and the stairway, floated through the ruins of the villa on the other side of the street and returned as a muted, melancholy echo. When I had finished, the silence seemed even gloomier and even more eerie than before. A cat mewed in a street somewhere. I heard a shot down below outside the building—a harsh, loud German noise.
The officer looked at me in silence. After a while he sighed, and muttered, "All the same, you shouldn't stay here. I’ll take you out of the city, to a village. You'll be safer there."
I shook my head. "I can’t leave this place," I said firmly.
Only now did he seem to understand my real reason for hiding among the ruins. He started nervously.
"You're Jewish?" he asked
"Yes."
He had been standing with his arms crossed over his chest; he now unfolded them and sat down in the armchair by the piano, as if this discovery called for lengthy reflection.
"Yes, well," he murmured, "in that case I see you really can’t leave."
The officer went with Szpilman to take a look at his hiding place. Inspecting the attic thoroughly, he found a loft above the attic that Szpilman hadn’t noticed as it was in a gloomy area of the roof. He helped Szpilman find a ladder amongst the apartments and helped him climb up into the loft. From then until his unit retreated from Warsaw, the German officer supplied Szpilman with food, water and encouraging news of the Soviet advance.
The officer’s unit left during the first half of December, 1944. The officer left Szpilman with food and drink and with a German Army great coat, so he would be warm while he foraged for food until the Soviets arrived. Szpilman had little to offer the officer by way of thanks, but told him that if he should ever need help, that he should ask for the pianist Szpilman of the Polish Radio.
The Soviets finally arrived on 15 January 1945. When the city was liberated, troops began to come in with civilians following after them, alone or in small groups. Szpilman, wishing to be friendly, came out of his hiding place and greeted one of these civilians, a woman carrying a bundle on her back. But, before he had finished speaking, the woman dropped her bundle, turned and fled, shouting that Szpilman was “A German!” Szpilman ran back inside his building.
Looking out the window minutes later, Szpilman saw that his building had been surrounded by troops and that they were already making their way in via the cellars. So Szpilman came slowly down the stairs, shouting “Don’t shoot! I’m Polish!” A young Polish officer came up the stairs towards him, pointing his pistol and telling him to put his hands up. Again Szpilman said that he was Polish. The officer came and inspected him closer. He eventually agreed that Szpilman was Polish and lowered the pistol.
After the war was over, Szpilman was visited by a violinist friend named Zygmunt Lednicki. Lednicki told Szpilman of a German officer he had met at a Soviet Prisoner of War camp on his way back from his wanderings after the defeat of the Warsaw Uprising. The officer, learning that he was a musician, had asked him if he knew Władysław Szpilman. Lednicki had said that he did, but before the German could tell him his name, the guards at the camp had asked Lednicki to move on and sat the German back down again with his fellows.
When Szpilman and Lendnicki returned to the place where the POW camp had been, it was no longer there. Although after this disappointment Szpilman did everything in his power to find the officer, it took him five years even to discover his name, Wilm Hosenfeld. From there Szpilman went to the government in an attempt to locate Hosenfeld and secure his release. But Hosenfeld and his unit, which was suspected of spying, had been moved to a POW camp at a secret location somewhere in Soviet Russia, and there was nothing the Polish government could do. Hosenfeld died in captivity in 1952.
After the war[edit]
After the war Szpilman resumed his musical career at Radio Poland in Warsaw. His first piece at the newly reconstructed recording room of Radio Warsaw was the same as the last piece he had played six years before. He went on to become the head of Polish Radio’s music department until 1963, when he retired the position to devote more of his time to composing and to touring as a concert pianist. In 1986, he retired from the latter and became a full-time composer. Szpilman died in Warsaw on 6 July 2000 at the age of 88.
Movie[edit]
Main article: The Pianist (2002 film)
A 2002 film version was adapted by Ronald Harwood and stars Adrien Brody, Emilia Fox, Thomas Kretschmann and Michał Żebrowski. The story was filmed by Roman Polanski in 2001. Polanski was awarded the Palme d'Or (Golden Palm) award of the Cannes film festival on May 26, 2002. The film eventually premiered in Cannes on May, 2002. The Pianist was nominated for several Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Brody won the Oscar for Best Actor and Polanski the one for Best Director. It has also received the César Award for Best Film in 2003.
Tagline: Music was his passion. Survival was his masterpiece.
Concert with reading[edit]
As part of the 2007 Manchester International Festival, the memoir was performed as a two-man presentation, with pianist Mikhail Rudy and actor Peter Guinness reading part of the book "The Pianist" by Władysław Szpilman as he recounts his experiences.[4] Directed by Neil Bartlett, the performance took place in an oak-beamed 1830s warehouse, which is part of the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester site. Outside the building there are disused railway tracks, recalling the trains that took the Jews from the Ghetto to the concentration camps in Szpilman's memoirs.
The idea for the performance was originally conceived by the pianist, Mikhail Rudy, who gained the backing of Andrzej Szpilman (Władysław Szpilman's son). He also performed at the first concert dedicated to his Szpilman's music, where he met all of his living descendants. He was also shown the remains of the real-world settings of Szpilman's memoirs by the family, and has remained in contact with them since.[5]
References[edit]
1.^ Jump up to: a b "Film fabularny Miasto nieujarzmione (the Unsubjugated City)". Film fabularny 1945 (in Polish). Internetowa Baza Filmu Polskiego filmpolski.pl. 1998–2012. Retrieved July 31, 2012.
2.Jump up ^ Jan Parker, Timothy Mathews (2011). Tradition, Translation, Trauma: The Classic and the Modern Classical Presences. Oxford University Press. pp. 278–. ISBN 0199554595. Retrieved May 27, 2012. "Google Books preview"
3.Jump up ^ Henryk Grynberg (September 18, 2001). "Pianista i Waldorff ?". Książki. Portal Księgarski. Retrieved May 27, 2012.
4.Jump up ^ Billington, Michael (4 July 2007). "Theatre review: The Pianist / Museum of Science and Industry, Manchester". The Guardian.
5.Jump up ^ Rudy, Mikhail (29 June 2007). "Staging The Pianist". The Guardian.
External links[edit]
Władysław Szpilman information and biography
Szpilman's Warsaw: The History behind The Pianist (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum)
  


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Polish memoirs
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The Pianist (2002 film)

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"Le Pianiste" redirects here. For the 2001 French film originally titled La Pianiste, see The Piano Teacher (film).


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The Pianist
The Pianist movie.jpg
Theatrical release poster
 
Directed by
Roman Polanski
Produced by
Roman Polanski
Robert Benmussa
Alain Sarde
 
Screenplay by
Ronald Harwood
Based on
The Pianist
 by Władysław Szpilman
Starring
Adrien Brody
Thomas Kretschmann
Frank Finlay
Maureen Lipman
Emilia Fox
Michał Żebrowski
 
Music by
Wojciech Kilar
Cinematography
Paweł Edelman
Edited by
Hervé de Luze

Production
 company
 
Canal+
Studio Babelsberg
Studio Canal+
 
Distributed by
Focus Features

Release dates

24 May 2002 (Cannes)
6 September 2002 (Poland)
6 March 2003 (UK)
 

Running time
 150 minutes[1]
Country
France
Germany
Poland
United Kingdom
 
Language
English
Polish
German
Russian
French
Turkish
 
Budget
$35 million[2]
Box office
$120.1 million[3]
The Pianist is a 2002 historical drama film co-produced and directed by Roman Polanski, scripted by Ronald Harwood, and starring Adrien Brody.[4] It is based on the autobiographical book The Pianist, a World War II memoir by the Polish-Jewish pianist and composer Władysław Szpilman. The film was a co-production between France, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Poland.
The Pianist met with significant critical praise and received multiple awards and nominations. It was awarded the Palme d'Or at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival.[5] At the 75th Academy Awards, The Pianist won Oscars for Best Director (Polanski), Best Adapted Screenplay (Ronald Harwood), and Best Actor (Brody), and was also nominated for four other awards, including the Academy Award for Best Picture. It also won the BAFTA Award for Best Film and BAFTA Award for Best Direction in 2003 and seven French Césars including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor for Brody.


Contents  [hide]
1 Plot
2 Cast
3 Production
4 Reception
5 Home release
6 Music
7 Accolades
8 See also
9 References
10 External links

Plot[edit]
In September 1939, Władysław Szpilman (Adrien Brody), a Polish-Jewish pianist, is playing live on the radio in Warsaw when the station is bombed during Nazi Germany's invasion of Poland which caused the outbreak of World War II. Hoping for a quick victory, Szpilman celebrates with his posh family at home when learning that Britain and France have declared war on Germany. German troops soon enter Warsaw and the Nazi authorities implemented measures to identify, isolate, financially ruin and reduce the Jewish population in Warsaw. Jews are ordered to provide their own identifying armbands with the Star of David.

 

 Photograph of Władysław Szpilman
By November 1940, the Szpilman family and the 360,000 other Warsaw Jews are removed to the newly established Warsaw Ghetto. Conditions make life difficult with overcrowding, starvation, loss of social structure, and disrespect by the military guards. An emaciated dead adult can be seen on the street being comforted by a child and an elderly woman is assaulted over and robbed of the contents of her soup canteen. The Szpilmans witness from across the street of their housing the SS kill the inhabitants of another apartment during a round-up.
On 16 August 1942, the family are to be deported to Treblinka extermination camp, but a friend in the Jewish Ghetto Police intervenes to remove Władysław from the group being transported. Władysław becomes a slave labourer, learns about a coming Jewish revolt and takes part in the smuggling of weapons into the ghetto; almost being found out by a suspicious guard. He arranges an escape to then hide in the city with help from a non-Jewish friend, Andrzej Bogucki (Ronan Vibert), and his wife Janina (Ruth Platt).
In April 1943, Władysław can see from a window of his hiding place the effects of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. Attempting to leave the hiding place for assistance, a neighbor questions his being in the building. Władysław flees and is again assisted with a new hiding place with a piano that on he can silently mimic play. He gets jaundice and survives.
In August 1944, during the Warsaw uprising, the Polish resistance attacks a German building across the street from Władysław's hideout. A tank shells his apartment building, forcing him to hide elsewhere in a deserted and war-torn section of the city. He stays in a damaged and abandoned house, where he finds a large can of pickles. He thinks he is alone in the house and tries to open the can. A Wehrmacht officer, Wilm Hosenfeld (Thomas Kretschmann), has gone to the house to play on the piano there. The officer learns about Władysław's ability when he is told by the officer to play anything; he plays Chopin's Ballade in G minor. Hosenfeld is moved and has Władysław show him where he hides in the attic. The German officer brings him food.
In January 1945, the Germans are forced to retreat due to the advance of the Red Army. Hosenfeld meets Szpilman for the last time and promises he will listen to him on Polish Radio after the war. He gives Szpilman his greatcoat to keep warm and leaves. However, this has almost fatal consequences for Szpilman when he is mistaken for a German soldier, when trying to hug the Polish soldiers and is shot at by Polish troops liberating Warsaw, who then find he is Polish and save him.
In Spring 1945, former inmates of a Nazi concentration camp pass a Soviet prisoner-of-war camp holding captured German soldiers and verbally abuse them. Hosenfeld, among those captured, overhears a released inmate lament over his former career as a violinist (named Zygmunt Lednicki in the book). He asks Lednicki if he knows Szpilman, which he confirms. Hosenfeld wishes for Szpilman to return the favor and help release him. Sometime later, Lednicki is able to bring Szpilman back to the site but they find it has been long abandoned.
Later, Szpilman works for Polish Radio and performs Chopin's Grand Polonaise brillante to a large and prestigious audience. An epilogue states that Szpilman continued to live in Warsaw until his death at the age of 88 in the year 2000, while Hosenfeld died in a Soviet POW gulag camp in 1952.
Cast[edit]
Adrien Brody as Władysław Szpilman
Thomas Kretschmann as Captain Wilm Hosenfeld
Frank Finlay as Samuel Szpilman
Maureen Lipman as Edwarda Szpilman
Emilia Fox as Dorota
Ed Stoppard as Henryk Szpilman
Julia Rayner as Regina Szpilman
Jessica Kate Meyer as Halina Szpilman
Ronan Vibert as Andrzej Bogucki
Ruth Platt as Janina Bogucki
Michał Żebrowski as Jurek
Roy Smiles as Itzhak Heller
Richard Ridings as Mr. Lipa
Daniel Caltagirone as Majorek
Valentine Pelka as Dorota's Husband
Zbigniew Zamachowski as Customer with Coins
Production[edit]

 

 Mała Street in Warsaw's Praga-Północ district used for filming of The Pianist.
The story had deep connections with director Roman Polanski because he escaped from the Kraków Ghetto as a child after the death of his mother. He ended up living in a Polish farmer's barn until the war's end. His father almost died in the camps, but they reunited after the end of World War II.
Joseph Fiennes was Polanski's first choice for the lead role, but he turned it down due to a previous commitment to a theatrical role. Over 1,400 actors auditioned for the role of Szpilman at a casting call in London. Unsatisfied with all who tried, Polanski sought to cast Adrien Brody, whom he saw as ideal for the role during their first meeting in Paris.
Principal photography on The Pianist began on 9 February 2001 in Babelsberg Studio in Potsdam, Germany. The Warsaw Ghetto and the surrounding city were recreated on the backlot of Babelsberg Studio as they would have looked during the war. Old Soviet Army barracks were used to create the ruined city, as they were going to be destroyed anyway.
The first scenes of the film were shot at the old army barracks. Soon after, the film crew moved to a villa in Potsdam, which served as the house where Szpilman meets Hosenfeld. On 2 March 2001, filming then moved to an abandoned Soviet military hospital in Beelitz, Germany. The scenes that featured German soldiers destroying a Warsaw hospital with flamethrowers were filmed here. On 15 March, filming finally moved to Babelsberg Studios. The first scene shot at the studio was the complex and technically demanding scene in which Szpilman witnesses the ghetto uprising.
Filming at the studios ended on 26 March and moved to Warsaw on 29 March. The rundown district of Praga was chosen for filming because of its abundance of original buildings. The art department built onto these original buildings, re-creating World War II–era Poland with signs and posters from the period. Additional filming also took place around Warsaw. The Umschlagplatz scene where Szpilman, his family and hundreds of other Jews wait to be taken to the extermination camps was filmed at the National Defence University of Warsaw.
Principal photography ended in July 2001 and was followed by months of post-production in Paris, France.
Reception[edit]
The Pianist received high critical acclaim and Brody's performance received extreme praise. It has a 96% approval rating on the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 178 reviews with an average rating of 8.2/10 and the consensus, "Well-acted and dramatically moving, The Pianist is Polanski's best work in years."[6] Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score, gave the film a score of 85/100, based on 40 reviews from critics.[7]
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave a positive review of the film, noting that "perhaps that impassive quality reflects what [director Roman] Polanski wants to say... By showing Szpilman as a survivor but not a fighter or a hero—as a man who does all he can to save himself, but would have died without enormous good luck and the kindness of a few non-Jews—Polanski is reflecting... his own deepest feelings: that he survived, but need not have, and that his mother died and left a wound that had never healed."[8] Michael Wilmington of the Chicago Tribune said that the film "is the best dramatic feature I've seen on the Holocaust experience, so powerful a statement on war, inhumanity and art's redemption that it may signal Polanski's artistic redemption." He would later go on to say that the film "illustrates that theme and proves that Polanski's own art has survived the chaos of his life -- and the hell that war and bigotry once made of it."[9] Richard Schickel of Time called it a "raw, unblinkable film" and said that "We admire this film for its harsh objectivity and refusal to seek our tears, our sympathies."[10] Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle said that the film "contains moments of irony, of ambiguity and of strange beauty, as when we finally get a look at Warsaw and see a panorama of destruction, a world of color bombed into black-and-white devastation." He also said that "In the course of showing us a struggle for survival, in all its animal simplicity, Polanski also gives us humanity, in all its complexity."[11] A.O. Scott of The New York Times said that Szpilman "comes to resemble one of Samuel Beckett's gaunt existential clowns, shambling through a barren, bombed-out landscape clutching a jar of pickles. He is like the walking punchline to a cosmic jest of unfathomable cruelty." He also felt that "Szpilman's encounter, in the war's last days, with a music-loving Nazi officer... ...courted sentimentality by associating the love of art with moral decency, an equation the Nazis themselves, steeped in Beethoven and Wagner, definitively refuted."[12]
Home release[edit]
The Pianist was released on DVD on 26 May 2003 in a double-sided disc Special Edition DVD, with the film on one side and special features on the other. Some Bonus Material included a making-of, interviews with Brody, Polanski, and Harwood, and clips of Szpilman playing the piano. The Polish DVD edition included an audio commentary track by production designer Starski and director of photography Edelman.
Universal Studios Home Entertainment released the film on HD-DVD on 8 January 2008 with extras comprising the featurette "A Story of Survival" and rare footage of the real Władysław Szpilman playing his piano, as well as additional interviews with Adrien Brody and other crew.
Optimum Home Entertainment released The Pianist to the European market on Blu-ray as part of their StudioCanal Collection on 13 September 2010,[13] the film's second release on Blu-ray. The first was troublesome due to issues with subtitles; the initial BD lacked subtitles for spoken German dialogue. Optimum later rectified this[14] but the initial release also lacked notable special features. The StudioCanal Collection version includes an extensive Behind the Scenes look as well as several interviews with the makers of the film and Szpilman's relatives.[15]
Music[edit]
Further information: The Pianist (soundtrack)
The piano piece heard at the beginning of the film is Chopin's Nocturne in C-sharp minor Lento con gran espressione, Op. posth.
The piano piece that is heard being played by a next door neighbour while Szpilman was in hiding at an apartment is also an arrangement of Umówiłem się z nią na dziewiątą.
The piano music heard in the abandoned house when Szpilman had just discovered a hiding place in the attic is the Piano Sonata No. 14 (Moonlight Sonata) by Beethoven. It would later be revealed that German officer Hosenfeld was the pianist. The German composition juxtaposed with the mainly Polish/Chopin selection of Szpilman.
The piano piece played when Szpilman is confronted by Hosenfeld is Chopin's Ballade No. 1 in G minor, Op. 23, but the version played in the movie was shortened (the entire piece lasts about 10 minutes).
The cello piece heard at the middle of the film, played by Dorota, is the Prelude from Bach's Cello Suite No. 1.
The piano piece heard at the end of the film, played with an orchestra, is Chopin's Grande Polonaise brillante, Op. 22.
Shots of Szpilman's hands playing the piano in close-up were performed by Polish classical pianist Janusz Olejniczak (b. 1952), who also performed on the soundtrack.
Since Polanski wanted the film to be as realistic as possible, any scene showing Brody playing was actually his playing overdubbed by recordings performed by Janusz Olejniczak. In order for Brody's playing to look like it was at the level of Władysław Szpilman's, he spent many months prior to and during the filming practising so that his keystrokes on the piano would convince viewers that Brody himself was playing.
Accolades [edit]
Main article: List of accolades received by The Pianist
See also[edit]
List of Holocaust films
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ "THE PIANIST (15)". British Board of Film Classification. 3 July 2002. Retrieved 14 March 2015.
2.Jump up ^ http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=pianist.htm
3.Jump up ^ http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=pianist.htm
4.Jump up ^ Hare, William (2004). LA Noir: Nine Dark Visions of the City of Angels. Jefferson, North Carolina: Macfarland and Company. p. 207. ISBN 0-7864-1801-X.
5.Jump up ^ "Festival de Cannes: The Pianist". festival-cannes.com. Retrieved 25 October 2009.
6.Jump up ^ "The Pianist". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. Retrieved 23 December 2012.
7.Jump up ^ "The Pianist". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 23 December 2012.
8.Jump up ^ Ebert, Roger (3 January 2003). "The Pianist". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved 23 December 2012.
9.Jump up ^ Wilmington, Michael (January 5, 2003). "Polanski's `Pianist' may put `profligate dwarf' in better light". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved November 25, 2012.
10.Jump up ^ Schickel, Richard (December 15, 2002). "Have a Very Leo Noel". Time. p. 4. Retrieved November 25, 2012.
11.Jump up ^ LaSalle, Mick (January 3, 2003). "Masterpiece / Polanski's 'The Pianist' is a true account of one man's survival in the Warsaw ghetto". San Francisco Chronicle. Hearst Communications. Retrieved November 25, 2012.
12.Jump up ^ Scott, A.O. (December 27, 2002). "Surviving the Warsaw Ghetto Against Steep Odds". The New York Times. Retrieved November 25, 2012.
13.Jump up ^ "StudioCanal Collection". Retrieved 24 June 2010.
14.Jump up ^ "Problems with initial BD release". Retrieved 1 August 2010.
15.Jump up ^ "The Pianist on BD". Retrieved 1 August 2010.
External links[edit]
The Pianist at the Internet Movie Database
The Pianist at Box Office Mojo
The Pianist at Rotten Tomatoes
The Pianist at Metacritic
Wladyslaw Szpilman's personal Website: The Pianist - The book
Szpilman's Warsaw: The History behind The Pianist at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
The Pianist at culture.pl

Awards
Preceded by
Amélie Goya Award for Best European Film
 2002 Succeeded by
Good Bye Lenin!


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Categories: 2002 films
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2000s biographical films
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2000s war films
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The Pianist (2002 film)

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"Le Pianiste" redirects here. For the 2001 French film originally titled La Pianiste, see The Piano Teacher (film).


 This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (June 2012)

The Pianist
The Pianist movie.jpg
Theatrical release poster
 
Directed by
Roman Polanski
Produced by
Roman Polanski
Robert Benmussa
Alain Sarde
 
Screenplay by
Ronald Harwood
Based on
The Pianist
 by Władysław Szpilman
Starring
Adrien Brody
Thomas Kretschmann
Frank Finlay
Maureen Lipman
Emilia Fox
Michał Żebrowski
 
Music by
Wojciech Kilar
Cinematography
Paweł Edelman
Edited by
Hervé de Luze

Production
 company
 
Canal+
Studio Babelsberg
Studio Canal+
 
Distributed by
Focus Features

Release dates

24 May 2002 (Cannes)
6 September 2002 (Poland)
6 March 2003 (UK)
 

Running time
 150 minutes[1]
Country
France
Germany
Poland
United Kingdom
 
Language
English
Polish
German
Russian
French
Turkish
 
Budget
$35 million[2]
Box office
$120.1 million[3]
The Pianist is a 2002 historical drama film co-produced and directed by Roman Polanski, scripted by Ronald Harwood, and starring Adrien Brody.[4] It is based on the autobiographical book The Pianist, a World War II memoir by the Polish-Jewish pianist and composer Władysław Szpilman. The film was a co-production between France, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Poland.
The Pianist met with significant critical praise and received multiple awards and nominations. It was awarded the Palme d'Or at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival.[5] At the 75th Academy Awards, The Pianist won Oscars for Best Director (Polanski), Best Adapted Screenplay (Ronald Harwood), and Best Actor (Brody), and was also nominated for four other awards, including the Academy Award for Best Picture. It also won the BAFTA Award for Best Film and BAFTA Award for Best Direction in 2003 and seven French Césars including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor for Brody.


Contents  [hide]
1 Plot
2 Cast
3 Production
4 Reception
5 Home release
6 Music
7 Accolades
8 See also
9 References
10 External links

Plot[edit]
In September 1939, Władysław Szpilman (Adrien Brody), a Polish-Jewish pianist, is playing live on the radio in Warsaw when the station is bombed during Nazi Germany's invasion of Poland which caused the outbreak of World War II. Hoping for a quick victory, Szpilman celebrates with his posh family at home when learning that Britain and France have declared war on Germany. German troops soon enter Warsaw and the Nazi authorities implemented measures to identify, isolate, financially ruin and reduce the Jewish population in Warsaw. Jews are ordered to provide their own identifying armbands with the Star of David.

 

 Photograph of Władysław Szpilman
By November 1940, the Szpilman family and the 360,000 other Warsaw Jews are removed to the newly established Warsaw Ghetto. Conditions make life difficult with overcrowding, starvation, loss of social structure, and disrespect by the military guards. An emaciated dead adult can be seen on the street being comforted by a child and an elderly woman is assaulted over and robbed of the contents of her soup canteen. The Szpilmans witness from across the street of their housing the SS kill the inhabitants of another apartment during a round-up.
On 16 August 1942, the family are to be deported to Treblinka extermination camp, but a friend in the Jewish Ghetto Police intervenes to remove Władysław from the group being transported. Władysław becomes a slave labourer, learns about a coming Jewish revolt and takes part in the smuggling of weapons into the ghetto; almost being found out by a suspicious guard. He arranges an escape to then hide in the city with help from a non-Jewish friend, Andrzej Bogucki (Ronan Vibert), and his wife Janina (Ruth Platt).
In April 1943, Władysław can see from a window of his hiding place the effects of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. Attempting to leave the hiding place for assistance, a neighbor questions his being in the building. Władysław flees and is again assisted with a new hiding place with a piano that on he can silently mimic play. He gets jaundice and survives.
In August 1944, during the Warsaw uprising, the Polish resistance attacks a German building across the street from Władysław's hideout. A tank shells his apartment building, forcing him to hide elsewhere in a deserted and war-torn section of the city. He stays in a damaged and abandoned house, where he finds a large can of pickles. He thinks he is alone in the house and tries to open the can. A Wehrmacht officer, Wilm Hosenfeld (Thomas Kretschmann), has gone to the house to play on the piano there. The officer learns about Władysław's ability when he is told by the officer to play anything; he plays Chopin's Ballade in G minor. Hosenfeld is moved and has Władysław show him where he hides in the attic. The German officer brings him food.
In January 1945, the Germans are forced to retreat due to the advance of the Red Army. Hosenfeld meets Szpilman for the last time and promises he will listen to him on Polish Radio after the war. He gives Szpilman his greatcoat to keep warm and leaves. However, this has almost fatal consequences for Szpilman when he is mistaken for a German soldier, when trying to hug the Polish soldiers and is shot at by Polish troops liberating Warsaw, who then find he is Polish and save him.
In Spring 1945, former inmates of a Nazi concentration camp pass a Soviet prisoner-of-war camp holding captured German soldiers and verbally abuse them. Hosenfeld, among those captured, overhears a released inmate lament over his former career as a violinist (named Zygmunt Lednicki in the book). He asks Lednicki if he knows Szpilman, which he confirms. Hosenfeld wishes for Szpilman to return the favor and help release him. Sometime later, Lednicki is able to bring Szpilman back to the site but they find it has been long abandoned.
Later, Szpilman works for Polish Radio and performs Chopin's Grand Polonaise brillante to a large and prestigious audience. An epilogue states that Szpilman continued to live in Warsaw until his death at the age of 88 in the year 2000, while Hosenfeld died in a Soviet POW gulag camp in 1952.
Cast[edit]
Adrien Brody as Władysław Szpilman
Thomas Kretschmann as Captain Wilm Hosenfeld
Frank Finlay as Samuel Szpilman
Maureen Lipman as Edwarda Szpilman
Emilia Fox as Dorota
Ed Stoppard as Henryk Szpilman
Julia Rayner as Regina Szpilman
Jessica Kate Meyer as Halina Szpilman
Ronan Vibert as Andrzej Bogucki
Ruth Platt as Janina Bogucki
Michał Żebrowski as Jurek
Roy Smiles as Itzhak Heller
Richard Ridings as Mr. Lipa
Daniel Caltagirone as Majorek
Valentine Pelka as Dorota's Husband
Zbigniew Zamachowski as Customer with Coins
Production[edit]

 

 Mała Street in Warsaw's Praga-Północ district used for filming of The Pianist.
The story had deep connections with director Roman Polanski because he escaped from the Kraków Ghetto as a child after the death of his mother. He ended up living in a Polish farmer's barn until the war's end. His father almost died in the camps, but they reunited after the end of World War II.
Joseph Fiennes was Polanski's first choice for the lead role, but he turned it down due to a previous commitment to a theatrical role. Over 1,400 actors auditioned for the role of Szpilman at a casting call in London. Unsatisfied with all who tried, Polanski sought to cast Adrien Brody, whom he saw as ideal for the role during their first meeting in Paris.
Principal photography on The Pianist began on 9 February 2001 in Babelsberg Studio in Potsdam, Germany. The Warsaw Ghetto and the surrounding city were recreated on the backlot of Babelsberg Studio as they would have looked during the war. Old Soviet Army barracks were used to create the ruined city, as they were going to be destroyed anyway.
The first scenes of the film were shot at the old army barracks. Soon after, the film crew moved to a villa in Potsdam, which served as the house where Szpilman meets Hosenfeld. On 2 March 2001, filming then moved to an abandoned Soviet military hospital in Beelitz, Germany. The scenes that featured German soldiers destroying a Warsaw hospital with flamethrowers were filmed here. On 15 March, filming finally moved to Babelsberg Studios. The first scene shot at the studio was the complex and technically demanding scene in which Szpilman witnesses the ghetto uprising.
Filming at the studios ended on 26 March and moved to Warsaw on 29 March. The rundown district of Praga was chosen for filming because of its abundance of original buildings. The art department built onto these original buildings, re-creating World War II–era Poland with signs and posters from the period. Additional filming also took place around Warsaw. The Umschlagplatz scene where Szpilman, his family and hundreds of other Jews wait to be taken to the extermination camps was filmed at the National Defence University of Warsaw.
Principal photography ended in July 2001 and was followed by months of post-production in Paris, France.
Reception[edit]
The Pianist received high critical acclaim and Brody's performance received extreme praise. It has a 96% approval rating on the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 178 reviews with an average rating of 8.2/10 and the consensus, "Well-acted and dramatically moving, The Pianist is Polanski's best work in years."[6] Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score, gave the film a score of 85/100, based on 40 reviews from critics.[7]
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave a positive review of the film, noting that "perhaps that impassive quality reflects what [director Roman] Polanski wants to say... By showing Szpilman as a survivor but not a fighter or a hero—as a man who does all he can to save himself, but would have died without enormous good luck and the kindness of a few non-Jews—Polanski is reflecting... his own deepest feelings: that he survived, but need not have, and that his mother died and left a wound that had never healed."[8] Michael Wilmington of the Chicago Tribune said that the film "is the best dramatic feature I've seen on the Holocaust experience, so powerful a statement on war, inhumanity and art's redemption that it may signal Polanski's artistic redemption." He would later go on to say that the film "illustrates that theme and proves that Polanski's own art has survived the chaos of his life -- and the hell that war and bigotry once made of it."[9] Richard Schickel of Time called it a "raw, unblinkable film" and said that "We admire this film for its harsh objectivity and refusal to seek our tears, our sympathies."[10] Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle said that the film "contains moments of irony, of ambiguity and of strange beauty, as when we finally get a look at Warsaw and see a panorama of destruction, a world of color bombed into black-and-white devastation." He also said that "In the course of showing us a struggle for survival, in all its animal simplicity, Polanski also gives us humanity, in all its complexity."[11] A.O. Scott of The New York Times said that Szpilman "comes to resemble one of Samuel Beckett's gaunt existential clowns, shambling through a barren, bombed-out landscape clutching a jar of pickles. He is like the walking punchline to a cosmic jest of unfathomable cruelty." He also felt that "Szpilman's encounter, in the war's last days, with a music-loving Nazi officer... ...courted sentimentality by associating the love of art with moral decency, an equation the Nazis themselves, steeped in Beethoven and Wagner, definitively refuted."[12]
Home release[edit]
The Pianist was released on DVD on 26 May 2003 in a double-sided disc Special Edition DVD, with the film on one side and special features on the other. Some Bonus Material included a making-of, interviews with Brody, Polanski, and Harwood, and clips of Szpilman playing the piano. The Polish DVD edition included an audio commentary track by production designer Starski and director of photography Edelman.
Universal Studios Home Entertainment released the film on HD-DVD on 8 January 2008 with extras comprising the featurette "A Story of Survival" and rare footage of the real Władysław Szpilman playing his piano, as well as additional interviews with Adrien Brody and other crew.
Optimum Home Entertainment released The Pianist to the European market on Blu-ray as part of their StudioCanal Collection on 13 September 2010,[13] the film's second release on Blu-ray. The first was troublesome due to issues with subtitles; the initial BD lacked subtitles for spoken German dialogue. Optimum later rectified this[14] but the initial release also lacked notable special features. The StudioCanal Collection version includes an extensive Behind the Scenes look as well as several interviews with the makers of the film and Szpilman's relatives.[15]
Music[edit]
Further information: The Pianist (soundtrack)
The piano piece heard at the beginning of the film is Chopin's Nocturne in C-sharp minor Lento con gran espressione, Op. posth.
The piano piece that is heard being played by a next door neighbour while Szpilman was in hiding at an apartment is also an arrangement of Umówiłem się z nią na dziewiątą.
The piano music heard in the abandoned house when Szpilman had just discovered a hiding place in the attic is the Piano Sonata No. 14 (Moonlight Sonata) by Beethoven. It would later be revealed that German officer Hosenfeld was the pianist. The German composition juxtaposed with the mainly Polish/Chopin selection of Szpilman.
The piano piece played when Szpilman is confronted by Hosenfeld is Chopin's Ballade No. 1 in G minor, Op. 23, but the version played in the movie was shortened (the entire piece lasts about 10 minutes).
The cello piece heard at the middle of the film, played by Dorota, is the Prelude from Bach's Cello Suite No. 1.
The piano piece heard at the end of the film, played with an orchestra, is Chopin's Grande Polonaise brillante, Op. 22.
Shots of Szpilman's hands playing the piano in close-up were performed by Polish classical pianist Janusz Olejniczak (b. 1952), who also performed on the soundtrack.
Since Polanski wanted the film to be as realistic as possible, any scene showing Brody playing was actually his playing overdubbed by recordings performed by Janusz Olejniczak. In order for Brody's playing to look like it was at the level of Władysław Szpilman's, he spent many months prior to and during the filming practising so that his keystrokes on the piano would convince viewers that Brody himself was playing.
Accolades [edit]
Main article: List of accolades received by The Pianist
See also[edit]
List of Holocaust films
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ "THE PIANIST (15)". British Board of Film Classification. 3 July 2002. Retrieved 14 March 2015.
2.Jump up ^ http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=pianist.htm
3.Jump up ^ http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=pianist.htm
4.Jump up ^ Hare, William (2004). LA Noir: Nine Dark Visions of the City of Angels. Jefferson, North Carolina: Macfarland and Company. p. 207. ISBN 0-7864-1801-X.
5.Jump up ^ "Festival de Cannes: The Pianist". festival-cannes.com. Retrieved 25 October 2009.
6.Jump up ^ "The Pianist". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. Retrieved 23 December 2012.
7.Jump up ^ "The Pianist". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 23 December 2012.
8.Jump up ^ Ebert, Roger (3 January 2003). "The Pianist". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved 23 December 2012.
9.Jump up ^ Wilmington, Michael (January 5, 2003). "Polanski's `Pianist' may put `profligate dwarf' in better light". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved November 25, 2012.
10.Jump up ^ Schickel, Richard (December 15, 2002). "Have a Very Leo Noel". Time. p. 4. Retrieved November 25, 2012.
11.Jump up ^ LaSalle, Mick (January 3, 2003). "Masterpiece / Polanski's 'The Pianist' is a true account of one man's survival in the Warsaw ghetto". San Francisco Chronicle. Hearst Communications. Retrieved November 25, 2012.
12.Jump up ^ Scott, A.O. (December 27, 2002). "Surviving the Warsaw Ghetto Against Steep Odds". The New York Times. Retrieved November 25, 2012.
13.Jump up ^ "StudioCanal Collection". Retrieved 24 June 2010.
14.Jump up ^ "Problems with initial BD release". Retrieved 1 August 2010.
15.Jump up ^ "The Pianist on BD". Retrieved 1 August 2010.
External links[edit]
The Pianist at the Internet Movie Database
The Pianist at Box Office Mojo
The Pianist at Rotten Tomatoes
The Pianist at Metacritic
Wladyslaw Szpilman's personal Website: The Pianist - The book
Szpilman's Warsaw: The History behind The Pianist at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
The Pianist at culture.pl

Awards
Preceded by
Amélie Goya Award for Best European Film
 2002 Succeeded by
Good Bye Lenin!


[show]
v ·
 t ·
 e
 
Roman Polanski

 























 















 







 


[show]
v ·
 t ·
 e
 
Palme d'Or winning films

 

















 














 














 
















 















 















 













 









 


[show]
v ·
 t ·
 e
 
César Award for Best Film

 



























 



















 


[show]
v ·
 t ·
 e
 
BAFTA Award for Best Film

 



























 



















































 


Authority control
VIAF: 207949257 ·
 GND: 4741803-5
 

  


Categories: 2002 films
Władysław Szpilman
2000s biographical films
2000s drama films
2000s war films
French films
French biographical films
French drama films
French war films
German films
German biographical films
German drama films
German war films
Polish films
Polish biographical films
Polish drama films
Polish war films
British films
British biographical films
British war drama films
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pianist_(2002_film)





 



The Last Days

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For other uses, see Last days (disambiguation).


 This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (May 2012)

The Last Days
The Last Days.jpg
Directed by
James Moll
Produced by
June Beallor
Kenneth Lipper
Music by
Hans Zimmer

Release dates

October 23, 1998 (Los Angeles)
February 5, 1999 (U.S. limited)
July 15, 1999 (Australia)
September 9, 1999 (Hungary)
October 8, 1999 (UK)
 

Running time
 87 min.
Language
English, German and Hungarian
The Last Days is a documentary, directed by James Moll and produced by June Beallor and Kenneth Lipper in 1998. Steven Spielberg was one of the executive producers, in his role as founder of the Shoah Foundation. The film tells the stories of five Hungarian Jews during the Shoah. It focuses on the horrors of life in the Nazi concentration camps, but also stresses the optimism and desire to survive of the survivors.
The film won an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.[1]
Shoah survivors Bill Basch, Irene Zisblatt, Rene Firestone, Alice Lok Cahana, Tom Lantos, Dario Gabbai, and Randolph Braham are featured in the film.
See also[edit]
List of Holocaust films

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References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ "New York Times • The Last Days". New York Times. Retrieved 2008-11-22.
External links[edit]
The Last Days at the Internet Movie Database


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The Last Days

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search

For other uses, see Last days (disambiguation).


 This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (May 2012)

The Last Days
The Last Days.jpg
Directed by
James Moll
Produced by
June Beallor
Kenneth Lipper
Music by
Hans Zimmer

Release dates

October 23, 1998 (Los Angeles)
February 5, 1999 (U.S. limited)
July 15, 1999 (Australia)
September 9, 1999 (Hungary)
October 8, 1999 (UK)
 

Running time
 87 min.
Language
English, German and Hungarian
The Last Days is a documentary, directed by James Moll and produced by June Beallor and Kenneth Lipper in 1998. Steven Spielberg was one of the executive producers, in his role as founder of the Shoah Foundation. The film tells the stories of five Hungarian Jews during the Shoah. It focuses on the horrors of life in the Nazi concentration camps, but also stresses the optimism and desire to survive of the survivors.
The film won an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.[1]
Shoah survivors Bill Basch, Irene Zisblatt, Rene Firestone, Alice Lok Cahana, Tom Lantos, Dario Gabbai, and Randolph Braham are featured in the film.
See also[edit]
List of Holocaust films

Portal icon Film portal
Portal icon Judaism portal
Portal icon World War II portal
Portal icon Prisons portal
Portal icon Human rights portal
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ "New York Times • The Last Days". New York Times. Retrieved 2008-11-22.
External links[edit]
The Last Days at the Internet Movie Database


[show]
v ·
 t ·
 e
 
Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature

 





































 




























 

















 


[show]
v ·
 t ·
 e
 
Steven Spielberg

 



 









































 






 









 






 








 



Stub icon This article about a historical documentary film is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.



 
Stub icon This article related to The Holocaust is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.




  


Categories: 1998 films
American films
English-language films
Black-and-white films
American documentary films
Best Documentary Feature Academy Award winners
Documentary films about the Holocaust
The Holocaust in Hungary
1990s documentary films
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Films directed by James Moll
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Shoah (film)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Shoah
Shoah film.png
film poster
 
Directed by
Claude Lanzmann
Starring
Simon Srebnik
Mordechaï Podchlebnik
 Motke Zaidl
 Hanna Zaidl
 Jan Piwonski
 Richard Glazar
Rudolf Vrba
Cinematography
Dominique Chapuis
 Jimmy Glasberg
 William Lubtchansky
Edited by
Ziva Postec
 Anna Ruiz
Distributed by
New Yorker Films

Release dates

23 October 1985
 

Running time
 France 613 minutes (10 hours 13 minutes)
 US 503 minutes
 UK 566 minutes
 Sweden 544 minutes
Language
French
 German
Hebrew
 Polish
Yiddish
 English
Shoah is a 1985 French documentary film directed by Claude Lanzmann about the Shoah. The film primarily consists of his interviews and visits to German Holocaust sites across Poland, including three extermination camps. It presents testimonies by selected survivors, witnesses, and German perpetrators, often secretly recorded using hidden cameras.[1] The word 'shoah' is the standard Hebrew term for the Holocaust.
As Claude Lanzmann does not speak Polish, Hebrew, or Yiddish, he depended on interpreters to work with most of his interviewees. This process enlarged the scale of the documentary, which is nine hours and twenty-three minutes long.[1] Lanzmann has also released four feature-length films based on unused material shot for Shoah.
While Shoah received critical acclaim and won notable awards, the film also aroused controversy and criticism, particularly in Poland, but also in the United States. A number of historians criticized it for failing to show and discuss the many Poles who rescued Jews, or to recognize the millions of Poles who were also killed by the Germans during the occupation of Poland.


Contents  [hide]
1 Synopsis 1.1 The man in the poster
2 Production
3 Reception and awards
4 Criticism 4.1 Reception in Poland
5 Outtakes
6 See also
7 Notes
8 References
9 External links

Synopsis[edit]
The film is concerned chiefly with four topics: Chełmno, where mobile gas vans were first used by Germans to exterminate Jews; the death camps of Treblinka and Auschwitz-Birkenau; and the Warsaw Ghetto, with testimonies from survivors, witnesses, and perpetrators.
The sections on Treblinka include testimony from Abraham Bomba, who survived as a barber;[2] Richard Glazar, an inmate; and Franz Suchomel, an SS officer who worked at the camp, who reveals intricate details of the camp's gas chamber. Bomba breaks down while describing how a barber friend of his came across his wife and sister while cutting hair outside (before) the gas chamber. Suchomel states he did not know about extermination at Treblinka until he arrived there. This section includes Henryk Gawkowski, who said he drove one of the transport trains while intoxicated with vodka. Gawkowski's photograph appears on the poster used for the film's marketing campaign.
Testimonies on Auschwitz are provided by Rudolf Vrba, who escaped from the camp before the end of the war; and Filip Müller, who worked in an incinerator burning the bodies from the gassings. Müller recounts what prisoners said to him, and describes the experience of personally going into the gas chamber: bodies were piled up by the doors 'like stones'. He breaks down as he recalls the prisoners starting to sing while being forced into the gas chamber. Accounts include some from local villagers, who witnessed trains heading daily to the camp and returning empty; they quickly guessed the fate of those on board.
Lanzmann also interviews bystanders. He asks whether they knew what was going on in the death camps. Their answers reveal that they did but they justified their inaction by the fear of death. Two survivors of Chełmno are interviewed: Simon Srebnik, who was forced to sing military songs to entertain the Nazis; and Mordechaï Podchlebnik. Lanzmann also has a secretly filmed interview with Franz Schalling, a German security guard, who describes the workings of Chełmno. Walter Stier, a former Nazi bureaucrat, describes the workings of the railways. Stier insists he was too busy managing railroad traffic to notice his trains were transporting Jews to their deaths.
The Warsaw ghetto is described by Jan Karski, who worked for the Polish government-in-exile and Franz Grassler, a Nazi administrator who liaised with Jewish leaders. A Christian, Karski, snuck into the Warsaw ghetto and escaped to England to try to convince the Allied governments to intervene more strongly on behalf of the Jews, but failed to do so. Memories from Jewish survivors of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising conclude the documentary.
Lanzmann also interviews Holocaust historian Raul Hilberg, who discusses the historical significance of Nazi propaganda against the European Jews, and the Nazi development of the Final Solution. The complete text of the film was published in 1985.
The man in the poster[edit]
During his trip to Poland in July 1978, Lanzmann's crew filmed his conversations with an elderly Polish man by the name of Henryk Gawkowski, who, some 35 years earlier, had worked on the locomotives pulling Holocaust trains to Treblinka during World War II.[3] The photograph used for the film poster was staged on-site ― in reality, Gawkowski was a young man in 1943, while the type of locomotives used was different, as was the landscape. The female translator, sounding somewhat annoyed, insisted on calling him the train's operator (or conductor in Polish); nevertheless, Gawkowski informed that he only shovelled coal into the engine's firebox, and that two German officers were always on every train. What happened to the victims, Gawkowski said, was not his fault, adding emphatically that if he had the opportunity, he would have been the first to slash Hitler's throat.[3]
Production[edit]
Lanzmann was commissioned by Israeli officials to make what they thought would be a two-hour film, delivered in 18 months, about the Holocaust from "the viewpoint of the Jews".[4][5] As time went on, Israeli officials withdrew as his original backers.[4] Over 350 hours of raw footage were recorded, including the verbatim questions, answers and interpreters translations. Shoah took eleven years to make.[6] It was plagued with financial problems, difficulties in tracking down interviewees and threats to Lanzmann's life. The film was unusual in that it did not include any historical footage, relying instead on interviewing witnesses and visiting the crime scenes.[7] Four feature-length films have since been released from the outtakes.
Some German interviewees were reluctant to talk, and refused to be filmed so Lanzmann resorted to using a hidden camera. Some of the most controversial interviews were obtained in this way, conspicuous by their grainy, black and white appearance.[7] The interviewees in these scenes are sometimes obscured, or distinguished by the sight of technicians watching the recording. During one interview, the covert recording was discovered and Lanzmann was physically attacked. He was hospitalized for a month and charged by the authorities with "unauthorized use of the German airwaves".[5]
Lanzmann arranged many of the scenes, but not the testimony, before filming witnesses. For example, Bomba was interviewed while pretending to cut the hair of a friend in a working barbershop; a steam locomotive was hired to recreate the journey the conductor had taken while transporting Jews; the opening scene shows Srebnik singing in a rowboat, similar to how he had "serenaded his captors".[5] Through these scenes the viewer is encouraged to think not only about the historical actions of these men, but the ethics of reflection in encouraging them to re-live these experiences.
The first six years of production were devoted to the recording of interviews with the individuals who appear in the film; these were conducted in 14 different countries.[6] Lanzmann worked on the interviews for four years before first visiting Poland. After the shooting had been completed, editing for the film continued for five years, as it was cut from 350 hours of raw footage to the 91⁄2 hours of the final version.[6] Lanzmann frequently replaced the camera shot of the interviewee with modern footage from the site of the relevant death camp. The matching of testimony to places became a "crucial trope of the film".[5]
The film was made without subtitles or voice-overs. The questions and answers were kept on the soundtrack, along with the voices of the interpreters.[5] Transcripts of the interviews, in original languages and English translations, are held by the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC. Videos of excerpts from the interviews are available for viewing online, and linked transcripts are available for reading and download from the museum website.[8]
Reception and awards[edit]
Hailed as a masterpiece by many critics, Shoah was described in the New York Times as "an epic film about the greatest evil of modern times."[7] In 1985, the year the documentary was released, Critic Roger Ebert described it as "an extraordinary film" and "one of the noblest films ever made.[9] It is not a documentary, not journalism, not propaganda, not political. It is an act of witness."[10] Gene Siskel named it as his choice for the best movie of the year, later naming it the second best film of the 1980s. Ebert declined to rank Shoah, saying that it belonged in a class to itself and no film should be ranked against it.[11]
In 1985 Shoah won Best Documentary and Special Award at the New York Film Critics Circle and Los Angeles Film Critics Association, respectively.[12] The following year, Shoah won Best Documentary at the National Society of Film Critics Awards and International Documentary Association. Shoah has also been nominated and awarded various other awards at film festivals around the world.[13]
In a 2014 Sight and Sound poll, film critics voted Shoah the second best documentary film of all time.[14]
Criticism[edit]
The documentary by Lanzmann was the subject of considerable controversy almost from the day of its theatrical release. Pauline Kael, the most influential American film critic of her day,[15] described Shoah in The New Yorker as "logy and exhausting right from the start..."[1] "[S]itting in a theatre seat – wrote Kael – for a film as full of dead spaces as this one seem[ed] to [her] a form of self-punishment". Lanzmann did all the questioning himself, while putting pressure on people in a discursive manner, which gave the film a deadening weight, she said.[1] Kael's parents were American Jewish immigrants from Poland.[15]
Reception in Poland[edit]
In spring of 1985 Lanzmann told the French Libération that his documentary is an indictment of Poland's complicity in the Holocaust.[16] The Socio-Cultural Association of Jews in Poland (Towarzystwo Społeczno-Kulturalne Żydów w Polsce) called it a political provocation, and delivered a protest letter to the French embassy in Warsaw.[16] A columnist for The New Yorker wrote that the "Polish government asked France" to ban the film after its première in 1985.[5]
The film provoked strong criticism of Lanzmann's vision of "dark, drab, poor, and anti-Semitic Poland."[17] The official government-run newspapers and state television criticized it, as did the writers of the unofficial Second Circulation of the Polish anti-communist press. Almost no one defended the film. Most intellectuals referred to it as tendentious, and inherently anti-Polish.[17] Foreign Minister Władysław Bartoszewski, an Auschwitz survivor and an honorary citizen of Israel, criticized Lanzmann for choosing to ignore the many thousands of Polish rescuers of Jews. He said the director instead focused his camera on impoverished rural Poles in rags, selected to conform with his preconceived notions. Gustaw Herling-Grudziński, an eminent Polish-Jewish writer and dissident, was puzzled by Lanzmann's deliberate omission of anybody in Poland with advanced knowledge of the Holocaust.[18]
In his book Dziennik pisany nocą, Herling-Grudziński wrote that the thematic construction of Shoah, allowed Lanzmann to exercise a reduction method so extreme that the plight of the non-Jewish Poles must remain a mystery to the viewer. Grudziński asked a rhetorical question in his book: "Did the Poles live in peace, quietly plowing farmers' fields with their backs turned on the long fuming chimneys of death-camp crematoria? Or, were they exterminated along with the Jews as subhuman?" According to Grudziński, Lanzmann leaves this question unanswered, but the historical evidence shows that Poles also suffered widespread massacres at the hands of the Nazis.[18]
Professor Robert D. Cherry and Annamaria Orla-Bukowska wrote in Rethinking Poles and Jews

Lanzmann's purpose in making the film is revealed by his comments that he "fears" Poland and that the death camps could not possibly have been constructed in France because the "French peasantry would not have tolerated them." He has admitted he intended to indict the Poles in Shoah and has made no films about the Holocaust in France where, presumably, anti-Jewish sentiments are not to be found. The observation of Eva Hoffman, a Polish Jew, that antisemitism was neither fundamental to Polish culture nor "exceptional" in its virulence is utterly lost on Lanzmann. Not surprisingly, many Poles bitterly condemned the film as tendentious and manipulative, including Jan Karski and Jerzy Turowicz.
— Robert D. Cherry; Annamaria Orla-Bukowska, Rethinking Poles and Jews [19]
Outtakes[edit]
Lanzmann has released four feature-length films based on unused material shot for Shoah. The first three are included as bonus features in the Criterion Collection DVD and Blu-ray release of the film. All four are included in the Masters of Cinema Blu-ray release of the film.
A Visitor from the Living (fr) (1997) about a Red Cross representative, Maurice Rossel, who in 1944 wrote a favourable report about Theresienstadt concentration camp.
Sobibor, 14 October 1943, 4 p.m. (2001) about Yehuda Lerner who took part in an uprising against the camp guards and managed to escape.
The Karski Report (fr) (2010) about Polish resistance fighter Jan Karski's visit to Franklin Roosevelt in 1943.[5]
The Last of the Unjust (2013) about Benjamin Murmelstein, a controversial Jewish rabbi in the Theresienstadt ghetto during World War II.[20]
Previously unseen Shoah outtakes have also been featured in Adam Benzine's 2015 HBO documentary Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah, which examines Lanzmann's life during the years he spent making his film in 1973-85.[21]
See also[edit]
Felix Frankfurter
List of Holocaust films
List of longest films by running time
List of films shot over several years
Notes[edit]
1.^ Jump up to: a b c d Pauline Kael (30 December 1985). "Claude Lanzmann's Shoah (1)" (Archived by WebCite). The Current Cinema, “Sacred Monsters”. The New Yorker. pp. 1 of 3. Retrieved 2013-05-10. "See also: archived page 2 and page 3 of 1985 article by Kael."
2.Jump up ^ William Baker (September 2005). "Abraham Bomba: Witness and Technique". Claude Lanzmann Shoah Collection. University of California, Davis campus. Retrieved 6 September 2014.
3.^ Jump up to: a b Claude Lanzmann Shoah Collection (July 1978). Henryk Gawkowski and Treblinka railway workers (Clips viewable online) (Camera Rolls #4-7) (in Polish and French). USHMM, Washington, DC: Steven Spielberg Film and Video Archive. Event occurs at 02:10:59 and 07:10:16. ID: 3362-3372. Retrieved 8 September 2015.
4.^ Jump up to: a b Larry Rohter (6 December 2010). "Maker of 'Shoah' Stresses Its Lasting Value". The New York Times. Retrieved 9 September 2013.
5.^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g Richard Brody (19 March 2012). "Witness; Claude Lanzmann and the making of Shoah". The New Yorker. Retrieved 15 September 2013.
6.^ Jump up to: a b c Austin, Guy (1996). Contemporary French Cinema: An Introduction. New York: Manchester University Press. p. 24. ISBN 0-7190-4610-6.
7.^ Jump up to: a b c Bernstein, Richard (20 October 1985). "An Epic Film About The Greatest Evil Of Modern Times". The New York Times.
8.Jump up ^ Claude Lanzmann Shoah Collection, Steven Spielberg Film and Video Archive, US Holocaust Memorial Museum, accessed 22 May 2013
9.Jump up ^ "Reviews" at www.rogerebert.com personal webpage.
10.Jump up ^ "Shoah". Chicago Sun-Times.
11.Jump up ^ Siskel and Ebert, Best of the year TV show (Ebert excluded). Retrieved 23 May 2013.
12.Jump up ^ "Shoah (1985)". The New York Times.
13.Jump up ^ IMDb Community: Shoah (1985); Awards.
14.Jump up ^ "Silent film tops documentary poll". BBC News. Retrieved 1 August 2014.
15.^ Jump up to: a b Lawrence van Gelder (4 September 2001). "Pauline Kael, Provocative and Widely Imitated New Yorker Film Critic, Dies at 82". The New York Times. p. 2 of 3. Retrieved 25 September 2013.
16.^ Jump up to: a b Szczęsna, Joanna (2010-03-24). "25 lat sporów o 'Shoah'" (in Polish). Warsaw: Gazeta Wyborcza. Archived from the original on 18 Sep 2013. Retrieved 17 September 2013. "Translation: Szymon Szurmiej, spokesman for TSKŻwP informed the French embassy that the Jewish community in Poland is saddened by such cinematic provocation and an anti-Polish campaign. Polish original: Szymon Szurmiej jako przedstawiciel Towarzystwa Społeczno-Kulturalnego Żydów w Polsce złożył w ambasadzie francuskiej oświadczenie, że "społeczność żydowska jest zbulwersowana tą filmową prowokacją i antypolską kampanią"."
17.^ Jump up to: a b Michael Meng. "Rethinking Polish-Jewish Relations..." (PDF file, direct download 145 KB). Department of History. University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. pp. 1–10. Retrieved 2013-05-10.
18.^ Jump up to: a b Joanna Szczęsna (2010-03-24). "25 lat sporów o "Shoah" (Twenty five years of the film Shoah controversy)" (archived from GW Teksty) (in Polish). Gazeta Wyborcza. Archiwum. Retrieved 2013-05-11.
19.Jump up ^ Robert D. Cherry, Anna Maria Orla-Bukowska (2007). "Poland and the Poles in the Cinematic Portrayal of the Holocaust". Rethinking Poles and Jews: troubled past, brighter future. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 36. ISBN 0742546667. Retrieved 2013-05-11.
20.Jump up ^ Rob Nelson (25 May 2013). "Cannes Film Review: 'The Last of the Unjust'". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 15 September 2013.
21.Jump up ^ Knellman, Martin (28 April 2015). "The man behind Shoah gets his close-up". The Toronto Star. Retrieved 15 June 2015.
References[edit]
Felman, Shoshana (1994). "Film as Witness: Claude Lanzmann's Shoah". In Hartman, Geoffrey. Holocaust Remembrance: The Shapes of Memory. Oxford: Blackwell. ISBN 1-55786-125-0.
Hirsch, Marianne; Spitzer, Leo (1993). "Gendered Translations: Claude Lanzmann's Shoah". In Cooke, Miriam; Woollacott, Angela. Gendering War Talk. Princeton: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-06980-8.
Lanzman, Claude (1985). Shoah. New Yorker Films.
Loshitzky, Yosefa (1997). "Holocaust Others: Spielberg's Schindler's List versus Lanzman's Shoah". In Loshitzky, Yosefa. Spielberg's Holocaust: Critical Perspectives on Schindler's List. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. ISBN 0-253-33232-X.
External links[edit]
Shoah – official trailer
Shoah at AllMovie
Shoah at Box Office Mojo
Shoah at the Internet Movie Database
Shoah at Metacritic
Shoah at Rotten Tomatoes
Shoah - Claude Lanzmann's revised 2007 edition
Ziva Postec – Lanzmann's editor of Shoah
Claude Lanzmann Shoah Collection – video excerpts of all interviews done for the film, with links to transcripts in original languages and English at the Steven Spielberg Film and Video Archive, US Holocaust Memorial Museum
  


Categories: 1985 films
1980s documentary films
French films
French documentary films
Documentary films about the Holocaust
Holocaust films
Documentary films about Poland
Films directed by Claude Lanzmann
Peabody Award winning broadcasts
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoah_(film)





 



Shoah (film)

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Jump to: navigation, search


Shoah
Shoah film.png
film poster
 
Directed by
Claude Lanzmann
Starring
Simon Srebnik
Mordechaï Podchlebnik
 Motke Zaidl
 Hanna Zaidl
 Jan Piwonski
 Richard Glazar
Rudolf Vrba
Cinematography
Dominique Chapuis
 Jimmy Glasberg
 William Lubtchansky
Edited by
Ziva Postec
 Anna Ruiz
Distributed by
New Yorker Films

Release dates

23 October 1985
 

Running time
 France 613 minutes (10 hours 13 minutes)
 US 503 minutes
 UK 566 minutes
 Sweden 544 minutes
Language
French
 German
Hebrew
 Polish
Yiddish
 English
Shoah is a 1985 French documentary film directed by Claude Lanzmann about the Shoah. The film primarily consists of his interviews and visits to German Holocaust sites across Poland, including three extermination camps. It presents testimonies by selected survivors, witnesses, and German perpetrators, often secretly recorded using hidden cameras.[1] The word 'shoah' is the standard Hebrew term for the Holocaust.
As Claude Lanzmann does not speak Polish, Hebrew, or Yiddish, he depended on interpreters to work with most of his interviewees. This process enlarged the scale of the documentary, which is nine hours and twenty-three minutes long.[1] Lanzmann has also released four feature-length films based on unused material shot for Shoah.
While Shoah received critical acclaim and won notable awards, the film also aroused controversy and criticism, particularly in Poland, but also in the United States. A number of historians criticized it for failing to show and discuss the many Poles who rescued Jews, or to recognize the millions of Poles who were also killed by the Germans during the occupation of Poland.


Contents  [hide]
1 Synopsis 1.1 The man in the poster
2 Production
3 Reception and awards
4 Criticism 4.1 Reception in Poland
5 Outtakes
6 See also
7 Notes
8 References
9 External links

Synopsis[edit]
The film is concerned chiefly with four topics: Chełmno, where mobile gas vans were first used by Germans to exterminate Jews; the death camps of Treblinka and Auschwitz-Birkenau; and the Warsaw Ghetto, with testimonies from survivors, witnesses, and perpetrators.
The sections on Treblinka include testimony from Abraham Bomba, who survived as a barber;[2] Richard Glazar, an inmate; and Franz Suchomel, an SS officer who worked at the camp, who reveals intricate details of the camp's gas chamber. Bomba breaks down while describing how a barber friend of his came across his wife and sister while cutting hair outside (before) the gas chamber. Suchomel states he did not know about extermination at Treblinka until he arrived there. This section includes Henryk Gawkowski, who said he drove one of the transport trains while intoxicated with vodka. Gawkowski's photograph appears on the poster used for the film's marketing campaign.
Testimonies on Auschwitz are provided by Rudolf Vrba, who escaped from the camp before the end of the war; and Filip Müller, who worked in an incinerator burning the bodies from the gassings. Müller recounts what prisoners said to him, and describes the experience of personally going into the gas chamber: bodies were piled up by the doors 'like stones'. He breaks down as he recalls the prisoners starting to sing while being forced into the gas chamber. Accounts include some from local villagers, who witnessed trains heading daily to the camp and returning empty; they quickly guessed the fate of those on board.
Lanzmann also interviews bystanders. He asks whether they knew what was going on in the death camps. Their answers reveal that they did but they justified their inaction by the fear of death. Two survivors of Chełmno are interviewed: Simon Srebnik, who was forced to sing military songs to entertain the Nazis; and Mordechaï Podchlebnik. Lanzmann also has a secretly filmed interview with Franz Schalling, a German security guard, who describes the workings of Chełmno. Walter Stier, a former Nazi bureaucrat, describes the workings of the railways. Stier insists he was too busy managing railroad traffic to notice his trains were transporting Jews to their deaths.
The Warsaw ghetto is described by Jan Karski, who worked for the Polish government-in-exile and Franz Grassler, a Nazi administrator who liaised with Jewish leaders. A Christian, Karski, snuck into the Warsaw ghetto and escaped to England to try to convince the Allied governments to intervene more strongly on behalf of the Jews, but failed to do so. Memories from Jewish survivors of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising conclude the documentary.
Lanzmann also interviews Holocaust historian Raul Hilberg, who discusses the historical significance of Nazi propaganda against the European Jews, and the Nazi development of the Final Solution. The complete text of the film was published in 1985.
The man in the poster[edit]
During his trip to Poland in July 1978, Lanzmann's crew filmed his conversations with an elderly Polish man by the name of Henryk Gawkowski, who, some 35 years earlier, had worked on the locomotives pulling Holocaust trains to Treblinka during World War II.[3] The photograph used for the film poster was staged on-site ― in reality, Gawkowski was a young man in 1943, while the type of locomotives used was different, as was the landscape. The female translator, sounding somewhat annoyed, insisted on calling him the train's operator (or conductor in Polish); nevertheless, Gawkowski informed that he only shovelled coal into the engine's firebox, and that two German officers were always on every train. What happened to the victims, Gawkowski said, was not his fault, adding emphatically that if he had the opportunity, he would have been the first to slash Hitler's throat.[3]
Production[edit]
Lanzmann was commissioned by Israeli officials to make what they thought would be a two-hour film, delivered in 18 months, about the Holocaust from "the viewpoint of the Jews".[4][5] As time went on, Israeli officials withdrew as his original backers.[4] Over 350 hours of raw footage were recorded, including the verbatim questions, answers and interpreters translations. Shoah took eleven years to make.[6] It was plagued with financial problems, difficulties in tracking down interviewees and threats to Lanzmann's life. The film was unusual in that it did not include any historical footage, relying instead on interviewing witnesses and visiting the crime scenes.[7] Four feature-length films have since been released from the outtakes.
Some German interviewees were reluctant to talk, and refused to be filmed so Lanzmann resorted to using a hidden camera. Some of the most controversial interviews were obtained in this way, conspicuous by their grainy, black and white appearance.[7] The interviewees in these scenes are sometimes obscured, or distinguished by the sight of technicians watching the recording. During one interview, the covert recording was discovered and Lanzmann was physically attacked. He was hospitalized for a month and charged by the authorities with "unauthorized use of the German airwaves".[5]
Lanzmann arranged many of the scenes, but not the testimony, before filming witnesses. For example, Bomba was interviewed while pretending to cut the hair of a friend in a working barbershop; a steam locomotive was hired to recreate the journey the conductor had taken while transporting Jews; the opening scene shows Srebnik singing in a rowboat, similar to how he had "serenaded his captors".[5] Through these scenes the viewer is encouraged to think not only about the historical actions of these men, but the ethics of reflection in encouraging them to re-live these experiences.
The first six years of production were devoted to the recording of interviews with the individuals who appear in the film; these were conducted in 14 different countries.[6] Lanzmann worked on the interviews for four years before first visiting Poland. After the shooting had been completed, editing for the film continued for five years, as it was cut from 350 hours of raw footage to the 91⁄2 hours of the final version.[6] Lanzmann frequently replaced the camera shot of the interviewee with modern footage from the site of the relevant death camp. The matching of testimony to places became a "crucial trope of the film".[5]
The film was made without subtitles or voice-overs. The questions and answers were kept on the soundtrack, along with the voices of the interpreters.[5] Transcripts of the interviews, in original languages and English translations, are held by the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC. Videos of excerpts from the interviews are available for viewing online, and linked transcripts are available for reading and download from the museum website.[8]
Reception and awards[edit]
Hailed as a masterpiece by many critics, Shoah was described in the New York Times as "an epic film about the greatest evil of modern times."[7] In 1985, the year the documentary was released, Critic Roger Ebert described it as "an extraordinary film" and "one of the noblest films ever made.[9] It is not a documentary, not journalism, not propaganda, not political. It is an act of witness."[10] Gene Siskel named it as his choice for the best movie of the year, later naming it the second best film of the 1980s. Ebert declined to rank Shoah, saying that it belonged in a class to itself and no film should be ranked against it.[11]
In 1985 Shoah won Best Documentary and Special Award at the New York Film Critics Circle and Los Angeles Film Critics Association, respectively.[12] The following year, Shoah won Best Documentary at the National Society of Film Critics Awards and International Documentary Association. Shoah has also been nominated and awarded various other awards at film festivals around the world.[13]
In a 2014 Sight and Sound poll, film critics voted Shoah the second best documentary film of all time.[14]
Criticism[edit]
The documentary by Lanzmann was the subject of considerable controversy almost from the day of its theatrical release. Pauline Kael, the most influential American film critic of her day,[15] described Shoah in The New Yorker as "logy and exhausting right from the start..."[1] "[S]itting in a theatre seat – wrote Kael – for a film as full of dead spaces as this one seem[ed] to [her] a form of self-punishment". Lanzmann did all the questioning himself, while putting pressure on people in a discursive manner, which gave the film a deadening weight, she said.[1] Kael's parents were American Jewish immigrants from Poland.[15]
Reception in Poland[edit]
In spring of 1985 Lanzmann told the French Libération that his documentary is an indictment of Poland's complicity in the Holocaust.[16] The Socio-Cultural Association of Jews in Poland (Towarzystwo Społeczno-Kulturalne Żydów w Polsce) called it a political provocation, and delivered a protest letter to the French embassy in Warsaw.[16] A columnist for The New Yorker wrote that the "Polish government asked France" to ban the film after its première in 1985.[5]
The film provoked strong criticism of Lanzmann's vision of "dark, drab, poor, and anti-Semitic Poland."[17] The official government-run newspapers and state television criticized it, as did the writers of the unofficial Second Circulation of the Polish anti-communist press. Almost no one defended the film. Most intellectuals referred to it as tendentious, and inherently anti-Polish.[17] Foreign Minister Władysław Bartoszewski, an Auschwitz survivor and an honorary citizen of Israel, criticized Lanzmann for choosing to ignore the many thousands of Polish rescuers of Jews. He said the director instead focused his camera on impoverished rural Poles in rags, selected to conform with his preconceived notions. Gustaw Herling-Grudziński, an eminent Polish-Jewish writer and dissident, was puzzled by Lanzmann's deliberate omission of anybody in Poland with advanced knowledge of the Holocaust.[18]
In his book Dziennik pisany nocą, Herling-Grudziński wrote that the thematic construction of Shoah, allowed Lanzmann to exercise a reduction method so extreme that the plight of the non-Jewish Poles must remain a mystery to the viewer. Grudziński asked a rhetorical question in his book: "Did the Poles live in peace, quietly plowing farmers' fields with their backs turned on the long fuming chimneys of death-camp crematoria? Or, were they exterminated along with the Jews as subhuman?" According to Grudziński, Lanzmann leaves this question unanswered, but the historical evidence shows that Poles also suffered widespread massacres at the hands of the Nazis.[18]
Professor Robert D. Cherry and Annamaria Orla-Bukowska wrote in Rethinking Poles and Jews

Lanzmann's purpose in making the film is revealed by his comments that he "fears" Poland and that the death camps could not possibly have been constructed in France because the "French peasantry would not have tolerated them." He has admitted he intended to indict the Poles in Shoah and has made no films about the Holocaust in France where, presumably, anti-Jewish sentiments are not to be found. The observation of Eva Hoffman, a Polish Jew, that antisemitism was neither fundamental to Polish culture nor "exceptional" in its virulence is utterly lost on Lanzmann. Not surprisingly, many Poles bitterly condemned the film as tendentious and manipulative, including Jan Karski and Jerzy Turowicz.
— Robert D. Cherry; Annamaria Orla-Bukowska, Rethinking Poles and Jews [19]
Outtakes[edit]
Lanzmann has released four feature-length films based on unused material shot for Shoah. The first three are included as bonus features in the Criterion Collection DVD and Blu-ray release of the film. All four are included in the Masters of Cinema Blu-ray release of the film.
A Visitor from the Living (fr) (1997) about a Red Cross representative, Maurice Rossel, who in 1944 wrote a favourable report about Theresienstadt concentration camp.
Sobibor, 14 October 1943, 4 p.m. (2001) about Yehuda Lerner who took part in an uprising against the camp guards and managed to escape.
The Karski Report (fr) (2010) about Polish resistance fighter Jan Karski's visit to Franklin Roosevelt in 1943.[5]
The Last of the Unjust (2013) about Benjamin Murmelstein, a controversial Jewish rabbi in the Theresienstadt ghetto during World War II.[20]
Previously unseen Shoah outtakes have also been featured in Adam Benzine's 2015 HBO documentary Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah, which examines Lanzmann's life during the years he spent making his film in 1973-85.[21]
See also[edit]
Felix Frankfurter
List of Holocaust films
List of longest films by running time
List of films shot over several years
Notes[edit]
1.^ Jump up to: a b c d Pauline Kael (30 December 1985). "Claude Lanzmann's Shoah (1)" (Archived by WebCite). The Current Cinema, “Sacred Monsters”. The New Yorker. pp. 1 of 3. Retrieved 2013-05-10. "See also: archived page 2 and page 3 of 1985 article by Kael."
2.Jump up ^ William Baker (September 2005). "Abraham Bomba: Witness and Technique". Claude Lanzmann Shoah Collection. University of California, Davis campus. Retrieved 6 September 2014.
3.^ Jump up to: a b Claude Lanzmann Shoah Collection (July 1978). Henryk Gawkowski and Treblinka railway workers (Clips viewable online) (Camera Rolls #4-7) (in Polish and French). USHMM, Washington, DC: Steven Spielberg Film and Video Archive. Event occurs at 02:10:59 and 07:10:16. ID: 3362-3372. Retrieved 8 September 2015.
4.^ Jump up to: a b Larry Rohter (6 December 2010). "Maker of 'Shoah' Stresses Its Lasting Value". The New York Times. Retrieved 9 September 2013.
5.^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g Richard Brody (19 March 2012). "Witness; Claude Lanzmann and the making of Shoah". The New Yorker. Retrieved 15 September 2013.
6.^ Jump up to: a b c Austin, Guy (1996). Contemporary French Cinema: An Introduction. New York: Manchester University Press. p. 24. ISBN 0-7190-4610-6.
7.^ Jump up to: a b c Bernstein, Richard (20 October 1985). "An Epic Film About The Greatest Evil Of Modern Times". The New York Times.
8.Jump up ^ Claude Lanzmann Shoah Collection, Steven Spielberg Film and Video Archive, US Holocaust Memorial Museum, accessed 22 May 2013
9.Jump up ^ "Reviews" at www.rogerebert.com personal webpage.
10.Jump up ^ "Shoah". Chicago Sun-Times.
11.Jump up ^ Siskel and Ebert, Best of the year TV show (Ebert excluded). Retrieved 23 May 2013.
12.Jump up ^ "Shoah (1985)". The New York Times.
13.Jump up ^ IMDb Community: Shoah (1985); Awards.
14.Jump up ^ "Silent film tops documentary poll". BBC News. Retrieved 1 August 2014.
15.^ Jump up to: a b Lawrence van Gelder (4 September 2001). "Pauline Kael, Provocative and Widely Imitated New Yorker Film Critic, Dies at 82". The New York Times. p. 2 of 3. Retrieved 25 September 2013.
16.^ Jump up to: a b Szczęsna, Joanna (2010-03-24). "25 lat sporów o 'Shoah'" (in Polish). Warsaw: Gazeta Wyborcza. Archived from the original on 18 Sep 2013. Retrieved 17 September 2013. "Translation: Szymon Szurmiej, spokesman for TSKŻwP informed the French embassy that the Jewish community in Poland is saddened by such cinematic provocation and an anti-Polish campaign. Polish original: Szymon Szurmiej jako przedstawiciel Towarzystwa Społeczno-Kulturalnego Żydów w Polsce złożył w ambasadzie francuskiej oświadczenie, że "społeczność żydowska jest zbulwersowana tą filmową prowokacją i antypolską kampanią"."
17.^ Jump up to: a b Michael Meng. "Rethinking Polish-Jewish Relations..." (PDF file, direct download 145 KB). Department of History. University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. pp. 1–10. Retrieved 2013-05-10.
18.^ Jump up to: a b Joanna Szczęsna (2010-03-24). "25 lat sporów o "Shoah" (Twenty five years of the film Shoah controversy)" (archived from GW Teksty) (in Polish). Gazeta Wyborcza. Archiwum. Retrieved 2013-05-11.
19.Jump up ^ Robert D. Cherry, Anna Maria Orla-Bukowska (2007). "Poland and the Poles in the Cinematic Portrayal of the Holocaust". Rethinking Poles and Jews: troubled past, brighter future. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 36. ISBN 0742546667. Retrieved 2013-05-11.
20.Jump up ^ Rob Nelson (25 May 2013). "Cannes Film Review: 'The Last of the Unjust'". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 15 September 2013.
21.Jump up ^ Knellman, Martin (28 April 2015). "The man behind Shoah gets his close-up". The Toronto Star. Retrieved 15 June 2015.
References[edit]
Felman, Shoshana (1994). "Film as Witness: Claude Lanzmann's Shoah". In Hartman, Geoffrey. Holocaust Remembrance: The Shapes of Memory. Oxford: Blackwell. ISBN 1-55786-125-0.
Hirsch, Marianne; Spitzer, Leo (1993). "Gendered Translations: Claude Lanzmann's Shoah". In Cooke, Miriam; Woollacott, Angela. Gendering War Talk. Princeton: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-06980-8.
Lanzman, Claude (1985). Shoah. New Yorker Films.
Loshitzky, Yosefa (1997). "Holocaust Others: Spielberg's Schindler's List versus Lanzman's Shoah". In Loshitzky, Yosefa. Spielberg's Holocaust: Critical Perspectives on Schindler's List. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. ISBN 0-253-33232-X.
External links[edit]
Shoah – official trailer
Shoah at AllMovie
Shoah at Box Office Mojo
Shoah at the Internet Movie Database
Shoah at Metacritic
Shoah at Rotten Tomatoes
Shoah - Claude Lanzmann's revised 2007 edition
Ziva Postec – Lanzmann's editor of Shoah
Claude Lanzmann Shoah Collection – video excerpts of all interviews done for the film, with links to transcripts in original languages and English at the Steven Spielberg Film and Video Archive, US Holocaust Memorial Museum
  


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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoah_(film)





 



Shoah (film)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search


Shoah
Shoah film.png
film poster
 
Directed by
Claude Lanzmann
Starring
Simon Srebnik
Mordechaï Podchlebnik
 Motke Zaidl
 Hanna Zaidl
 Jan Piwonski
 Richard Glazar
Rudolf Vrba
Cinematography
Dominique Chapuis
 Jimmy Glasberg
 William Lubtchansky
Edited by
Ziva Postec
 Anna Ruiz
Distributed by
New Yorker Films

Release dates

23 October 1985
 

Running time
 France 613 minutes (10 hours 13 minutes)
 US 503 minutes
 UK 566 minutes
 Sweden 544 minutes
Language
French
 German
Hebrew
 Polish
Yiddish
 English
Shoah is a 1985 French documentary film directed by Claude Lanzmann about the Shoah. The film primarily consists of his interviews and visits to German Holocaust sites across Poland, including three extermination camps. It presents testimonies by selected survivors, witnesses, and German perpetrators, often secretly recorded using hidden cameras.[1] The word 'shoah' is the standard Hebrew term for the Holocaust.
As Claude Lanzmann does not speak Polish, Hebrew, or Yiddish, he depended on interpreters to work with most of his interviewees. This process enlarged the scale of the documentary, which is nine hours and twenty-three minutes long.[1] Lanzmann has also released four feature-length films based on unused material shot for Shoah.
While Shoah received critical acclaim and won notable awards, the film also aroused controversy and criticism, particularly in Poland, but also in the United States. A number of historians criticized it for failing to show and discuss the many Poles who rescued Jews, or to recognize the millions of Poles who were also killed by the Germans during the occupation of Poland.


Contents  [hide]
1 Synopsis 1.1 The man in the poster
2 Production
3 Reception and awards
4 Criticism 4.1 Reception in Poland
5 Outtakes
6 See also
7 Notes
8 References
9 External links

Synopsis[edit]
The film is concerned chiefly with four topics: Chełmno, where mobile gas vans were first used by Germans to exterminate Jews; the death camps of Treblinka and Auschwitz-Birkenau; and the Warsaw Ghetto, with testimonies from survivors, witnesses, and perpetrators.
The sections on Treblinka include testimony from Abraham Bomba, who survived as a barber;[2] Richard Glazar, an inmate; and Franz Suchomel, an SS officer who worked at the camp, who reveals intricate details of the camp's gas chamber. Bomba breaks down while describing how a barber friend of his came across his wife and sister while cutting hair outside (before) the gas chamber. Suchomel states he did not know about extermination at Treblinka until he arrived there. This section includes Henryk Gawkowski, who said he drove one of the transport trains while intoxicated with vodka. Gawkowski's photograph appears on the poster used for the film's marketing campaign.
Testimonies on Auschwitz are provided by Rudolf Vrba, who escaped from the camp before the end of the war; and Filip Müller, who worked in an incinerator burning the bodies from the gassings. Müller recounts what prisoners said to him, and describes the experience of personally going into the gas chamber: bodies were piled up by the doors 'like stones'. He breaks down as he recalls the prisoners starting to sing while being forced into the gas chamber. Accounts include some from local villagers, who witnessed trains heading daily to the camp and returning empty; they quickly guessed the fate of those on board.
Lanzmann also interviews bystanders. He asks whether they knew what was going on in the death camps. Their answers reveal that they did but they justified their inaction by the fear of death. Two survivors of Chełmno are interviewed: Simon Srebnik, who was forced to sing military songs to entertain the Nazis; and Mordechaï Podchlebnik. Lanzmann also has a secretly filmed interview with Franz Schalling, a German security guard, who describes the workings of Chełmno. Walter Stier, a former Nazi bureaucrat, describes the workings of the railways. Stier insists he was too busy managing railroad traffic to notice his trains were transporting Jews to their deaths.
The Warsaw ghetto is described by Jan Karski, who worked for the Polish government-in-exile and Franz Grassler, a Nazi administrator who liaised with Jewish leaders. A Christian, Karski, snuck into the Warsaw ghetto and escaped to England to try to convince the Allied governments to intervene more strongly on behalf of the Jews, but failed to do so. Memories from Jewish survivors of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising conclude the documentary.
Lanzmann also interviews Holocaust historian Raul Hilberg, who discusses the historical significance of Nazi propaganda against the European Jews, and the Nazi development of the Final Solution. The complete text of the film was published in 1985.
The man in the poster[edit]
During his trip to Poland in July 1978, Lanzmann's crew filmed his conversations with an elderly Polish man by the name of Henryk Gawkowski, who, some 35 years earlier, had worked on the locomotives pulling Holocaust trains to Treblinka during World War II.[3] The photograph used for the film poster was staged on-site ― in reality, Gawkowski was a young man in 1943, while the type of locomotives used was different, as was the landscape. The female translator, sounding somewhat annoyed, insisted on calling him the train's operator (or conductor in Polish); nevertheless, Gawkowski informed that he only shovelled coal into the engine's firebox, and that two German officers were always on every train. What happened to the victims, Gawkowski said, was not his fault, adding emphatically that if he had the opportunity, he would have been the first to slash Hitler's throat.[3]
Production[edit]
Lanzmann was commissioned by Israeli officials to make what they thought would be a two-hour film, delivered in 18 months, about the Holocaust from "the viewpoint of the Jews".[4][5] As time went on, Israeli officials withdrew as his original backers.[4] Over 350 hours of raw footage were recorded, including the verbatim questions, answers and interpreters translations. Shoah took eleven years to make.[6] It was plagued with financial problems, difficulties in tracking down interviewees and threats to Lanzmann's life. The film was unusual in that it did not include any historical footage, relying instead on interviewing witnesses and visiting the crime scenes.[7] Four feature-length films have since been released from the outtakes.
Some German interviewees were reluctant to talk, and refused to be filmed so Lanzmann resorted to using a hidden camera. Some of the most controversial interviews were obtained in this way, conspicuous by their grainy, black and white appearance.[7] The interviewees in these scenes are sometimes obscured, or distinguished by the sight of technicians watching the recording. During one interview, the covert recording was discovered and Lanzmann was physically attacked. He was hospitalized for a month and charged by the authorities with "unauthorized use of the German airwaves".[5]
Lanzmann arranged many of the scenes, but not the testimony, before filming witnesses. For example, Bomba was interviewed while pretending to cut the hair of a friend in a working barbershop; a steam locomotive was hired to recreate the journey the conductor had taken while transporting Jews; the opening scene shows Srebnik singing in a rowboat, similar to how he had "serenaded his captors".[5] Through these scenes the viewer is encouraged to think not only about the historical actions of these men, but the ethics of reflection in encouraging them to re-live these experiences.
The first six years of production were devoted to the recording of interviews with the individuals who appear in the film; these were conducted in 14 different countries.[6] Lanzmann worked on the interviews for four years before first visiting Poland. After the shooting had been completed, editing for the film continued for five years, as it was cut from 350 hours of raw footage to the 91⁄2 hours of the final version.[6] Lanzmann frequently replaced the camera shot of the interviewee with modern footage from the site of the relevant death camp. The matching of testimony to places became a "crucial trope of the film".[5]
The film was made without subtitles or voice-overs. The questions and answers were kept on the soundtrack, along with the voices of the interpreters.[5] Transcripts of the interviews, in original languages and English translations, are held by the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC. Videos of excerpts from the interviews are available for viewing online, and linked transcripts are available for reading and download from the museum website.[8]
Reception and awards[edit]
Hailed as a masterpiece by many critics, Shoah was described in the New York Times as "an epic film about the greatest evil of modern times."[7] In 1985, the year the documentary was released, Critic Roger Ebert described it as "an extraordinary film" and "one of the noblest films ever made.[9] It is not a documentary, not journalism, not propaganda, not political. It is an act of witness."[10] Gene Siskel named it as his choice for the best movie of the year, later naming it the second best film of the 1980s. Ebert declined to rank Shoah, saying that it belonged in a class to itself and no film should be ranked against it.[11]
In 1985 Shoah won Best Documentary and Special Award at the New York Film Critics Circle and Los Angeles Film Critics Association, respectively.[12] The following year, Shoah won Best Documentary at the National Society of Film Critics Awards and International Documentary Association. Shoah has also been nominated and awarded various other awards at film festivals around the world.[13]
In a 2014 Sight and Sound poll, film critics voted Shoah the second best documentary film of all time.[14]
Criticism[edit]
The documentary by Lanzmann was the subject of considerable controversy almost from the day of its theatrical release. Pauline Kael, the most influential American film critic of her day,[15] described Shoah in The New Yorker as "logy and exhausting right from the start..."[1] "[S]itting in a theatre seat – wrote Kael – for a film as full of dead spaces as this one seem[ed] to [her] a form of self-punishment". Lanzmann did all the questioning himself, while putting pressure on people in a discursive manner, which gave the film a deadening weight, she said.[1] Kael's parents were American Jewish immigrants from Poland.[15]
Reception in Poland[edit]
In spring of 1985 Lanzmann told the French Libération that his documentary is an indictment of Poland's complicity in the Holocaust.[16] The Socio-Cultural Association of Jews in Poland (Towarzystwo Społeczno-Kulturalne Żydów w Polsce) called it a political provocation, and delivered a protest letter to the French embassy in Warsaw.[16] A columnist for The New Yorker wrote that the "Polish government asked France" to ban the film after its première in 1985.[5]
The film provoked strong criticism of Lanzmann's vision of "dark, drab, poor, and anti-Semitic Poland."[17] The official government-run newspapers and state television criticized it, as did the writers of the unofficial Second Circulation of the Polish anti-communist press. Almost no one defended the film. Most intellectuals referred to it as tendentious, and inherently anti-Polish.[17] Foreign Minister Władysław Bartoszewski, an Auschwitz survivor and an honorary citizen of Israel, criticized Lanzmann for choosing to ignore the many thousands of Polish rescuers of Jews. He said the director instead focused his camera on impoverished rural Poles in rags, selected to conform with his preconceived notions. Gustaw Herling-Grudziński, an eminent Polish-Jewish writer and dissident, was puzzled by Lanzmann's deliberate omission of anybody in Poland with advanced knowledge of the Holocaust.[18]
In his book Dziennik pisany nocą, Herling-Grudziński wrote that the thematic construction of Shoah, allowed Lanzmann to exercise a reduction method so extreme that the plight of the non-Jewish Poles must remain a mystery to the viewer. Grudziński asked a rhetorical question in his book: "Did the Poles live in peace, quietly plowing farmers' fields with their backs turned on the long fuming chimneys of death-camp crematoria? Or, were they exterminated along with the Jews as subhuman?" According to Grudziński, Lanzmann leaves this question unanswered, but the historical evidence shows that Poles also suffered widespread massacres at the hands of the Nazis.[18]
Professor Robert D. Cherry and Annamaria Orla-Bukowska wrote in Rethinking Poles and Jews

Lanzmann's purpose in making the film is revealed by his comments that he "fears" Poland and that the death camps could not possibly have been constructed in France because the "French peasantry would not have tolerated them." He has admitted he intended to indict the Poles in Shoah and has made no films about the Holocaust in France where, presumably, anti-Jewish sentiments are not to be found. The observation of Eva Hoffman, a Polish Jew, that antisemitism was neither fundamental to Polish culture nor "exceptional" in its virulence is utterly lost on Lanzmann. Not surprisingly, many Poles bitterly condemned the film as tendentious and manipulative, including Jan Karski and Jerzy Turowicz.
— Robert D. Cherry; Annamaria Orla-Bukowska, Rethinking Poles and Jews [19]
Outtakes[edit]
Lanzmann has released four feature-length films based on unused material shot for Shoah. The first three are included as bonus features in the Criterion Collection DVD and Blu-ray release of the film. All four are included in the Masters of Cinema Blu-ray release of the film.
A Visitor from the Living (fr) (1997) about a Red Cross representative, Maurice Rossel, who in 1944 wrote a favourable report about Theresienstadt concentration camp.
Sobibor, 14 October 1943, 4 p.m. (2001) about Yehuda Lerner who took part in an uprising against the camp guards and managed to escape.
The Karski Report (fr) (2010) about Polish resistance fighter Jan Karski's visit to Franklin Roosevelt in 1943.[5]
The Last of the Unjust (2013) about Benjamin Murmelstein, a controversial Jewish rabbi in the Theresienstadt ghetto during World War II.[20]
Previously unseen Shoah outtakes have also been featured in Adam Benzine's 2015 HBO documentary Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah, which examines Lanzmann's life during the years he spent making his film in 1973-85.[21]
See also[edit]
Felix Frankfurter
List of Holocaust films
List of longest films by running time
List of films shot over several years
Notes[edit]
1.^ Jump up to: a b c d Pauline Kael (30 December 1985). "Claude Lanzmann's Shoah (1)" (Archived by WebCite). The Current Cinema, “Sacred Monsters”. The New Yorker. pp. 1 of 3. Retrieved 2013-05-10. "See also: archived page 2 and page 3 of 1985 article by Kael."
2.Jump up ^ William Baker (September 2005). "Abraham Bomba: Witness and Technique". Claude Lanzmann Shoah Collection. University of California, Davis campus. Retrieved 6 September 2014.
3.^ Jump up to: a b Claude Lanzmann Shoah Collection (July 1978). Henryk Gawkowski and Treblinka railway workers (Clips viewable online) (Camera Rolls #4-7) (in Polish and French). USHMM, Washington, DC: Steven Spielberg Film and Video Archive. Event occurs at 02:10:59 and 07:10:16. ID: 3362-3372. Retrieved 8 September 2015.
4.^ Jump up to: a b Larry Rohter (6 December 2010). "Maker of 'Shoah' Stresses Its Lasting Value". The New York Times. Retrieved 9 September 2013.
5.^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g Richard Brody (19 March 2012). "Witness; Claude Lanzmann and the making of Shoah". The New Yorker. Retrieved 15 September 2013.
6.^ Jump up to: a b c Austin, Guy (1996). Contemporary French Cinema: An Introduction. New York: Manchester University Press. p. 24. ISBN 0-7190-4610-6.
7.^ Jump up to: a b c Bernstein, Richard (20 October 1985). "An Epic Film About The Greatest Evil Of Modern Times". The New York Times.
8.Jump up ^ Claude Lanzmann Shoah Collection, Steven Spielberg Film and Video Archive, US Holocaust Memorial Museum, accessed 22 May 2013
9.Jump up ^ "Reviews" at www.rogerebert.com personal webpage.
10.Jump up ^ "Shoah". Chicago Sun-Times.
11.Jump up ^ Siskel and Ebert, Best of the year TV show (Ebert excluded). Retrieved 23 May 2013.
12.Jump up ^ "Shoah (1985)". The New York Times.
13.Jump up ^ IMDb Community: Shoah (1985); Awards.
14.Jump up ^ "Silent film tops documentary poll". BBC News. Retrieved 1 August 2014.
15.^ Jump up to: a b Lawrence van Gelder (4 September 2001). "Pauline Kael, Provocative and Widely Imitated New Yorker Film Critic, Dies at 82". The New York Times. p. 2 of 3. Retrieved 25 September 2013.
16.^ Jump up to: a b Szczęsna, Joanna (2010-03-24). "25 lat sporów o 'Shoah'" (in Polish). Warsaw: Gazeta Wyborcza. Archived from the original on 18 Sep 2013. Retrieved 17 September 2013. "Translation: Szymon Szurmiej, spokesman for TSKŻwP informed the French embassy that the Jewish community in Poland is saddened by such cinematic provocation and an anti-Polish campaign. Polish original: Szymon Szurmiej jako przedstawiciel Towarzystwa Społeczno-Kulturalnego Żydów w Polsce złożył w ambasadzie francuskiej oświadczenie, że "społeczność żydowska jest zbulwersowana tą filmową prowokacją i antypolską kampanią"."
17.^ Jump up to: a b Michael Meng. "Rethinking Polish-Jewish Relations..." (PDF file, direct download 145 KB). Department of History. University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. pp. 1–10. Retrieved 2013-05-10.
18.^ Jump up to: a b Joanna Szczęsna (2010-03-24). "25 lat sporów o "Shoah" (Twenty five years of the film Shoah controversy)" (archived from GW Teksty) (in Polish). Gazeta Wyborcza. Archiwum. Retrieved 2013-05-11.
19.Jump up ^ Robert D. Cherry, Anna Maria Orla-Bukowska (2007). "Poland and the Poles in the Cinematic Portrayal of the Holocaust". Rethinking Poles and Jews: troubled past, brighter future. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 36. ISBN 0742546667. Retrieved 2013-05-11.
20.Jump up ^ Rob Nelson (25 May 2013). "Cannes Film Review: 'The Last of the Unjust'". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 15 September 2013.
21.Jump up ^ Knellman, Martin (28 April 2015). "The man behind Shoah gets his close-up". The Toronto Star. Retrieved 15 June 2015.
References[edit]
Felman, Shoshana (1994). "Film as Witness: Claude Lanzmann's Shoah". In Hartman, Geoffrey. Holocaust Remembrance: The Shapes of Memory. Oxford: Blackwell. ISBN 1-55786-125-0.
Hirsch, Marianne; Spitzer, Leo (1993). "Gendered Translations: Claude Lanzmann's Shoah". In Cooke, Miriam; Woollacott, Angela. Gendering War Talk. Princeton: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-06980-8.
Lanzman, Claude (1985). Shoah. New Yorker Films.
Loshitzky, Yosefa (1997). "Holocaust Others: Spielberg's Schindler's List versus Lanzman's Shoah". In Loshitzky, Yosefa. Spielberg's Holocaust: Critical Perspectives on Schindler's List. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. ISBN 0-253-33232-X.
External links[edit]
Shoah – official trailer
Shoah at AllMovie
Shoah at Box Office Mojo
Shoah at the Internet Movie Database
Shoah at Metacritic
Shoah at Rotten Tomatoes
Shoah - Claude Lanzmann's revised 2007 edition
Ziva Postec – Lanzmann's editor of Shoah
Claude Lanzmann Shoah Collection – video excerpts of all interviews done for the film, with links to transcripts in original languages and English at the Steven Spielberg Film and Video Archive, US Holocaust Memorial Museum
  


Categories: 1985 films
1980s documentary films
French films
French documentary films
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Holocaust films
Documentary films about Poland
Films directed by Claude Lanzmann
Peabody Award winning broadcasts
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Schindler's List (soundtrack)

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Schindler's List
Schindler's List cover artwork.jpg
Film score by John Williams

Released
1994
Genre
Soundtrack
Length
64:35
Label
MCA
Producer
John Williams
John Williams chronology

Jurassic Park
 (1993) Schindler's List
 (1993) Sabrina
 (1995)
 

Professional ratings

Review scores

Source
Rating
Allmusic 4/5 stars link
Entertainment Weekly A− link
FilmTracks 5/5 stars link
SoundtrackNet 3.5/5 stars link
Schindler's List is the original soundtrack, on the MCA label, of the 1993 film Schindler's List starring Liam Neeson, Ben Kingsley, Ralph Fiennes and Caroline Goodall. The original score and songs were composed by John Williams, and features violin player Itzhak Perlman.[1]
The album won the Academy Award and the BAFTA Award for "Best Original Score" and the Grammy Award for "Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media". It was also nominated for a Golden Globe Award.
Theme from Schindler's List is one of the most recognized contemporary film scores, particularly the violin solo. Many high-level figure skaters have used this in their programs, including Katarina Witt, Irina Slutskaya, Johnny Weir, and Yulia Lipnitskaya.[2][3]


Contents  [hide]
1 Track listing
2 Not on the soundtrack
3 References
4 External links
5 Awards

Track listing[edit]
1."Theme from Schindler's List" – 4:15
2."Jewish Town (Krakow Ghetto - Winter '41)" – 4:40
3."Immolation (With Our Lives, We Give Life)" – 4:44
4."Remembrances" – 4:20
5."Schindler's Workforce" – 9:08
6."Afn Pripetshek / Nacht Aktion" (with Li-Ron Choir) – 2:56
7."I Could Have Done More" – 5:52
8."Auschwitz-Birkenau" – 3:41
9."Stolen Memories" – 4:20
10."Making the List" – 5:11
11."Give Me Your Names" – 4:55
12."Yerushalayim Shel Zahav (Jerusalem of Gold)" – 2:17
13."Remembrances (with Itzhak Perlman)" – 5:17
14."Theme from Schindler's List" – 2:59
Not on the soundtrack[edit]
Other tracks that appear in the film, but not in the soundtrack, are an instrumental arrangement of the song "Szomorú Vasárnap" by Rezső Seress, the famous tango "Por Una Cabeza" by Carlos Gardel and Alfredo Le Pera, the German schlager "Im Grunewald ist Holzauktion" by Otto Teich as well as "Mein Vater war ein Wandersmann", "In einem kleinen Cafe in Hernals", and the German marching song Erika (Auf der Heide blüht ein kleines Blümelein) by Herms Niel. Also Polish hit songs "To ostatnia niedziela" and "Miłość ci wszystko wybaczy" are featured in the film. Bach’s English Suite No. 2, which is played during the searching in the ghetto, is also missing.
Also not included on the soundtrack disc album but was played during the film was Wilhelm Strienz’ version of Gute Nacht Mutter; it played as the Jewish women were being led from the train to the gas chambers.
Mamatschi, schenk' mir ein Pferdchen is played on loudspeakers in the camp, when the children are taken away on trucks.
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ Keegan, Rebecca (8 January 2012). "John Williams and Steven Spielberg mark 40 years of collaboration". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 28 April 2015.
2.Jump up ^ [1]
3.Jump up ^ [2]
External links[edit]
John Williams, Itzhak Perlman - Schindler's List Music on YouTube
Awards[edit]

Awards
Preceded by
Aladdin Academy Award for Best Original Score
 1993 Succeeded by
The Lion King
Preceded by
Strictly Ballroom BAFTA Award for Best Film Music
 1993 Succeeded by
Backbeat
Stub icon This soundtrack-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.




  


Categories: 1993 soundtracks
Film soundtracks
Songs about the Holocaust
Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media
MCA Records soundtracks
John Williams soundtracks
Soundtrack stubs





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Schindler's List (soundtrack)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search


Schindler's List
Schindler's List cover artwork.jpg
Film score by John Williams

Released
1994
Genre
Soundtrack
Length
64:35
Label
MCA
Producer
John Williams
John Williams chronology

Jurassic Park
 (1993) Schindler's List
 (1993) Sabrina
 (1995)
 

Professional ratings

Review scores

Source
Rating
Allmusic 4/5 stars link
Entertainment Weekly A− link
FilmTracks 5/5 stars link
SoundtrackNet 3.5/5 stars link
Schindler's List is the original soundtrack, on the MCA label, of the 1993 film Schindler's List starring Liam Neeson, Ben Kingsley, Ralph Fiennes and Caroline Goodall. The original score and songs were composed by John Williams, and features violin player Itzhak Perlman.[1]
The album won the Academy Award and the BAFTA Award for "Best Original Score" and the Grammy Award for "Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media". It was also nominated for a Golden Globe Award.
Theme from Schindler's List is one of the most recognized contemporary film scores, particularly the violin solo. Many high-level figure skaters have used this in their programs, including Katarina Witt, Irina Slutskaya, Johnny Weir, and Yulia Lipnitskaya.[2][3]


Contents  [hide]
1 Track listing
2 Not on the soundtrack
3 References
4 External links
5 Awards

Track listing[edit]
1."Theme from Schindler's List" – 4:15
2."Jewish Town (Krakow Ghetto - Winter '41)" – 4:40
3."Immolation (With Our Lives, We Give Life)" – 4:44
4."Remembrances" – 4:20
5."Schindler's Workforce" – 9:08
6."Afn Pripetshek / Nacht Aktion" (with Li-Ron Choir) – 2:56
7."I Could Have Done More" – 5:52
8."Auschwitz-Birkenau" – 3:41
9."Stolen Memories" – 4:20
10."Making the List" – 5:11
11."Give Me Your Names" – 4:55
12."Yerushalayim Shel Zahav (Jerusalem of Gold)" – 2:17
13."Remembrances (with Itzhak Perlman)" – 5:17
14."Theme from Schindler's List" – 2:59
Not on the soundtrack[edit]
Other tracks that appear in the film, but not in the soundtrack, are an instrumental arrangement of the song "Szomorú Vasárnap" by Rezső Seress, the famous tango "Por Una Cabeza" by Carlos Gardel and Alfredo Le Pera, the German schlager "Im Grunewald ist Holzauktion" by Otto Teich as well as "Mein Vater war ein Wandersmann", "In einem kleinen Cafe in Hernals", and the German marching song Erika (Auf der Heide blüht ein kleines Blümelein) by Herms Niel. Also Polish hit songs "To ostatnia niedziela" and "Miłość ci wszystko wybaczy" are featured in the film. Bach’s English Suite No. 2, which is played during the searching in the ghetto, is also missing.
Also not included on the soundtrack disc album but was played during the film was Wilhelm Strienz’ version of Gute Nacht Mutter; it played as the Jewish women were being led from the train to the gas chambers.
Mamatschi, schenk' mir ein Pferdchen is played on loudspeakers in the camp, when the children are taken away on trucks.
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ Keegan, Rebecca (8 January 2012). "John Williams and Steven Spielberg mark 40 years of collaboration". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 28 April 2015.
2.Jump up ^ [1]
3.Jump up ^ [2]
External links[edit]
John Williams, Itzhak Perlman - Schindler's List Music on YouTube
Awards[edit]

Awards
Preceded by
Aladdin Academy Award for Best Original Score
 1993 Succeeded by
The Lion King
Preceded by
Strictly Ballroom BAFTA Award for Best Film Music
 1993 Succeeded by
Backbeat
Stub icon This soundtrack-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.




  


Categories: 1993 soundtracks
Film soundtracks
Songs about the Holocaust
Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media
MCA Records soundtracks
John Williams soundtracks
Soundtrack stubs





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Schindler's Ark

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Schindler's Ark (Schindler's List)
Schindler's Ark cover.png
First edition cover
 
Author
Thomas Keneally
Country
Australia
Language
English
Genre
Biographical novel
Publisher
Hodder and Stoughton

Publication date
 18 October 1982
Media type
Print (Hardcover and Paperback)
Pages
380 pp (hardcover edition)
ISBN
ISBN 0-340-27838-2 (hardcover edition)
OCLC
8994901
Schindler's Ark (released in America as Schindler's List) is a Booker Prize-winning novel published in 1982 by Australian novelist Thomas Keneally, which was later adapted into the highly successful movie Schindler's List directed by Steven Spielberg. The United States version of the book was called Schindler's List from the beginning; it was later re-issued in Commonwealth countries under that name as well. The novel was also awarded the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Fiction in 1983.[1]
The book tells the story of Oskar Schindler, a Nazi Party member who turns into an unlikely hero by saving 1,200 Jews from concentration camps all over Poland and Germany. It is a Historical fiction which describes actual people and places with fictional events, dialogue and scenes added by the author. Keneally wrote a number of well received novels before and after Schindler's Ark, however it has since gone on to become his most well-known and celebrated work.[2]


Contents  [hide]
1 Background
2 Plot summary
3 References
4 External links

Background[edit]
Poldek Pfefferberg, a Holocaust survivor, inspired Keneally to write Schindler's Ark. After the war, Pfefferberg had tried on a number of occasions to interest the screen-writers and film-makers he met through his business in a film based on the story of Schindler and his actions in saving Polish Jews from the Nazis, arranging several interviews with Schindler for American television.
Keneally's meetings with Pfefferberg, research and interviews of Schindler's acquittances are detailed in another of his books titled Searching for Schindler: A Memoir (2007). In October 1980 Keneally went into Pfefferberg's shop in Beverly Hills to ask about the price of briefcases. Keneally had just finished a book-signing in Beverly Hills and was on his way home to Australia. Pfefferberg, learning that Keneally was a novelist, showed him his extensive files on Schindler, kept in two cabinets in his back room.[3] After 50 minutes of entreaties, Pfefferberg was finally able to convince Keneally to write the book; and Pfefferberg became an advisor, accompanying Keneally to Poland where they visited Kraków and other sites associated with the Schindler story. Keneally dedicated Schindler's Ark to Pfefferberg: "who by zeal and persistence caused this book to be written."
After the publication of Schindler's Ark in 1982, Pfefferberg worked to persuade Steven Spielberg to film Keneally's book, using his acquaintance with Spielberg's mother to gain access.
A carbon copy of the original 13-page list, of which only a few exist, was discovered in 2009 in a library in Sydney, Australia.[4]
Plot summary[edit]
This novel tells the story of Oskar Schindler, self-made entrepreneur and bon viveur who almost by default found himself saving Polish Jews from the Nazi death machine. Based on numerous eyewitness accounts, Keneally's story is unbearably moving but never melodramatic, a testament to the almost unimaginable horrors of Hitler's attempts to make Europe judenfrei (free of Jews). What distinguishes Schindler in Keneally's version is not, superficially, kindness or idealism, but a certain gusto. He is a flawed hero; he is not "without sin". He is a drinker, a womaniser and, at first, a profiteer. After the war, he is commemorated as Righteous among the Nations by the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem, but he is never seen as a conventionally virtuous character.[5] The story is not only Schindler's. It is the story of Kraków's dying ghetto and the forced labor camp outside of town, at Plaszów. It is the story of Amon Goeth, Plaszów's commandant.[6]
His wife Emilie remarked in a German TV interview that Schindler did nothing remarkable before the war and nothing after it. "He was fortunate therefore that in the short fierce era between 1939 and 1945 he had met people who had summoned forth his deeper talents." After the war, his business ventures fail and he separates from his wife. Then, he ends up living a shabby life in a small flat in Frankfurt. Eventually he arranged to live part of the year in Israel, supported by his Jewish friends, and part of the year as a sort of internal émigré in Frankfurt, where he was often hissed at in the streets as a traitor to his "race". After 29 unexceptional postwar years he died in 1974. He was buried in Jerusalem as he wished with the help of his old friend Pfefferberg.
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ "Book Prizes – Los Angeles Times Festival of Books» Winners By Award". latimes.com.
2.Jump up ^ Alfred Hickling. "Review: The Tyrant's Novel by Thomas Keneally". the Guardian.
3.Jump up ^ Thomas Keneally. "Schindler's Ark: genesis". the Guardian.
4.Jump up ^ Marks, Kathy (7 April 2009). "Schindler's lost list found in Australia". The Independent (Sydney: Independent News & Media). Retrieved 7 April 2009.
5.Jump up ^ [1][dead link]
6.Jump up ^ New York Times Book Review
External links[edit]
Thomas Keneally discusses Schindler's Ark on the BBC World Book Club

Awards and achievements
Preceded by
Midnight's Children Booker Prize recipient
1982 Succeeded by
Life & Times of Michael K


[hide]
v ·
 t ·
 e
 
Novels by Thomas Keneally

 
The Place at Whitton (1964) ·
 The Fear (1965) ·
 Bring Larks and Heroes (1967) ·
 Three Cheers for the Paraclete (1968) ·
 The Survivor (1969) ·
 A Dutiful Daughter (1971) ·
 The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith (1972) ·
 Blood Red, Sister Rose (1974) ·
 Gossip from the Forest (1975) ·
 Season in Purgatory (1976) ·
 A Victim of the Aurora (1978) ·
 Passenger (1979) ·
 Confederates (1979) ·
 The Cut-Rate Kingdom (1980) ·
 Schindler's Ark (1982) ·
 A Family Madness (1985) ·
 The Playmaker (1987) ·
 Act of Grace (1985) ·
 By the Line (1989) ·
 Towards Asmara (1989) ·
 Flying Hero Class (1991) ·
 Chief of Staff (1991) ·
 Woman of the Inner Sea (1993) ·
 Jacko: The Great Intruder (1993) ·
 A River Town (1995) ·
 Bettany's Book (2000) ·
 An Angel in Australia (2000) ·
 The Tyrant's Novel (2003) ·
 The Widow and Her Hero (2007) ·
 The People's Train (2009) ·
 The Daughters of Mars (2012) ·
 Shame and the Captives (2014)
 

  


Categories: Man Booker Prize-winning works
Historical novels
Holocaust literature
1982 novels
1982 in Australia
Australian novels
Novels by Thomas Keneally
Biographical novels
Australian novels adapted into films
Hodder & Stoughton books
Oskar Schindler









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Schindler's Ark

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Schindler's Ark (Schindler's List)
Schindler's Ark cover.png
First edition cover
 
Author
Thomas Keneally
Country
Australia
Language
English
Genre
Biographical novel
Publisher
Hodder and Stoughton

Publication date
 18 October 1982
Media type
Print (Hardcover and Paperback)
Pages
380 pp (hardcover edition)
ISBN
ISBN 0-340-27838-2 (hardcover edition)
OCLC
8994901
Schindler's Ark (released in America as Schindler's List) is a Booker Prize-winning novel published in 1982 by Australian novelist Thomas Keneally, which was later adapted into the highly successful movie Schindler's List directed by Steven Spielberg. The United States version of the book was called Schindler's List from the beginning; it was later re-issued in Commonwealth countries under that name as well. The novel was also awarded the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Fiction in 1983.[1]
The book tells the story of Oskar Schindler, a Nazi Party member who turns into an unlikely hero by saving 1,200 Jews from concentration camps all over Poland and Germany. It is a Historical fiction which describes actual people and places with fictional events, dialogue and scenes added by the author. Keneally wrote a number of well received novels before and after Schindler's Ark, however it has since gone on to become his most well-known and celebrated work.[2]


Contents  [hide]
1 Background
2 Plot summary
3 References
4 External links

Background[edit]
Poldek Pfefferberg, a Holocaust survivor, inspired Keneally to write Schindler's Ark. After the war, Pfefferberg had tried on a number of occasions to interest the screen-writers and film-makers he met through his business in a film based on the story of Schindler and his actions in saving Polish Jews from the Nazis, arranging several interviews with Schindler for American television.
Keneally's meetings with Pfefferberg, research and interviews of Schindler's acquittances are detailed in another of his books titled Searching for Schindler: A Memoir (2007). In October 1980 Keneally went into Pfefferberg's shop in Beverly Hills to ask about the price of briefcases. Keneally had just finished a book-signing in Beverly Hills and was on his way home to Australia. Pfefferberg, learning that Keneally was a novelist, showed him his extensive files on Schindler, kept in two cabinets in his back room.[3] After 50 minutes of entreaties, Pfefferberg was finally able to convince Keneally to write the book; and Pfefferberg became an advisor, accompanying Keneally to Poland where they visited Kraków and other sites associated with the Schindler story. Keneally dedicated Schindler's Ark to Pfefferberg: "who by zeal and persistence caused this book to be written."
After the publication of Schindler's Ark in 1982, Pfefferberg worked to persuade Steven Spielberg to film Keneally's book, using his acquaintance with Spielberg's mother to gain access.
A carbon copy of the original 13-page list, of which only a few exist, was discovered in 2009 in a library in Sydney, Australia.[4]
Plot summary[edit]
This novel tells the story of Oskar Schindler, self-made entrepreneur and bon viveur who almost by default found himself saving Polish Jews from the Nazi death machine. Based on numerous eyewitness accounts, Keneally's story is unbearably moving but never melodramatic, a testament to the almost unimaginable horrors of Hitler's attempts to make Europe judenfrei (free of Jews). What distinguishes Schindler in Keneally's version is not, superficially, kindness or idealism, but a certain gusto. He is a flawed hero; he is not "without sin". He is a drinker, a womaniser and, at first, a profiteer. After the war, he is commemorated as Righteous among the Nations by the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem, but he is never seen as a conventionally virtuous character.[5] The story is not only Schindler's. It is the story of Kraków's dying ghetto and the forced labor camp outside of town, at Plaszów. It is the story of Amon Goeth, Plaszów's commandant.[6]
His wife Emilie remarked in a German TV interview that Schindler did nothing remarkable before the war and nothing after it. "He was fortunate therefore that in the short fierce era between 1939 and 1945 he had met people who had summoned forth his deeper talents." After the war, his business ventures fail and he separates from his wife. Then, he ends up living a shabby life in a small flat in Frankfurt. Eventually he arranged to live part of the year in Israel, supported by his Jewish friends, and part of the year as a sort of internal émigré in Frankfurt, where he was often hissed at in the streets as a traitor to his "race". After 29 unexceptional postwar years he died in 1974. He was buried in Jerusalem as he wished with the help of his old friend Pfefferberg.
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ "Book Prizes – Los Angeles Times Festival of Books» Winners By Award". latimes.com.
2.Jump up ^ Alfred Hickling. "Review: The Tyrant's Novel by Thomas Keneally". the Guardian.
3.Jump up ^ Thomas Keneally. "Schindler's Ark: genesis". the Guardian.
4.Jump up ^ Marks, Kathy (7 April 2009). "Schindler's lost list found in Australia". The Independent (Sydney: Independent News & Media). Retrieved 7 April 2009.
5.Jump up ^ [1][dead link]
6.Jump up ^ New York Times Book Review
External links[edit]
Thomas Keneally discusses Schindler's Ark on the BBC World Book Club

Awards and achievements
Preceded by
Midnight's Children Booker Prize recipient
1982 Succeeded by
Life & Times of Michael K


[hide]
v ·
 t ·
 e
 
Novels by Thomas Keneally

 
The Place at Whitton (1964) ·
 The Fear (1965) ·
 Bring Larks and Heroes (1967) ·
 Three Cheers for the Paraclete (1968) ·
 The Survivor (1969) ·
 A Dutiful Daughter (1971) ·
 The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith (1972) ·
 Blood Red, Sister Rose (1974) ·
 Gossip from the Forest (1975) ·
 Season in Purgatory (1976) ·
 A Victim of the Aurora (1978) ·
 Passenger (1979) ·
 Confederates (1979) ·
 The Cut-Rate Kingdom (1980) ·
 Schindler's Ark (1982) ·
 A Family Madness (1985) ·
 The Playmaker (1987) ·
 Act of Grace (1985) ·
 By the Line (1989) ·
 Towards Asmara (1989) ·
 Flying Hero Class (1991) ·
 Chief of Staff (1991) ·
 Woman of the Inner Sea (1993) ·
 Jacko: The Great Intruder (1993) ·
 A River Town (1995) ·
 Bettany's Book (2000) ·
 An Angel in Australia (2000) ·
 The Tyrant's Novel (2003) ·
 The Widow and Her Hero (2007) ·
 The People's Train (2009) ·
 The Daughters of Mars (2012) ·
 Shame and the Captives (2014)
 

  


Categories: Man Booker Prize-winning works
Historical novels
Holocaust literature
1982 novels
1982 in Australia
Australian novels
Novels by Thomas Keneally
Biographical novels
Australian novels adapted into films
Hodder & Stoughton books
Oskar Schindler









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Schindler's List

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This article is about the film. For the book that inspired this film (published in the US as Schindler's List), see Schindler's Ark. For the actual list, see List of Schindlerjuden.

Schindler's List
Schindler's List movie.jpg
Theatrical release poster
 
Directed by
Steven Spielberg
Produced by
Steven Spielberg
Gerald R. Molen
Branko Lustig
 
Screenplay by
Steven Zaillian
Based on
Schindler's Ark 
 by Thomas Keneally
Starring
Liam Neeson
Ben Kingsley
Ralph Fiennes
Caroline Goodall
Jonathan Sagall
Embeth Davidtz
 
Music by
John Williams
Cinematography
Janusz Kamiński
Edited by
Michael Kahn

Production
 company

Amblin Entertainment
 
Distributed by
Universal Pictures

Release dates

November 30, 1993 (Washington, D.C.)
December 15, 1993 (United States)
 

Running time
 197 minutes[1]
Country
United States
 
Language
English
Budget
$22 million[2]
Box office
$321.2 million[3]
Schindler's List is a 1993 American epic historical period drama film, directed and co-produced by Steven Spielberg and scripted by Steven Zaillian. It is based on the novel Schindler's Ark by Thomas Keneally, an Australian novelist. The film is based on the life of Oskar Schindler, an ethnic German businessman who saved the lives of more than a thousand mostly Polish-Jewish refugees during the Holocaust by employing them in his factories. It stars Liam Neeson as Schindler, Ralph Fiennes as Schutzstaffel (SS) officer Amon Goeth, and Ben Kingsley as Schindler's Jewish accountant Itzhak Stern.
Ideas for a film about the Schindlerjuden (Schindler Jews) were proposed as early as 1963. Poldek Pfefferberg, one of the Schindlerjuden, made it his life's mission to tell the story of Schindler. Spielberg became interested in the story when executive Sid Sheinberg sent him a book review of Schindler's Ark. Universal Studios bought the rights to the novel, but Spielberg, unsure if he was ready to make a film about the Holocaust, tried to pass the project to several other directors before finally deciding to direct the film himself.
Principal photography took place in Kraków, Poland, over the course of 72 days in 1993. Spielberg shot the film in black and white and approached it as a documentary. Cinematographer Janusz Kamiński wanted to give the film a sense of timelessness. John Williams composed the score, and violinist Itzhak Perlman performs the film's main theme.
Schindler's List premiered on November 30, 1993, in Washington, D.C. and it was released on December 15, 1993, in the United States. Often listed among the greatest films ever made,[4][5][6] it was also a box office success, earning $321.2 million worldwide on a $22 million budget. It was the recipient of seven Academy Awards (out of twelve nominations), including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Original Score, as well as numerous other awards (including seven BAFTAs and three Golden Globes). In 2007, the American Film Institute ranked the film 8th on its list of the 100 best American films of all time. The Library of Congress selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry in 2004.


Contents  [hide]
1 Plot
2 Cast
3 Production 3.1 Development
3.2 Casting
3.3 Filming
3.4 Cinematography
3.5 Music
4 Themes and symbolism 4.1 The girl in red
4.2 Candles
4.3 Other symbolism
5 Release
6 Reception 6.1 Critical response
6.2 Assessment by other filmmakers
6.3 Reaction of the Jewish community
6.4 Accolades
7 Controversies
8 Impact on Krakow
9 See also
10 Notes
11 Citations
12 References
13 External links

Plot[edit]
In Kraków during World War II, the Germans had forced local Polish Jews into the overcrowded Kraków Ghetto. Oskar Schindler, an ethnic German, arrives in the city hoping to make his fortune. A member of the Nazi Party, Schindler lavishes bribes on Wehrmacht (German armed forces) and SS officials and acquires a factory to produce enamelware. To help him run the business, Schindler enlists the aid of Itzhak Stern, a local Jewish official who has contacts with black marketeers and the Jewish business community. Stern helps Schindler arrange loans to finance the factory. Schindler maintains friendly relations with the Nazis and enjoys wealth and status as "Herr Direktor", and Stern handles administration. Schindler hires Jewish workers because they cost less, while Stern ensures that as many people as possible are deemed essential to the German war effort, which saves them from being transported to concentration camps or killed.
SS-Untersturmführer (second lieutenant) Amon Goeth arrives in Kraków to oversee construction of Płaszów concentration camp. When the camp is completed, he orders the ghetto liquidated. Many people are shot and killed in the process of emptying the ghetto. Schindler witnesses the massacre and is profoundly affected. He particularly notices a tiny girl in a red coat – one of the few splashes of color in the black-and-white film – as she hides from the Nazis, and later sees her body (identifiable by the red coat) among those on a wagonload being taken away to be burned. Schindler is careful to maintain his friendship with Goeth and, through bribery and lavish gifts, continues to enjoy SS support. Goeth brutally mistreats his maid and randomly shoots people from the balcony of his villa, and the prisoners are in constant daily fear for their lives. As time passes, Schindler's focus shifts from making money to trying to save as many lives as possible. He bribes Goeth into allowing him to build a sub-camp for his workers so that he can better protect them.
As the Germans begin to lose the war, Goeth is ordered to ship the remaining Jews at Płaszów to Auschwitz concentration camp. Schindler asks Goeth to allow him to move his workers to a new munitions factory he plans to build in his home town of Zwittau-Brinnlitz. Goeth agrees, but charges a huge bribe. Schindler and Stern create "Schindler's List" – a list of people to be transferred to Brinnlitz and thus saved from transport to Auschwitz.
The train carrying women and children is accidentally redirected to Auschwitz-Birkenau; Schindler bribes Rudolf Höss, the commandant of Auschwitz with a bag of diamonds to win their release. At the new factory, Schindler forbids the SS guards to enter the production rooms and encourages the Jews to observe the Jewish Sabbath. To keep his workers alive, he spends much of his fortune bribing Nazi officials and buying shell casings from other companies; his factory does not produce any usable armaments during its seven months of operation. Schindler runs out of money in 1945, just as Germany surrenders, ending the war in Europe.
As a Nazi Party member and war profiteer, Schindler must flee the advancing Red Army to avoid capture. The SS guards have been ordered to kill the Jews, but Schindler persuades them not to so they can "return to their families as men, not murderers." He bids farewell to his workers and prepares to head west, hoping to surrender to the Americans. The workers give Schindler a signed statement attesting to his role saving Jewish lives, together with a ring engraved with a Talmudic quotation: "Whoever saves one life saves the world entire." Schindler is touched but is also deeply ashamed, as he feels he should have done even more. As the Schindlerjuden (Schindler Jews) wake up the next morning, a Soviet soldier announces that they have been liberated. The Jews leave the factory and walk to a nearby town.
After scenes depicting Goeth's execution after the war and a summary of Schindler's later life, the black-and-white frame changes to a color shot of actual Schindlerjuden at Schindler's grave in Jerusalem. Accompanied by the actors who portrayed them, the Schindlerjuden place stones on the grave. In the final scene, Neeson places a pair of roses on the grave.
Cast[edit]

 

 Liam Neeson (seen here in 2012) was cast as Oskar Schindler in the film.Liam Neeson as Oskar Schindler
Ben Kingsley as Itzhak Stern
Ralph Fiennes as Amon Goeth
Caroline Goodall as Emilie Schindler
Jonathan Sagall as Poldek Pfefferberg
Embeth Davidtz as Helen Hirsch
Małgorzata Gebel as Wiktoria Klonowska
Mark Ivanir as Marcel Goldberg
Beatrice Macola as Ingrid
Andrzej Seweryn as Julian Scherner
Friedrich von Thun as Rolf Czurda
Jerzy Nowak as Investor
Norbert Weisser as Albert Hujar
Anna Mucha as Danka Dresner
Piotr Polk as Leo Rosner
Rami Heuberger as Joseph Bau
Ezra Dagan as Rabbi Menasha Lewartow
Hans-Jörg Assmann as Julius Madritsch
Hans-Michael Rehberg as Rudolf Höß
Daniel Del Ponte as Josef Mengele
Oliwia Dąbrowska as The Girl in Red
Production[edit]
Development[edit]
Pfefferberg, one of the Schindlerjuden, made it his life's mission to tell the story of his savior. Pfefferberg attempted to produce a biopic of Oskar Schindler with MGM in 1963, with Howard Koch writing, but the deal fell through.[7][8] In 1982, Thomas Keneally published his historical novel Schindler's Ark, which he wrote after a chance meeting with Pfefferberg in Los Angeles in 1980.[9] MCA president Sid Sheinberg sent director Steven Spielberg a New York Times review of the book. Spielberg, astounded by Schindler's story, jokingly asked if it was true. "I was drawn to it because of the paradoxical nature of the character," he said. "What would drive a man like this to suddenly take everything he had earned and put it all in the service of saving these lives?"[10] Spielberg expressed enough interest for Universal Pictures to buy the rights to the novel.[10] At their first meeting in spring 1983, he told Pfefferberg he would start filming in ten years.[11] In the end credits of the film, Pfefferberg is credited as a consultant under the name Leopold Page.[1]

 

 The liquidation of the Kraków Ghetto in March 1943 is the subject of a 15-minute segment of the film.
Spielberg was unsure if he was mature enough to make a film about the Holocaust, and the project remained "on [his] guilty conscience".[11] Spielberg tried to pass the project to director Roman Polanski, who turned it down. Polanski's mother was killed at Auschwitz, and he had lived in and survived the Kraków Ghetto.[11] Polanski eventually directed his own Holocaust drama The Pianist (2002). Spielberg also offered the film to Sydney Pollack and Martin Scorsese, who was attached to direct Schindler's List in 1988. However, Spielberg was unsure of letting Scorsese direct the film, as "I'd given away a chance to do something for my children and family about the Holocaust."[12] Spielberg offered him the chance to direct the 1991 remake of Cape Fear instead.[13] Billy Wilder expressed an interest in directing the film as a memorial to his family, most of whom died in the Holocaust.[14]
Spielberg finally decided to take on the project when he noticed that Holocaust deniers were being given serious consideration by the media. With the rise of neo-Nazism after the fall of the Berlin Wall, he worried that people were too accepting of intolerance, as they were in the 1930s.[14] Sid Sheinberg greenlit the film on condition that Spielberg made Jurassic Park first. Spielberg later said, "He knew that once I had directed Schindler I wouldn't be able to do Jurassic Park."[2] The picture was assigned a small budget of $22 million, as Holocaust films are not usually profitable.[15][2] Spielberg forewent a salary for the film, calling it "blood money",[2] and believed the film would flop.[2]
In 1983, Keneally was hired to adapt his book, and he turned in a 220-page script. His adaptation focused on Schindler's numerous relationships, and Keneally admitted he did not compress the story enough. Spielberg hired Kurt Luedtke, who had adapted the screenplay of Out of Africa, to write the next draft. Luedtke gave up almost four years later, as he found Schindler's change of heart too unbelievable.[12] During his time as director, Scorsese hired Steven Zaillian to write a script. When he was handed back the project, Spielberg found Zaillian's 115-page draft too short, and asked him to extend it to 195 pages. Spielberg wanted more focus on the Jews in the story, and he wanted Schindler's transition to be gradual and ambiguous, not a sudden breakthrough or epiphany. He extended the ghetto liquidation sequence, as he "felt very strongly that the sequence had to be almost unwatchable."[12]
Casting[edit]
Neeson auditioned as Schindler early on, and was cast in December 1992, after Spielberg saw him perform in Anna Christie on Broadway.[16] Warren Beatty participated in a script reading, but Spielberg was concerned that he could not disguise his accent and that he would bring "movie star baggage".[17] Kevin Costner and Mel Gibson expressed interest in portraying Schindler, but Spielberg preferred to cast the relatively unknown Neeson, so the actor's star quality would not overpower the character.[18] Neeson felt Schindler enjoyed outsmarting the Nazis, who regarded him as a bit of a buffoon. "They don't quite take him seriously, and he used that to full effect."[19] To help him prepare for the role, Spielberg showed Neeson film clips of Time Warner CEO Steve Ross, who had a charisma that Spielberg compared to Schindler's.[20] He also located a tape of Schindler speaking, which Neeson studied to learn the correct intonations and pitch.[21]
Fiennes was cast as Amon Goeth after Spielberg viewed his performances in A Dangerous Man: Lawrence After Arabia and Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights. Spielberg said of Fiennes' audition that "I saw sexual evil. It is all about subtlety: there were moments of kindness that would move across his eyes and then instantly run cold."[22] Fiennes put on 28 pounds (13 kg) to play the role. He watched historic newsreels and talked to Holocaust survivors who knew Goeth. In portraying him, Fiennes said "I got close to his pain. Inside him is a fractured, miserable human being. I feel split about him, sorry for him. He's like some dirty, battered doll I was given and that I came to feel peculiarly attached to."[22] Fiennes looked so much like Goeth in costume that when Mila Pfefferberg (a survivor of the events) met him, she trembled with fear.[22]
The character of Itzhak Stern (played by Ben Kingsley) is a composite of accountant Stern, factory manager Abraham Bankier, and Goeth's personal secretary, Mietek Pemper.[23] The character serves as Schindler's alter ego and conscience.[24] Kingsley is best known for his Academy Award winning performance as Gandhi in the 1982 biographical film.[25]
Overall, there are 126 speaking parts in the film. Thousands of extras were hired during filming.[12] Spielberg cast Israeli and Polish actors specially chosen for their Eastern European appearance.[26] Many of the German actors were reluctant to don the SS uniform, but some of them later thanked Spielberg for the cathartic experience of performing in the movie.[17] Halfway through the shoot, Spielberg conceived the epilogue, where 128 survivors pay their respects at Schindler's grave in Jerusalem. The producers scrambled to find the Schindlerjuden and fly them in to film the scene.[12]
Filming[edit]
Principal photography began on March 1, 1993 in Kraków, Poland, with a planned schedule of 75 days.[27] The crew shot at or near the actual locations, though the Płaszów camp had to be reconstructed in a nearby abandoned quarry, as modern high rise apartments were visible from the site of the original camp.[28][29] Interior shots of the enamelware factory in Kraków were filmed at a similar facility in Olkusz, while exterior shots and the scenes on the factory stairs were filmed at the actual factory.[30] The crew was forbidden to do extensive shooting or construct sets on the grounds at Auschwitz, so they shot at a replica constructed just outside the entrance.[31] There were some antisemitic incidents. A woman who encountered Fiennes in his Nazi uniform told him that "the Germans were charming people. They didn't kill anybody who didn't deserve it".[22] Antisemitic symbols were scrawled on billboards near shooting locations,[12] while Kingsley nearly entered a brawl with an elderly German-speaking businessman who insulted Israeli actor Michael Schneider.[32] Nonetheless, Spielberg stated that at Passover, "all the German actors showed up. They put on yarmulkes and opened up Haggadas, and the Israeli actors moved right next to them and began explaining it to them. And this family of actors sat around and race and culture were just left behind."[32]



"I was hit in the face with my personal life. My upbringing. My Jewishness. The stories my grandparents told me about the Shoah. And Jewish life came pouring back into my heart. I cried all the time."
—Steven Spielberg on his emotional state during the shoot[33]
Shooting Schindler's List was deeply emotional for Spielberg, the subject matter forcing him to confront elements of his childhood, such as the antisemitism he faced. He was surprised that he did not cry while visiting Auschwitz; instead he found himself angry and filled with outrage. He was one of many crew members who could not force themselves to watch during shooting of the scene where aging Jews are forced to run naked while being selected by Nazi doctors to go to Auschwitz.[34] Spielberg commented that he felt more like a reporter than a film maker – he would set up scenes and then watch events unfold, almost as though he were witnessing them rather than creating a movie.[28] Several actresses broke down when filming the shower scene, including one who was born in a concentration camp.[17] Spielberg, his wife Kate Capshaw, and their five children rented a house in suburban Kraków for the duration of filming.[35] He later thanked his wife "for rescuing me ninety-two days in a row ... when things just got too unbearable".[36] Robin Williams called Spielberg to cheer him up, given the profound lack of humor on the set.[36] Spielberg spent several hours each evening editing Jurassic Park, which was scheduled to premiere in June 1993.[37]
Spielberg occasionally used German and Polish language in scenes to recreate the feeling of being present in the past. He initially considered making the film entirely in those languages, but decided "there's too much safety in reading. It would have been an excuse to take their eyes off the screen and watch something else."[17]
Cinematography[edit]
Influenced by the 1985 documentary film Shoah, Spielberg decided not to plan the film with storyboards, and to shoot it like a documentary. Forty percent of the film was shot with handheld cameras, and the modest budget meant the film was shot quickly over seventy-two days.[38] Spielberg felt that this gave the film "a spontaneity, an edge, and it also serves the subject."[39] He filmed without using Steadicams, elevated shots, or zoom lenses, "everything that for me might be considered a safety net."[39] This matured Spielberg, who felt that in the past he had always been paying tribute to directors such as Cecil B. DeMille or David Lean.[32]
The decision to shoot the film mainly in black and white contributed to the documentary style of cinematography, which cinematographer Janusz Kamiński compared to German Expressionism and Italian neorealism.[39] Kamiński said that he wanted to give the impression of timelessness to the film, so the audience would "not have a sense of when it was made."[28] Spielberg decided to use black and white to match the feel of actual documentary footage of the era.[39] Universal chairman Tom Pollock asked him to shoot the film on a color negative, to allow color VHS copies of the film to later be sold, but Spielberg did not want to accidentally "beautify events."[39]
Music[edit]
Main article: Schindler's List (soundtrack)
John Williams, who frequently collaborates with Spielberg, composed the score for Schindler's List. The composer was amazed by the film, and felt it would be too challenging. He said to Spielberg, "You need a better composer than I am for this film." Spielberg responded, "I know. But they're all dead!"[40] Itzhak Perlman performs the theme on the violin.[1]
Regarding Schindler's List, Perlman said:

Perlman: "I couldn't believe how authentic he [John Williams] got everything to sound, and I said, 'John, where did it come from?' and he said, 'Well I had some practice with Fiddler on the Roof and so on, and everything just came very naturally' and that's the way it sounds."
Interviewer: "When you were first approached to play for Schindler's List, did you give it a second thought, did you agree at once, or did you say 'I'm not sure I want to play for movie music'?
Perlman: "No, that never occurred to me, because in that particular case the subject of the movie was so important to me, and I felt that I could contribute simply by just knowing the history, and feeling the history, and indirectly actually being a victim of that history."[41]
In the scene where the ghetto is being liquidated by the Nazis, the folk song "Oyfn Pripetshik" ("On the Cooking Stove") (Yiddish: אויפֿן פּריפּעטשיק‎) is sung by a children's choir. The song was often sung by Spielberg's grandmother, Becky, to her grandchildren.[42] The clarinet solos heard in the film were recorded by Klezmer virtuoso Giora Feidman.[43] Williams won an Academy Award for Best Original Score for Schindler's List, his fifth win.[44] Selections from the score were released on a soundtrack album.[45]
Themes and symbolism[edit]
The film explores the theme of good versus evil, using as its main protagonist a "good German", a popular characterization in American cinema.[46][14] While Goeth is characterized as an almost completely dark and evil person, Schindler gradually evolves from Nazi supporter to rescuer and hero.[47] Thus a second theme of redemption is introduced as Schindler, a disreputable schemer on the edges of respectability, becomes a father figure responsible for saving the lives of over a thousand people.[48][49]
The girl in red[edit]

 

 Schindler sees a girl in red during the liquidation of the Kraków ghetto. The red coat is one of the few instances of color used in this predominantly black and white film.
While the film is shot primarily in black and white, a red coat is used to distinguish a little girl in the scene depicting the liquidation of the Kraków ghetto. Later in the film, Schindler sees her dead body, recognizable only by the red coat she is still wearing. Spielberg said the scene was intended to symbolise how members of the highest levels of government in the United States knew the Holocaust was occurring, yet did nothing to stop it. "It was as obvious as a little girl wearing a red coat, walking down the street, and yet nothing was done to bomb the German rail lines. Nothing was being done to slow down ... the annihilation of European Jewry," he said. "So that was my message in letting that scene be in color."[50] Andy Patrizio of IGN notes that the point at which Schindler sees the girl's dead body is the point at which he changes, no longer seeing "the ash and soot of burning corpses piling up on his car as just an annoyance."[51] Professor André H. Caron of the Université de Montréal wonders if the red symbolises "innocence, hope or the red blood of the Jewish people being sacrificed in the horror of the Holocaust."[52]
The girl was portrayed by Oliwia Dąbrowska, three years old at the time of filming. Spielberg asked Dąbrowska not to watch the film until she was eighteen, but she watched it when she was eleven, and was "horrified."[53] Upon seeing the film again as an adult, she was proud of the role she played.[53] Although it was unintentional, the character is similar to Roma Ligocka, who was known in the Kraków Ghetto for her red coat. Ligocka, unlike her fictional counterpart, survived the Holocaust. After the film was released, she wrote and published her own story, The Girl in the Red Coat: A Memoir (2002, in translation).[54] According to a 2014 interview of family members, the girl in red was inspired by Kraków resident Genya Gitel Chil.[55]
Candles[edit]
The opening scene features a family observing the Shabbat. Spielberg said that "to start the film with the candles being lit ... would be a rich bookend, to start the film with a normal Shabbat service before the juggernaut against the Jews begins."[12] When the color fades out in the film's opening moments, it gives way to a world in which smoke comes to symbolize bodies being burnt at Auschwitz. Only at the end, when Schindler allows his workers to hold Shabbat services, do the images of candle fire regain their warmth. For Spielberg, they represent "just a glint of color, and a glimmer of hope."[12] Sara Horowitz, director of the Koschitzky Centre for Jewish Studies at York University, sees the candles as a symbol for the Jews of Europe, killed and then burned in the crematoria. The two scenes bracket the Nazi era, marking its beginning and end.[56] She points out that normally the woman of the house lights the Sabbath candles and intones the Kiddush. In the film it is men who perform these rituals, demonstrating not only the subservient role of women, but also the subservient position of Jewish men in relation to Aryan men, especially Goeth and Schindler.[57]
Other symbolism[edit]
To Spielberg, the black and white presentation of the film came to represent the Holocaust itself: "The Holocaust was life without light. For me the symbol of life is color. That's why a film about the Holocaust has to be in black-and-white."[58] Robert Gellately notes the film in its entirety can be seen as a metaphor for the Holocaust, with early sporadic violence increasing into a crescendo of death and destruction. He also notes a parallel between the situation of the Jews in the film and the debate in Nazi Germany between making use of the Jews for slave labor or exterminating them outright.[59] Water is seen as giving deliverance by Alan Mintz, Holocaust Studies professor at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in New York. He notes its presence in the scene where Schindler arranges for a Holocaust train loaded with victims awaiting transport to be hosed down, and the scene in Auschwitz, where the women are given an actual shower instead of receiving the expected gassing.[60]
Release[edit]
The film opened on December 15, 1993. By the time it closed in theaters on September 29, 1994, it had grossed $96.1 million ($157 million in 2015 dollars)[61] in the United States and over $321.2 million worldwide.[62] In Germany, where it was shown in 500 theaters, the film was viewed by over 100,000 people in its first week alone[63] and was eventually seen by six million people.[64] The film was popular in Germany and a success worldwide.[65]
Schindler's List made its U.S. network television premiere on NBC on February 23, 1997. Shown without commercials, it ranked #3 for the week with a 20.9/31 rating/share,[66] highest Nielsen rating for any film since NBC's broadcast of Jurassic Park in May 1995. The film aired on public television in Israel on Holocaust Memorial Day in 1998.[67]
The DVD was released on March 9, 2004 in widescreen and fullscreen editions, on a double-sided disc with the feature film beginning on side A and continuing on side B. Special features include a documentary introduced by Spielberg.[68] Also released for both formats was a limited edition gift set, which included the widescreen version of the film, Keneally's novel, the film's soundtrack on CD, a senitype, and a photo booklet titled Schindler's List: Images of the Steven Spielberg Film, all housed in a plexiglass case.[69] The laserdisc gift set was a limited edition that included the soundtrack, the original novel, and an exclusive photo booklet.[70] As part of its 20th anniversary, the movie was released on Blu-ray Disc on March 5, 2013.[71]
Following the success of the film, Spielberg founded the Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation, a nonprofit organization with the goal of providing an archive for the filmed testimony of as many survivors of the Holocaust as possible, to save their stories. He continues to finance that work.[72] Spielberg used proceeds from the film to finance several related documentaries, including Anne Frank Remembered (1995), The Lost Children of Berlin (1996), and The Last Days (1998).[73]
Reception[edit]
Critical response[edit]
Schindler's List is widely acclaimed as a remarkable achievement by film critics and audiences.[74] Notable Americans such as talk show host Oprah Winfrey and President Bill Clinton urged their countrymen to see it.[3][75] World leaders in many countries saw the film, and some met personally with Spielberg.[3] Stephen Schiff of The New Yorker called it the best historical drama about the Holocaust, a movie that "will take its place in cultural history and remain there."[76] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times described it as Spielberg's best, "brilliantly acted, written, directed, and seen."[77] Ebert named it one of his ten favorite films of 1993.[78] Terrence Rafferty, also with The New Yorker, admired the film's "narrative boldness, visual audacity, and emotional directness." He noted the performances of Neeson, Fiennes, Kingsley, and Davidtz as warranting special praise,[79] and calls the scene in the shower at Auschwitz "the most terrifying sequence ever filmed."[80] In his 2013 movie guide, Leonard Maltin awards the film a rare four-star rating and gives a lengthy review. He calls the film a "staggering adaptation of Thomas Keneally's best-seller," saying "this looks and feels like nothing Hollywood has ever made before." [It is] "Spielberg's most intense and personal film to date," he concludes.[81] James Verniere of the Boston Herald noted the film's restraint and lack of sensationalism, and called it a "major addition to the body of work about the Holocaust."[82] In his review for the New York Review of Books, British critic John Gross said his misgivings that the story would be overly sentimentalized "were altogether misplaced. Spielberg shows a firm moral and emotional grasp of his material. The film is an outstanding achievement."[83] Mintz notes that even the film's harshest critics admire the "visual brilliance" of the fifteen-minute segment depicting the liquidation of the Kraków ghetto. He describes the sequence as "realistic" and "stunning".[84] He points out that the film has done much to increase Holocaust remembrance and awareness as the remaining survivors pass away, severing the last living links with the catastrophe.[85] The film's release in Germany led to widespread discussion about why most Germans did not do more to help.[86]
Criticism of the film also appeared, mostly from academia rather than the popular press.[87] Horowitz points out that much of the Jewish activity seen in the ghetto consists of financial transactions such as lending money, trading on the black market, or hiding wealth, thus perpetuating a stereotypical view of Jewish life.[88] Horowitz notes that while the depiction of women in the film accurately reflects Nazi ideology, the low status of women and the link between violence and sexuality is not explored further.[89] History professor Omer Bartov of Brown University notes that the physically large and strongly drawn characters of Schindler and Goeth overshadow the Jewish victims, who are depicted as small, scurrying, and frightened – a mere backdrop to the struggle of good versus evil.[90] Doctors Samuel J. Leistedt and Paul Linkowski of the Université libre de Bruxelles describe Goeth's character in the film as a classic psychopath.[91]
Horowitz points out that the film's dichotomy of absolute good versus absolute evil glosses over the fact that the vast majority of Holocaust perpetrators were ordinary people; the movie does not explore how the average German rationalized their knowledge of or participation in the Holocaust.[92] Author Jason Epstein commented that the movie gives the impression that if people were smart enough or lucky enough, they could survive the Holocaust; this was not actually the case.[93] Spielberg responded to criticism that Schindler's breakdown as he says farewell is too maudlin and even out of character by pointing out that the scene is needed to drive home the sense of loss and to allow the viewer an opportunity to mourn alongside the characters on the screen.[94]
Assessment by other filmmakers[edit]
Schindler's List was very well received by many of Spielberg's peers. Filmmaker Billy Wilder wrote a long letter of appreciation to Spielberg in which he proclaimed, "They couldn't have gotten a better man. This movie is absolutely perfection."[14] Polanski, who turned down the chance to direct the film, later commented, "I certainly wouldn't have done as good a job as Spielberg because I couldn't have been as objective as he was."[95] He cited Schindler's List as an influence on his 1995 film Death and the Maiden.[96] The success of Schindler's List led filmmaker Stanley Kubrick to abandon his own Holocaust project, Aryan Papers, which would have been about a Jewish boy and his aunt who survive the war by sneaking through Poland while pretending to be Catholic.[97] When scriptwriter Frederic Raphael suggested that Schindler's List was a good representation of the Holocaust, Kubrick commented, "Think that's about the Holocaust? That was about success, wasn't it? The Holocaust is about 6 million people who get killed. Schindler's List is about 600 who don't."[97]
Filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard accused Spielberg of using the film to make a profit out of a tragedy while Schindler's wife, Emilie Schindler, lived in poverty in Argentina.[98] Keneally disputed claims that she was never paid for her contributions, "not least because I had recently sent Emilie a check myself."[99] He also confirmed with Spielberg's office that payment had been sent from there.[99] Filmmaker Michael Haneke criticized the sequence in which Schindler's women are accidentally sent off to Auschwitz and herded into showers: "There's a scene in that film when we don't know if there's gas or water coming out in the showers in the camp. You can only do something like that with a naive audience like in the United States. It's not an appropriate use of the form. Spielberg meant well – but it was dumb."[100]
The film was criticized by filmmaker and lecturer Claude Lanzmann, director of the nine-hour Holocaust film Shoah, who called Schindler's List a "kitschy melodrama" and a "deformation" of historical truth. "Fiction is a transgression, I am deeply convinced that there is a ban on depiction [of the Holocaust]", he said. Lanzmann also criticized Spielberg for viewing the Holocaust through the eyes of a German, saying "it is the world in reverse." He complained, "I sincerely thought that there was a time before Shoah, and a time after Shoah, and that after Shoah certain things could no longer be done. Spielberg did them anyway."[101] Spielberg accused him of wanting to be "the only voice in the definitive account of the Holocaust. It amazed me that there could be any hurt feelings in an effort to reflect the truth."[102]
Reaction of the Jewish community[edit]
At a 1994 Village Voice symposium about the film, historian Annette Insdorf described how her mother, a survivor of three concentration camps, felt gratitude that the Holocaust story was finally being told in a major film that would be widely viewed.[103] Hungarian Jewish author Imre Kertész, a Holocaust survivor, feels it is impossible for life in a Nazi concentration camp to be accurately portrayed by anyone who did not experience it first-hand. While commending Spielberg for bringing the story to a wide audience, he found the film's final scene at the graveyard neglected the terrible after-effects of the experience on the survivors and implied that they came through emotionally unscathed.[104] Rabbi Uri D. Herscher found the film an "appealing" and "uplifting" demonstration of humanitarianism.[105] Norbert Friedman noted that, like many Holocaust survivors, he reacted with a feeling of solidarity towards Spielberg of a sort normally reserved for other survivors.[106] Albert L. Lewis, Spielberg's childhood rabbi and teacher, described the movie as "Steven's gift to his mother, to his people, and in a sense to himself. Now he is a full human being."[105]
Accolades[edit]
Schindler's List featured on a number of "best of" lists, including the Time magazine's Top Hundred as selected by critics Richard Corliss and Richard Schickel,[4] Time Out magazine's 100 Greatest Films Centenary Poll conducted in 1995,[107] and Leonard Maltin's "100 Must See Movies of the Century".[5] The Vatican named Schindler's List among the most important 45 films ever made.[108] A Channel 4 poll named Schindler's List the ninth greatest film of all time,[6] and it ranked fourth in their 2005 war films poll.[109] The film was named the best of 1993 by critics such as James Berardinelli,[110] Roger Ebert,[78] and Gene Siskel.[111] Deeming the film "culturally significant", the Library of Congress selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry in 2004.[112]
Spielberg won the Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing – Feature Film for his work,[113] and shared the Producers Guild of America Award for Best Theatrical Motion Picture with co-producers Branko Lustig and Gerald R. Molen.[114] Steven Zaillian won a Writers Guild of America Award for the screenplay.[115] The film won National Society of Film Critics awards for Best Film, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Cinematography.[116] New York Film Critics Circle awards were won for Best Film, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Cinematography.[117] Los Angeles Film Critics Association awards were won for Best Film, Best Cinematography (tied with The Piano), and Best Production Design.[118] The film also won many other awards and nominations worldwide.[119]
Major awards

Category
Subject
Result

Academy Awards[44]

Best Picture
Steven Spielberg
Gerald R. Molen
Branko Lustig
 Won
Best Director
Steven Spielberg Won
Best Adapted Screenplay
Steven Zaillian Won
Best Original Score
John Williams Won[a]
Best Film Editing
Michael Kahn Won
Best Cinematography
Janusz Kamiński Won
Best Art Direction
Ewa Braun
Allan Starski
 Won
Best Actor
Liam Neeson Nominated
Best Supporting Actor
Ralph Fiennes Nominated
Best Sound
Andy Nelson
Steve Pederson
Scott Millan
Ron Judkins
 Nominated
Best Makeup and Hairstyling
Christina Smith
Matthew Mungle
Judy Alexander Cory
 Nominated
Best Costume Design
Anna B. Sheppard Nominated
ACE Eddie Award[120]

Best Editing
Michael Kahn Won
BAFTA Awards[121]

Best Film
Steven Spielberg
Branko Lustig
Gerald R. Molen
 Won
Best Direction
Steven Spielberg Won
Best Supporting Actor
Ralph Fiennes Won
Best Adapted Screenplay
Steven Zaillian Won
Best Music
John Williams Won
Best Editing
Michael Kahn Won
Best Cinematography
Janusz Kamiński Won
Best Supporting Actor
Ben Kingsley Nominated
Best Actor
Liam Neeson Nominated
Best Makeup and Hair
Christina Smith
Matthew W. Mungle
Waldemar Pokromski
Pauline Heys
 Nominated
Best Production Design
Allan Starski Nominated
Best Costume Design
Anna B. Sheppard Nominated
Best Sound
Charles L. Campbell
Louis L Edemann
Robert Jackson
Ronald Judkins
Andy Nelson
Steve Pederson
Scott Millan
 Nominated
Chicago Film Critics Association Awards[122]

Best Film
Steven Spielberg
Gerald R. Molen
Branko Lustig
 Won
Best Director
Steven Spielberg Won
Best Screenplay
Steven Zaillian Won
Best Cinematography
Janusz Kamiński Won
Best Actor
Liam Neeson Won
Best Supporting Actor
Ralph Fiennes Won
Golden Globe Awards[123]

Best Motion Picture – Drama
Steven Spielberg
Gerald R. Molen
Branko Lustig
 Won
Best Director
Steven Spielberg Won
Best Screenplay
Steven Zaillian Won
Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
Liam Neeson Nominated
Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture
Ralph Fiennes Nominated
Best Original Score
John Williams Nominated
American Film Institute recognition

Year
List
Result

1998
AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies #9[124]
2003
AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes and Villains Oskar Schindler – #13 hero; Amon Goeth – #15 villain[125]
2005
AFI's 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes "The list is an absolute good. The list is life." – nominated[126]
2006
AFI's 100 Years...100 Cheers #3[127]
2007
AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) #8[128]
2008
AFI's 10 Top 10 #3 epic film[129]
Controversies[edit]

 

 Commemorative plaque at Emalia, Schindler's factory in Kraków
For the 1997 American television showing, the film was broadcast virtually unedited. The telecast was the first to receive a TV-M (now TV-MA) rating under the TV Parental Guidelines that had been established earlier that year.[130] Senator Tom Coburn, then an Oklahoma congressman, said that in airing the film, NBC had brought television "to an all-time low, with full-frontal nudity, violence and profanity", adding that it was an insult to "decent-minded individuals everywhere".[131] Under fire from both Republicans and Democrats, Coburn apologized, saying: "My intentions were good, but I've obviously made an error in judgment in how I've gone about saying what I wanted to say." He clarified his opinion, stating that the film ought to have been aired later at night when there would not be "large numbers of children watching without parental supervision".[132]
Controversy arose in Germany for the film's television premiere on ProSieben. Heavy protests ensued when the station intended to televise it with two commercial breaks. As a compromise, the broadcast included one break, consisting of a short news update and several commercials.[64]
In the Philippines, chief censor Henrietta Mendez ordered cuts of three scenes depicting sexual intercourse and female nudity before the movie could be shown in theaters. Spielberg refused, and pulled the film from screening in Philippine cinemas, which prompted the Senate to demand the abolition of the censorship board. President Fidel V. Ramos himself intervened, ruling that the movie could be shown uncut to anyone over the age of 15.[133]
According to Slovak filmmaker Juraj Herz, the scene in which a group of women confuse an actual shower with a gas chamber is taken directly, shot by shot, from his film Zastihla mě noc (Night Caught Up with Me, 1986). Herz wanted to sue, but was unable to fund the case.[134]
The song Yerushalayim Shel Zahav ("Jerusalem of Gold") is featured in the film's soundtrack and plays near the end of the film. This caused some controversy in Israel, as the song (which was written in 1967 by Naomi Shemer) is widely considered an informal anthem of the Israeli victory in the Six-Day War. In Israeli prints of the film the song was replaced with Halikha LeKesariya ("A Walk to Caesarea") by Hannah Szenes, a World War II resistance fighter.[135]
Impact on Krakow[edit]
Due to the increased interest in Kraków created by the film, the city bought Schindler's former enamelware factory in 2007 to create a permanent exhibition about the German occupation of the city from 1939 to 1945. The museum opened in June 2010.[136]
See also[edit]
1993 in film
Notes[edit]
a.Jump up ^ Williams also won a Grammy for the film's musical score. Freer 2001, p. 234.
Citations[edit]
1.^ Jump up to: a b c Freer 2001, p. 220.
2.^ Jump up to: a b c d e McBride 1997, p. 416.
3.^ Jump up to: a b c McBride 1997, p. 435.
4.^ Jump up to: a b Corliss & Schickel 2005.
5.^ Jump up to: a b Maltin 1999.
6.^ Jump up to: a b Channel 4 2008.
7.Jump up ^ McBride 1997, p. 425.
8.Jump up ^ Crowe 2004, p. 557.
9.Jump up ^ Palowski 1998, p. 6.
10.^ Jump up to: a b McBride 1997, p. 424.
11.^ Jump up to: a b c McBride 1997, p. 426.
12.^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h Thompson 1994.
13.Jump up ^ Crowe 2004, p. 603.
14.^ Jump up to: a b c d McBride 1997, p. 427.
15.Jump up ^ Palowski 1998, p. 27.
16.Jump up ^ Palowski 1998, pp. 86–87.
17.^ Jump up to: a b c d Susan Royal interview.
18.Jump up ^ Palowski 1998, p. 86.
19.Jump up ^ Entertainment Weekly, January 21, 1994.
20.Jump up ^ McBride 1997, p. 429.
21.Jump up ^ Palowski 1998, p. 87.
22.^ Jump up to: a b c d Corliss 1994.
23.Jump up ^ Crowe 2004, p. 102.
24.Jump up ^ Freer 2001, p. 225.
25.Jump up ^ Palowski 1998, pp. 87–88.
26.Jump up ^ Mintz 2001, p. 128.
27.Jump up ^ Palowski 1998, p. 48.
28.^ Jump up to: a b c McBride 1997, p. 431.
29.Jump up ^ Palowski 1998, p. 14.
30.Jump up ^ Palowski 1998, pp. 109, 111.
31.Jump up ^ Palowski 1998, p. 62.
32.^ Jump up to: a b c Ansen & Kuflik 1993.
33.Jump up ^ McBride 1997, p. 414.
34.Jump up ^ McBride 1997, p. 433.
35.Jump up ^ Palowski 1998, p. 44.
36.^ Jump up to: a b McBride 1997, p. 415.
37.Jump up ^ Palowski 1998, p. 45.
38.Jump up ^ McBride 1997, pp. 431–432, 434.
39.^ Jump up to: a b c d e McBride 1997, p. 432.
40.Jump up ^ Gangel 2005.
41.Jump up ^ Perlman video interview.
42.Jump up ^ Rubin 2001, pp. 73–74.
43.Jump up ^ Medien 2011.
44.^ Jump up to: a b 66th Academy Awards 1994.
45.Jump up ^ AllMusic listing.
46.Jump up ^ Loshitsky 1997, p. 5.
47.Jump up ^ McBride 1997, p. 428.
48.Jump up ^ Loshitsky 1997, p. 43.
49.Jump up ^ McBride 1997, p. 436.
50.Jump up ^ Schickel 2012, pp. 161–162.
51.Jump up ^ Patrizio 2004.
52.Jump up ^ Caron 2003.
53.^ Jump up to: a b Gilman 2013.
54.Jump up ^ Logocka 2002.
55.Jump up ^ Rosner 2014.
56.Jump up ^ Horowitz 1997, p. 124.
57.Jump up ^ Horowitz 1997, pp. 126–127.
58.Jump up ^ Palowski 1998, p. 112.
59.Jump up ^ Gellately 1993.
60.Jump up ^ Mintz 2001, p. 154.
61.Jump up ^ Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–2014. Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. Retrieved February 27, 2014.
62.Jump up ^ Freer 2001, p. 233.
63.Jump up ^ Loshitsky 1997, pp. 9, 14.
64.^ Jump up to: a b Berliner Zeitung 1997.
65.Jump up ^ Loshitsky 1997, pp. 11, 14.
66.Jump up ^ Broadcasting & Cable 1997.
67.Jump up ^ Meyers, Zandberg & Neiger 2009, p. 456.
68.Jump up ^ Amazon, DVD.
69.Jump up ^ Amazon, Gift set.
70.Jump up ^ Amazon, Laserdisc.
71.Jump up ^ Amazon, Blu-ray.
72.Jump up ^ Freer 2001, p. 235.
73.Jump up ^ Freer 2001, pp. 235–236.
74.Jump up ^ Mintz 2001, p. 126.
75.Jump up ^ Horowitz 1997, p. 119.
76.Jump up ^ Schiff 1994, p. 98.
77.Jump up ^ Ebert 1993a.
78.^ Jump up to: a b Ebert 1993b.
79.Jump up ^ Rafferty 1993.
80.Jump up ^ Mintz 2001, p. 132.
81.Jump up ^ Maltin 2013, p. 1216.
82.Jump up ^ Verniere 1993.
83.Jump up ^ Gross 1994.
84.Jump up ^ Mintz 2001, p. 147.
85.Jump up ^ Mintz 2001, p. 131.
86.Jump up ^ Houston Post 1994.
87.Jump up ^ Mintz 2001, p. 134.
88.Jump up ^ Horowitz 1997, pp. 138–139.
89.Jump up ^ Horowitz 1997, p. 130.
90.Jump up ^ Bartov 1997, p. 49.
91.Jump up ^ Leistedt & Linkowski 2014.
92.Jump up ^ Horowitz 1997, p. 137.
93.Jump up ^ Epstein 1994.
94.Jump up ^ McBride 1997, p. 439.
95.Jump up ^ Cronin 2005, p. 168.
96.Jump up ^ Cronin 2005, p. 167.
97.^ Jump up to: a b Goldman 2005.
98.Jump up ^ Ebert 2002.
99.^ Jump up to: a b Keneally 2007, p. 265.
100.Jump up ^ Haneke 2009.
101.Jump up ^ Lanzmann 2007.
102.Jump up ^ McBride 1997, p. 434.
103.Jump up ^ Mintz 2001, pp. 136–137.
104.Jump up ^ Kertész 2001.
105.^ Jump up to: a b McBride 1997, p. 440.
106.Jump up ^ Mintz 2001, p. 136.
107.Jump up ^ Time Out Film Guide 1995.
108.Jump up ^ Greydanus 1995.
109.Jump up ^ Channel 4 2005.
110.Jump up ^ Berardinelli 1993.
111.Jump up ^ Johnson 2011.
112.Jump up ^ Library of Congress 2004.
113.Jump up ^ CBC 2013.
114.Jump up ^ Producers Guild Awards.
115.Jump up ^ Pond 2011.
116.Jump up ^ National Society of Film Critics.
117.Jump up ^ Maslin 1993.
118.Jump up ^ Los Angeles Film Critics Association.
119.Jump up ^ Loshitsky 1997, pp. 2, 21.
120.Jump up ^ Giardina 2011.
121.Jump up ^ BAFTA Awards 1994.
122.Jump up ^ Chicago Film Critics Awards 1993.
123.Jump up ^ Golden Globe Awards 1993.
124.Jump up ^ American Film Institute 1998.
125.Jump up ^ American Film Institute 2003.
126.Jump up ^ American Film Institute 2005.
127.Jump up ^ American Film Institute 2006.
128.Jump up ^ American Film Institute 2007.
129.Jump up ^ American Film Institute 2008.
130.Jump up ^ Chuang 1997.
131.Jump up ^ Chicago Tribune 1997.
132.Jump up ^ CNN 1997.
133.Jump up ^ Branigin 1994.
134.Jump up ^ Kosulicova 2002.
135.Jump up ^ Bresheeth 1997, p. 205.
136.Jump up ^ Pavo Travel 2014.
References[edit]
"6th Annual Chicagos Film Critics Awards". Chicago Film Critics Association. 1993. Retrieved July 21, 2014.
"19th Annual Los Angeles Film Critics Awards". Los Angeles Film Critics Association. 2007. Retrieved December 15, 2013.
"The 66th Academy Awards (1994) Nominees and Winners". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. March 21, 1994. Archived from the original on April 29, 2011. Retrieved October 23, 2014.
"100 Greatest Films". Channel 4. April 8, 2008. Archived from the original on June 9, 2008. Retrieved October 27, 2013.
"100 Greatest War Films". Channel 4. Archived from the original on May 18, 2005. Retrieved October 28, 2013.
"AFI's 100 Years ... 100 Movies". American Film Institute. 1998. Retrieved October 27, 2013.
"AFI's 100 Years ... 100 Heroes and Villains" (PDF). American Film Institute. 2003. Retrieved October 26, 2013.
"AFI's 100 Years ... 100 Quotes" (PDF). American Film Institute. 2005. Retrieved October 26, 2013.
"AFI's 100 Years ... 100 Cheers". American Film Institute. May 31, 2006. Retrieved October 26, 2013.
"AFI's 100 Years ... 100 Movies – 10th Anniversary Edition". American Film Institute. June 20, 2007. Retrieved October 26, 2013.
"AFI's 10 Top 10: Top 10 Epic". American Film Institute. 2008. Retrieved October 26, 2013.
Ansen, David; Kuflik, Abigail (December 19, 1993). "Spielberg's obsession". Newsweek 122 (25): 112–116.
"Bafta Awards: Schindler's List". British Academy of Film and Television Arts. Retrieved March 18, 2015.
Bartov, Omer (1997). "Spielberg's Oskar: Hollywood Tries Evil". In Loshitzky, Yosefa. Spielberg's Holocaust: Critical Perspectives on Schindler's List. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press. pp. 41–60. ISBN 0-253-21098-4.
Berardinelli, James (December 31, 1993). "Rewinding 1993 – The Best Films". reelviews.net. Retrieved December 15, 2013.
Branigin, William (March 9, 1994). "'Schindler's List' Fuss In Philippines – Censors Object To Sex, Not The Nazi Horrors". The Seattle Times.
Bresheeth, Haim (1997). "The Great Taboo Broken: Reflections on the Israeli Reception of Schindler's List". In Loshitzky, Yosefa. Spielberg's Holocaust: Critical Perspectives on Schindler's List. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press. pp. 193–212. ISBN 0-253-21098-4.
Caron, André (July 25, 2003). "Spielberg's Fiery Lights". The Question Spielberg: A Symposium Part Two: Films and Moments. Senses of Cinema. Retrieved July 24, 2014.
Chuang, Angie (February 25, 1997). "Television: 'Schindler's' Showing". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved October 27, 2013.
Corliss, Richard (February 21, 1994). "The Man Behind the Monster". TIME (Time Warner). Retrieved October 13, 2014.
Corliss, Richard; Schickel, Richard (2005). "All-Time 100 Best Movies". TIME (Time Warner). Retrieved October 27, 2013.
Cronin, Paul, ed. (2005). Roman Polanski: Interviews. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi. ISBN 1-57806-799-5.
Crowe, David M. (2004). Oskar Schindler: The Untold Account of His Life, Wartime Activities, and the True Story Behind the List. Cambridge, MA: Westview Press. ISBN 978-0-465-00253-5.
Ebert, Roger (December 15, 1993). "Schindler's List". Roger Ebert's Journal. Retrieved September 13, 2015.
Ebert, Roger (December 31, 1993). "The Best 10 Movies of 1993". Roger Ebert's Journal. Retrieved September 13, 2015.
Ebert, Roger (October 18, 2002). "In Praise Of Love". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved October 23, 2013.
Epstein, Jason (April 21, 1994). "A Dissent on 'Schindler’s List'". The New York Review of Books (New York). Retrieved October 18, 2013.
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Gellately, Robert (1993). "Between Exploitation, Rescue, and Annihilation: Reviewing Schindler's List". Central European History (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) 26 (4): 475–489. doi:10.1017/S0008938900009419. JSTOR 4546374.
Giardina, Carolyn (February 7, 2011). "Michael Kahn, Michael Brown to Receive ACE Lifetime Achievement Awards". The Hollywood Reporter (Lynne Segall). Retrieved December 7, 2013.
Gilman, Greg (March 5, 2013). "Red coat girl traumatized by 'Schindler's List'". Sarnia Observer (Sarnia, Ontario). Retrieved October 20, 2013.
Goldman, A.J. (August 25, 2005). "Stanley Kubrick's Unrealized Vision". Jewish Journal (Tribe Media Corp). Retrieved October 22, 2013.
Greydanus, Steven D. (March 17, 1995). "The Vatican Film List". Decent Films. Retrieved October 27, 2013.
Gross, John (February 3, 1994). "Hollywood and the Holocaust". New York Review of Books 16 (3). Retrieved October 15, 2013.
Haneke, Michael (November 14, 2009). "Michael Haneke discusses 'The White Ribbon'". Time Out London (Time Out Group). Retrieved October 23, 2014.
Horowitz, Sara (1997). "But Is It Good for the Jews? Spielberg's Schindler and the Aesthetics of Atrocity". In Loshitzky, Yosefa. Spielberg's Holocaust: Critical Perspectives on Schindler's List. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press. pp. 119–139. ISBN 0-253-21098-4.
Johnson, Eric C. (February 28, 2011). "Gene Siskel's Top Ten Lists 1969–1998". Index of Critics. Retrieved December 14, 2013.
Keneally, Thomas (2007). Searching for Schindler: A Memoir. New York: Nan A. Talese. ISBN 978-0-385-52617-3.
Kertész, Imre (Spring 2001). "Who Owns Auschwitz?". Yale Journal of Criticism (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press) 14 (1): 267–272. doi:10.1353/yale.2001.0010.
Kosulicova, Ivana (January 7, 2002). "Drowning the bad times: Juraj Herz interviewed". Kinoeye 2 (1). Retrieved October 28, 2013.
Lanzmann, Claude (2007). "Schindler's List is an impossible story". University College Utrecht. Retrieved October 23, 2014.
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"Librarian of Congress Adds 25 Films to National Film Registry". Library of Congress. December 28, 2004. Retrieved October 28, 2013.
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Loshitsky, Yosefa (1997). "Introduction". In Loshitzky, Yosefa. Spielberg's Holocaust: Critical Perspectives on Schindler's List. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press. pp. 1–17. ISBN 0-253-21098-4.
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Palowski, Franciszek (1998) [1993]. The Making of Schindler's List: Behind the Scenes of an Epic Film. Secaucus, NJ: Carol Publishing Group. ISBN 1-55972-445-5.
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Perlman, Itzhak. John Williams, Itzhak Perlman – Schindler's List. YouTube. Event occurs at 00:00 to 00:51. Retrieved October 27, 2013.
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Staff (February 28, 1994). "German "Schindler's List" Debut Launches Debate, Soul-Searching". Houston Post. Reuters.
Staff (February 26, 1997). "GOP Lawmaker Blasts NBC For Airing 'Schindler's List'". Chicago Tribune (Tony W. Hunter). Retrieved October 28, 2013.
Staff (December 5, 2014). "How did "Schindler's List" change Krakow?". Pavo Travel. Retrieved February 11, 2015.
Staff (February 21, 1997). ""Mehr Wirkung ohne Werbung": Gemischte Reaktionen jüdischer Gemeinden auf geplante Unterbrechung von "Schindlers Liste"". Berliner Zeitung (in German) (Berlin: Berliner Verlag). Archived from the original on December 24, 2008. Retrieved October 19, 2013.
Staff (January 21, 1994). "Oskar Winner: Liam Neeson joins the A-List after 'Schindler's List'". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved October 3, 2015.
Staff (March 3, 1997). "People's Choice: Ratings according to Nielsen Feb. 17–23" (PDF). Broadcasting & Cable (Cahners Publishing): 31.
Staff. "John Williams: Schindler's List". All Media Network. Retrieved December 14, 2013.
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Thompson, Anne (January 21, 1994). "Spielberg and 'Schindler's List': How it came together". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved October 3, 2015.
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Verniere, James (December 15, 1993). "Holocaust Drama is a Spielberg Triumph". Boston Herald (Boston: Herald Media).
External links[edit]
 Wikiquote has quotations related to: Schindler's List
Schindler's List at the Internet Movie Database
Schindler's List at the American Film Institute Catalog of Motion Pictures
Schindler's List at the TCM Movie Database
Schindler's List at Box Office Mojo
Schindler's List at Rotten Tomatoes
Schindler's List at Metacritic
The Shoah Foundation, founded by Steven Spielberg, preserves the testimonies of Holocaust survivors and witnesses
Through the Lens of History: Aerial Evidence for Schindler’s List at Yad Vashem
Schindler's List bibliography at UC Berkeley
Voices on Antisemitism Interview with Ralph Fiennes from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Voices on Antisemitism interview with Sir Ben Kingsley from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
"Schindler's List: Myth, movie, and memory" (PDF). The Village Voice: 24–31. March 29, 1994.


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Schindler's List

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This article is about the film. For the book that inspired this film (published in the US as Schindler's List), see Schindler's Ark. For the actual list, see List of Schindlerjuden.

Schindler's List
Schindler's List movie.jpg
Theatrical release poster
 
Directed by
Steven Spielberg
Produced by
Steven Spielberg
Gerald R. Molen
Branko Lustig
 
Screenplay by
Steven Zaillian
Based on
Schindler's Ark 
 by Thomas Keneally
Starring
Liam Neeson
Ben Kingsley
Ralph Fiennes
Caroline Goodall
Jonathan Sagall
Embeth Davidtz
 
Music by
John Williams
Cinematography
Janusz Kamiński
Edited by
Michael Kahn

Production
 company

Amblin Entertainment
 
Distributed by
Universal Pictures

Release dates

November 30, 1993 (Washington, D.C.)
December 15, 1993 (United States)
 

Running time
 197 minutes[1]
Country
United States
 
Language
English
Budget
$22 million[2]
Box office
$321.2 million[3]
Schindler's List is a 1993 American epic historical period drama film, directed and co-produced by Steven Spielberg and scripted by Steven Zaillian. It is based on the novel Schindler's Ark by Thomas Keneally, an Australian novelist. The film is based on the life of Oskar Schindler, an ethnic German businessman who saved the lives of more than a thousand mostly Polish-Jewish refugees during the Holocaust by employing them in his factories. It stars Liam Neeson as Schindler, Ralph Fiennes as Schutzstaffel (SS) officer Amon Goeth, and Ben Kingsley as Schindler's Jewish accountant Itzhak Stern.
Ideas for a film about the Schindlerjuden (Schindler Jews) were proposed as early as 1963. Poldek Pfefferberg, one of the Schindlerjuden, made it his life's mission to tell the story of Schindler. Spielberg became interested in the story when executive Sid Sheinberg sent him a book review of Schindler's Ark. Universal Studios bought the rights to the novel, but Spielberg, unsure if he was ready to make a film about the Holocaust, tried to pass the project to several other directors before finally deciding to direct the film himself.
Principal photography took place in Kraków, Poland, over the course of 72 days in 1993. Spielberg shot the film in black and white and approached it as a documentary. Cinematographer Janusz Kamiński wanted to give the film a sense of timelessness. John Williams composed the score, and violinist Itzhak Perlman performs the film's main theme.
Schindler's List premiered on November 30, 1993, in Washington, D.C. and it was released on December 15, 1993, in the United States. Often listed among the greatest films ever made,[4][5][6] it was also a box office success, earning $321.2 million worldwide on a $22 million budget. It was the recipient of seven Academy Awards (out of twelve nominations), including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Original Score, as well as numerous other awards (including seven BAFTAs and three Golden Globes). In 2007, the American Film Institute ranked the film 8th on its list of the 100 best American films of all time. The Library of Congress selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry in 2004.


Contents  [hide]
1 Plot
2 Cast
3 Production 3.1 Development
3.2 Casting
3.3 Filming
3.4 Cinematography
3.5 Music
4 Themes and symbolism 4.1 The girl in red
4.2 Candles
4.3 Other symbolism
5 Release
6 Reception 6.1 Critical response
6.2 Assessment by other filmmakers
6.3 Reaction of the Jewish community
6.4 Accolades
7 Controversies
8 Impact on Krakow
9 See also
10 Notes
11 Citations
12 References
13 External links

Plot[edit]
In Kraków during World War II, the Germans had forced local Polish Jews into the overcrowded Kraków Ghetto. Oskar Schindler, an ethnic German, arrives in the city hoping to make his fortune. A member of the Nazi Party, Schindler lavishes bribes on Wehrmacht (German armed forces) and SS officials and acquires a factory to produce enamelware. To help him run the business, Schindler enlists the aid of Itzhak Stern, a local Jewish official who has contacts with black marketeers and the Jewish business community. Stern helps Schindler arrange loans to finance the factory. Schindler maintains friendly relations with the Nazis and enjoys wealth and status as "Herr Direktor", and Stern handles administration. Schindler hires Jewish workers because they cost less, while Stern ensures that as many people as possible are deemed essential to the German war effort, which saves them from being transported to concentration camps or killed.
SS-Untersturmführer (second lieutenant) Amon Goeth arrives in Kraków to oversee construction of Płaszów concentration camp. When the camp is completed, he orders the ghetto liquidated. Many people are shot and killed in the process of emptying the ghetto. Schindler witnesses the massacre and is profoundly affected. He particularly notices a tiny girl in a red coat – one of the few splashes of color in the black-and-white film – as she hides from the Nazis, and later sees her body (identifiable by the red coat) among those on a wagonload being taken away to be burned. Schindler is careful to maintain his friendship with Goeth and, through bribery and lavish gifts, continues to enjoy SS support. Goeth brutally mistreats his maid and randomly shoots people from the balcony of his villa, and the prisoners are in constant daily fear for their lives. As time passes, Schindler's focus shifts from making money to trying to save as many lives as possible. He bribes Goeth into allowing him to build a sub-camp for his workers so that he can better protect them.
As the Germans begin to lose the war, Goeth is ordered to ship the remaining Jews at Płaszów to Auschwitz concentration camp. Schindler asks Goeth to allow him to move his workers to a new munitions factory he plans to build in his home town of Zwittau-Brinnlitz. Goeth agrees, but charges a huge bribe. Schindler and Stern create "Schindler's List" – a list of people to be transferred to Brinnlitz and thus saved from transport to Auschwitz.
The train carrying women and children is accidentally redirected to Auschwitz-Birkenau; Schindler bribes Rudolf Höss, the commandant of Auschwitz with a bag of diamonds to win their release. At the new factory, Schindler forbids the SS guards to enter the production rooms and encourages the Jews to observe the Jewish Sabbath. To keep his workers alive, he spends much of his fortune bribing Nazi officials and buying shell casings from other companies; his factory does not produce any usable armaments during its seven months of operation. Schindler runs out of money in 1945, just as Germany surrenders, ending the war in Europe.
As a Nazi Party member and war profiteer, Schindler must flee the advancing Red Army to avoid capture. The SS guards have been ordered to kill the Jews, but Schindler persuades them not to so they can "return to their families as men, not murderers." He bids farewell to his workers and prepares to head west, hoping to surrender to the Americans. The workers give Schindler a signed statement attesting to his role saving Jewish lives, together with a ring engraved with a Talmudic quotation: "Whoever saves one life saves the world entire." Schindler is touched but is also deeply ashamed, as he feels he should have done even more. As the Schindlerjuden (Schindler Jews) wake up the next morning, a Soviet soldier announces that they have been liberated. The Jews leave the factory and walk to a nearby town.
After scenes depicting Goeth's execution after the war and a summary of Schindler's later life, the black-and-white frame changes to a color shot of actual Schindlerjuden at Schindler's grave in Jerusalem. Accompanied by the actors who portrayed them, the Schindlerjuden place stones on the grave. In the final scene, Neeson places a pair of roses on the grave.
Cast[edit]

 

 Liam Neeson (seen here in 2012) was cast as Oskar Schindler in the film.Liam Neeson as Oskar Schindler
Ben Kingsley as Itzhak Stern
Ralph Fiennes as Amon Goeth
Caroline Goodall as Emilie Schindler
Jonathan Sagall as Poldek Pfefferberg
Embeth Davidtz as Helen Hirsch
Małgorzata Gebel as Wiktoria Klonowska
Mark Ivanir as Marcel Goldberg
Beatrice Macola as Ingrid
Andrzej Seweryn as Julian Scherner
Friedrich von Thun as Rolf Czurda
Jerzy Nowak as Investor
Norbert Weisser as Albert Hujar
Anna Mucha as Danka Dresner
Piotr Polk as Leo Rosner
Rami Heuberger as Joseph Bau
Ezra Dagan as Rabbi Menasha Lewartow
Hans-Jörg Assmann as Julius Madritsch
Hans-Michael Rehberg as Rudolf Höß
Daniel Del Ponte as Josef Mengele
Oliwia Dąbrowska as The Girl in Red
Production[edit]
Development[edit]
Pfefferberg, one of the Schindlerjuden, made it his life's mission to tell the story of his savior. Pfefferberg attempted to produce a biopic of Oskar Schindler with MGM in 1963, with Howard Koch writing, but the deal fell through.[7][8] In 1982, Thomas Keneally published his historical novel Schindler's Ark, which he wrote after a chance meeting with Pfefferberg in Los Angeles in 1980.[9] MCA president Sid Sheinberg sent director Steven Spielberg a New York Times review of the book. Spielberg, astounded by Schindler's story, jokingly asked if it was true. "I was drawn to it because of the paradoxical nature of the character," he said. "What would drive a man like this to suddenly take everything he had earned and put it all in the service of saving these lives?"[10] Spielberg expressed enough interest for Universal Pictures to buy the rights to the novel.[10] At their first meeting in spring 1983, he told Pfefferberg he would start filming in ten years.[11] In the end credits of the film, Pfefferberg is credited as a consultant under the name Leopold Page.[1]

 

 The liquidation of the Kraków Ghetto in March 1943 is the subject of a 15-minute segment of the film.
Spielberg was unsure if he was mature enough to make a film about the Holocaust, and the project remained "on [his] guilty conscience".[11] Spielberg tried to pass the project to director Roman Polanski, who turned it down. Polanski's mother was killed at Auschwitz, and he had lived in and survived the Kraków Ghetto.[11] Polanski eventually directed his own Holocaust drama The Pianist (2002). Spielberg also offered the film to Sydney Pollack and Martin Scorsese, who was attached to direct Schindler's List in 1988. However, Spielberg was unsure of letting Scorsese direct the film, as "I'd given away a chance to do something for my children and family about the Holocaust."[12] Spielberg offered him the chance to direct the 1991 remake of Cape Fear instead.[13] Billy Wilder expressed an interest in directing the film as a memorial to his family, most of whom died in the Holocaust.[14]
Spielberg finally decided to take on the project when he noticed that Holocaust deniers were being given serious consideration by the media. With the rise of neo-Nazism after the fall of the Berlin Wall, he worried that people were too accepting of intolerance, as they were in the 1930s.[14] Sid Sheinberg greenlit the film on condition that Spielberg made Jurassic Park first. Spielberg later said, "He knew that once I had directed Schindler I wouldn't be able to do Jurassic Park."[2] The picture was assigned a small budget of $22 million, as Holocaust films are not usually profitable.[15][2] Spielberg forewent a salary for the film, calling it "blood money",[2] and believed the film would flop.[2]
In 1983, Keneally was hired to adapt his book, and he turned in a 220-page script. His adaptation focused on Schindler's numerous relationships, and Keneally admitted he did not compress the story enough. Spielberg hired Kurt Luedtke, who had adapted the screenplay of Out of Africa, to write the next draft. Luedtke gave up almost four years later, as he found Schindler's change of heart too unbelievable.[12] During his time as director, Scorsese hired Steven Zaillian to write a script. When he was handed back the project, Spielberg found Zaillian's 115-page draft too short, and asked him to extend it to 195 pages. Spielberg wanted more focus on the Jews in the story, and he wanted Schindler's transition to be gradual and ambiguous, not a sudden breakthrough or epiphany. He extended the ghetto liquidation sequence, as he "felt very strongly that the sequence had to be almost unwatchable."[12]
Casting[edit]
Neeson auditioned as Schindler early on, and was cast in December 1992, after Spielberg saw him perform in Anna Christie on Broadway.[16] Warren Beatty participated in a script reading, but Spielberg was concerned that he could not disguise his accent and that he would bring "movie star baggage".[17] Kevin Costner and Mel Gibson expressed interest in portraying Schindler, but Spielberg preferred to cast the relatively unknown Neeson, so the actor's star quality would not overpower the character.[18] Neeson felt Schindler enjoyed outsmarting the Nazis, who regarded him as a bit of a buffoon. "They don't quite take him seriously, and he used that to full effect."[19] To help him prepare for the role, Spielberg showed Neeson film clips of Time Warner CEO Steve Ross, who had a charisma that Spielberg compared to Schindler's.[20] He also located a tape of Schindler speaking, which Neeson studied to learn the correct intonations and pitch.[21]
Fiennes was cast as Amon Goeth after Spielberg viewed his performances in A Dangerous Man: Lawrence After Arabia and Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights. Spielberg said of Fiennes' audition that "I saw sexual evil. It is all about subtlety: there were moments of kindness that would move across his eyes and then instantly run cold."[22] Fiennes put on 28 pounds (13 kg) to play the role. He watched historic newsreels and talked to Holocaust survivors who knew Goeth. In portraying him, Fiennes said "I got close to his pain. Inside him is a fractured, miserable human being. I feel split about him, sorry for him. He's like some dirty, battered doll I was given and that I came to feel peculiarly attached to."[22] Fiennes looked so much like Goeth in costume that when Mila Pfefferberg (a survivor of the events) met him, she trembled with fear.[22]
The character of Itzhak Stern (played by Ben Kingsley) is a composite of accountant Stern, factory manager Abraham Bankier, and Goeth's personal secretary, Mietek Pemper.[23] The character serves as Schindler's alter ego and conscience.[24] Kingsley is best known for his Academy Award winning performance as Gandhi in the 1982 biographical film.[25]
Overall, there are 126 speaking parts in the film. Thousands of extras were hired during filming.[12] Spielberg cast Israeli and Polish actors specially chosen for their Eastern European appearance.[26] Many of the German actors were reluctant to don the SS uniform, but some of them later thanked Spielberg for the cathartic experience of performing in the movie.[17] Halfway through the shoot, Spielberg conceived the epilogue, where 128 survivors pay their respects at Schindler's grave in Jerusalem. The producers scrambled to find the Schindlerjuden and fly them in to film the scene.[12]
Filming[edit]
Principal photography began on March 1, 1993 in Kraków, Poland, with a planned schedule of 75 days.[27] The crew shot at or near the actual locations, though the Płaszów camp had to be reconstructed in a nearby abandoned quarry, as modern high rise apartments were visible from the site of the original camp.[28][29] Interior shots of the enamelware factory in Kraków were filmed at a similar facility in Olkusz, while exterior shots and the scenes on the factory stairs were filmed at the actual factory.[30] The crew was forbidden to do extensive shooting or construct sets on the grounds at Auschwitz, so they shot at a replica constructed just outside the entrance.[31] There were some antisemitic incidents. A woman who encountered Fiennes in his Nazi uniform told him that "the Germans were charming people. They didn't kill anybody who didn't deserve it".[22] Antisemitic symbols were scrawled on billboards near shooting locations,[12] while Kingsley nearly entered a brawl with an elderly German-speaking businessman who insulted Israeli actor Michael Schneider.[32] Nonetheless, Spielberg stated that at Passover, "all the German actors showed up. They put on yarmulkes and opened up Haggadas, and the Israeli actors moved right next to them and began explaining it to them. And this family of actors sat around and race and culture were just left behind."[32]



"I was hit in the face with my personal life. My upbringing. My Jewishness. The stories my grandparents told me about the Shoah. And Jewish life came pouring back into my heart. I cried all the time."
—Steven Spielberg on his emotional state during the shoot[33]
Shooting Schindler's List was deeply emotional for Spielberg, the subject matter forcing him to confront elements of his childhood, such as the antisemitism he faced. He was surprised that he did not cry while visiting Auschwitz; instead he found himself angry and filled with outrage. He was one of many crew members who could not force themselves to watch during shooting of the scene where aging Jews are forced to run naked while being selected by Nazi doctors to go to Auschwitz.[34] Spielberg commented that he felt more like a reporter than a film maker – he would set up scenes and then watch events unfold, almost as though he were witnessing them rather than creating a movie.[28] Several actresses broke down when filming the shower scene, including one who was born in a concentration camp.[17] Spielberg, his wife Kate Capshaw, and their five children rented a house in suburban Kraków for the duration of filming.[35] He later thanked his wife "for rescuing me ninety-two days in a row ... when things just got too unbearable".[36] Robin Williams called Spielberg to cheer him up, given the profound lack of humor on the set.[36] Spielberg spent several hours each evening editing Jurassic Park, which was scheduled to premiere in June 1993.[37]
Spielberg occasionally used German and Polish language in scenes to recreate the feeling of being present in the past. He initially considered making the film entirely in those languages, but decided "there's too much safety in reading. It would have been an excuse to take their eyes off the screen and watch something else."[17]
Cinematography[edit]
Influenced by the 1985 documentary film Shoah, Spielberg decided not to plan the film with storyboards, and to shoot it like a documentary. Forty percent of the film was shot with handheld cameras, and the modest budget meant the film was shot quickly over seventy-two days.[38] Spielberg felt that this gave the film "a spontaneity, an edge, and it also serves the subject."[39] He filmed without using Steadicams, elevated shots, or zoom lenses, "everything that for me might be considered a safety net."[39] This matured Spielberg, who felt that in the past he had always been paying tribute to directors such as Cecil B. DeMille or David Lean.[32]
The decision to shoot the film mainly in black and white contributed to the documentary style of cinematography, which cinematographer Janusz Kamiński compared to German Expressionism and Italian neorealism.[39] Kamiński said that he wanted to give the impression of timelessness to the film, so the audience would "not have a sense of when it was made."[28] Spielberg decided to use black and white to match the feel of actual documentary footage of the era.[39] Universal chairman Tom Pollock asked him to shoot the film on a color negative, to allow color VHS copies of the film to later be sold, but Spielberg did not want to accidentally "beautify events."[39]
Music[edit]
Main article: Schindler's List (soundtrack)
John Williams, who frequently collaborates with Spielberg, composed the score for Schindler's List. The composer was amazed by the film, and felt it would be too challenging. He said to Spielberg, "You need a better composer than I am for this film." Spielberg responded, "I know. But they're all dead!"[40] Itzhak Perlman performs the theme on the violin.[1]
Regarding Schindler's List, Perlman said:

Perlman: "I couldn't believe how authentic he [John Williams] got everything to sound, and I said, 'John, where did it come from?' and he said, 'Well I had some practice with Fiddler on the Roof and so on, and everything just came very naturally' and that's the way it sounds."
Interviewer: "When you were first approached to play for Schindler's List, did you give it a second thought, did you agree at once, or did you say 'I'm not sure I want to play for movie music'?
Perlman: "No, that never occurred to me, because in that particular case the subject of the movie was so important to me, and I felt that I could contribute simply by just knowing the history, and feeling the history, and indirectly actually being a victim of that history."[41]
In the scene where the ghetto is being liquidated by the Nazis, the folk song "Oyfn Pripetshik" ("On the Cooking Stove") (Yiddish: אויפֿן פּריפּעטשיק‎) is sung by a children's choir. The song was often sung by Spielberg's grandmother, Becky, to her grandchildren.[42] The clarinet solos heard in the film were recorded by Klezmer virtuoso Giora Feidman.[43] Williams won an Academy Award for Best Original Score for Schindler's List, his fifth win.[44] Selections from the score were released on a soundtrack album.[45]
Themes and symbolism[edit]
The film explores the theme of good versus evil, using as its main protagonist a "good German", a popular characterization in American cinema.[46][14] While Goeth is characterized as an almost completely dark and evil person, Schindler gradually evolves from Nazi supporter to rescuer and hero.[47] Thus a second theme of redemption is introduced as Schindler, a disreputable schemer on the edges of respectability, becomes a father figure responsible for saving the lives of over a thousand people.[48][49]
The girl in red[edit]

 

 Schindler sees a girl in red during the liquidation of the Kraków ghetto. The red coat is one of the few instances of color used in this predominantly black and white film.
While the film is shot primarily in black and white, a red coat is used to distinguish a little girl in the scene depicting the liquidation of the Kraków ghetto. Later in the film, Schindler sees her dead body, recognizable only by the red coat she is still wearing. Spielberg said the scene was intended to symbolise how members of the highest levels of government in the United States knew the Holocaust was occurring, yet did nothing to stop it. "It was as obvious as a little girl wearing a red coat, walking down the street, and yet nothing was done to bomb the German rail lines. Nothing was being done to slow down ... the annihilation of European Jewry," he said. "So that was my message in letting that scene be in color."[50] Andy Patrizio of IGN notes that the point at which Schindler sees the girl's dead body is the point at which he changes, no longer seeing "the ash and soot of burning corpses piling up on his car as just an annoyance."[51] Professor André H. Caron of the Université de Montréal wonders if the red symbolises "innocence, hope or the red blood of the Jewish people being sacrificed in the horror of the Holocaust."[52]
The girl was portrayed by Oliwia Dąbrowska, three years old at the time of filming. Spielberg asked Dąbrowska not to watch the film until she was eighteen, but she watched it when she was eleven, and was "horrified."[53] Upon seeing the film again as an adult, she was proud of the role she played.[53] Although it was unintentional, the character is similar to Roma Ligocka, who was known in the Kraków Ghetto for her red coat. Ligocka, unlike her fictional counterpart, survived the Holocaust. After the film was released, she wrote and published her own story, The Girl in the Red Coat: A Memoir (2002, in translation).[54] According to a 2014 interview of family members, the girl in red was inspired by Kraków resident Genya Gitel Chil.[55]
Candles[edit]
The opening scene features a family observing the Shabbat. Spielberg said that "to start the film with the candles being lit ... would be a rich bookend, to start the film with a normal Shabbat service before the juggernaut against the Jews begins."[12] When the color fades out in the film's opening moments, it gives way to a world in which smoke comes to symbolize bodies being burnt at Auschwitz. Only at the end, when Schindler allows his workers to hold Shabbat services, do the images of candle fire regain their warmth. For Spielberg, they represent "just a glint of color, and a glimmer of hope."[12] Sara Horowitz, director of the Koschitzky Centre for Jewish Studies at York University, sees the candles as a symbol for the Jews of Europe, killed and then burned in the crematoria. The two scenes bracket the Nazi era, marking its beginning and end.[56] She points out that normally the woman of the house lights the Sabbath candles and intones the Kiddush. In the film it is men who perform these rituals, demonstrating not only the subservient role of women, but also the subservient position of Jewish men in relation to Aryan men, especially Goeth and Schindler.[57]
Other symbolism[edit]
To Spielberg, the black and white presentation of the film came to represent the Holocaust itself: "The Holocaust was life without light. For me the symbol of life is color. That's why a film about the Holocaust has to be in black-and-white."[58] Robert Gellately notes the film in its entirety can be seen as a metaphor for the Holocaust, with early sporadic violence increasing into a crescendo of death and destruction. He also notes a parallel between the situation of the Jews in the film and the debate in Nazi Germany between making use of the Jews for slave labor or exterminating them outright.[59] Water is seen as giving deliverance by Alan Mintz, Holocaust Studies professor at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in New York. He notes its presence in the scene where Schindler arranges for a Holocaust train loaded with victims awaiting transport to be hosed down, and the scene in Auschwitz, where the women are given an actual shower instead of receiving the expected gassing.[60]
Release[edit]
The film opened on December 15, 1993. By the time it closed in theaters on September 29, 1994, it had grossed $96.1 million ($157 million in 2015 dollars)[61] in the United States and over $321.2 million worldwide.[62] In Germany, where it was shown in 500 theaters, the film was viewed by over 100,000 people in its first week alone[63] and was eventually seen by six million people.[64] The film was popular in Germany and a success worldwide.[65]
Schindler's List made its U.S. network television premiere on NBC on February 23, 1997. Shown without commercials, it ranked #3 for the week with a 20.9/31 rating/share,[66] highest Nielsen rating for any film since NBC's broadcast of Jurassic Park in May 1995. The film aired on public television in Israel on Holocaust Memorial Day in 1998.[67]
The DVD was released on March 9, 2004 in widescreen and fullscreen editions, on a double-sided disc with the feature film beginning on side A and continuing on side B. Special features include a documentary introduced by Spielberg.[68] Also released for both formats was a limited edition gift set, which included the widescreen version of the film, Keneally's novel, the film's soundtrack on CD, a senitype, and a photo booklet titled Schindler's List: Images of the Steven Spielberg Film, all housed in a plexiglass case.[69] The laserdisc gift set was a limited edition that included the soundtrack, the original novel, and an exclusive photo booklet.[70] As part of its 20th anniversary, the movie was released on Blu-ray Disc on March 5, 2013.[71]
Following the success of the film, Spielberg founded the Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation, a nonprofit organization with the goal of providing an archive for the filmed testimony of as many survivors of the Holocaust as possible, to save their stories. He continues to finance that work.[72] Spielberg used proceeds from the film to finance several related documentaries, including Anne Frank Remembered (1995), The Lost Children of Berlin (1996), and The Last Days (1998).[73]
Reception[edit]
Critical response[edit]
Schindler's List is widely acclaimed as a remarkable achievement by film critics and audiences.[74] Notable Americans such as talk show host Oprah Winfrey and President Bill Clinton urged their countrymen to see it.[3][75] World leaders in many countries saw the film, and some met personally with Spielberg.[3] Stephen Schiff of The New Yorker called it the best historical drama about the Holocaust, a movie that "will take its place in cultural history and remain there."[76] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times described it as Spielberg's best, "brilliantly acted, written, directed, and seen."[77] Ebert named it one of his ten favorite films of 1993.[78] Terrence Rafferty, also with The New Yorker, admired the film's "narrative boldness, visual audacity, and emotional directness." He noted the performances of Neeson, Fiennes, Kingsley, and Davidtz as warranting special praise,[79] and calls the scene in the shower at Auschwitz "the most terrifying sequence ever filmed."[80] In his 2013 movie guide, Leonard Maltin awards the film a rare four-star rating and gives a lengthy review. He calls the film a "staggering adaptation of Thomas Keneally's best-seller," saying "this looks and feels like nothing Hollywood has ever made before." [It is] "Spielberg's most intense and personal film to date," he concludes.[81] James Verniere of the Boston Herald noted the film's restraint and lack of sensationalism, and called it a "major addition to the body of work about the Holocaust."[82] In his review for the New York Review of Books, British critic John Gross said his misgivings that the story would be overly sentimentalized "were altogether misplaced. Spielberg shows a firm moral and emotional grasp of his material. The film is an outstanding achievement."[83] Mintz notes that even the film's harshest critics admire the "visual brilliance" of the fifteen-minute segment depicting the liquidation of the Kraków ghetto. He describes the sequence as "realistic" and "stunning".[84] He points out that the film has done much to increase Holocaust remembrance and awareness as the remaining survivors pass away, severing the last living links with the catastrophe.[85] The film's release in Germany led to widespread discussion about why most Germans did not do more to help.[86]
Criticism of the film also appeared, mostly from academia rather than the popular press.[87] Horowitz points out that much of the Jewish activity seen in the ghetto consists of financial transactions such as lending money, trading on the black market, or hiding wealth, thus perpetuating a stereotypical view of Jewish life.[88] Horowitz notes that while the depiction of women in the film accurately reflects Nazi ideology, the low status of women and the link between violence and sexuality is not explored further.[89] History professor Omer Bartov of Brown University notes that the physically large and strongly drawn characters of Schindler and Goeth overshadow the Jewish victims, who are depicted as small, scurrying, and frightened – a mere backdrop to the struggle of good versus evil.[90] Doctors Samuel J. Leistedt and Paul Linkowski of the Université libre de Bruxelles describe Goeth's character in the film as a classic psychopath.[91]
Horowitz points out that the film's dichotomy of absolute good versus absolute evil glosses over the fact that the vast majority of Holocaust perpetrators were ordinary people; the movie does not explore how the average German rationalized their knowledge of or participation in the Holocaust.[92] Author Jason Epstein commented that the movie gives the impression that if people were smart enough or lucky enough, they could survive the Holocaust; this was not actually the case.[93] Spielberg responded to criticism that Schindler's breakdown as he says farewell is too maudlin and even out of character by pointing out that the scene is needed to drive home the sense of loss and to allow the viewer an opportunity to mourn alongside the characters on the screen.[94]
Assessment by other filmmakers[edit]
Schindler's List was very well received by many of Spielberg's peers. Filmmaker Billy Wilder wrote a long letter of appreciation to Spielberg in which he proclaimed, "They couldn't have gotten a better man. This movie is absolutely perfection."[14] Polanski, who turned down the chance to direct the film, later commented, "I certainly wouldn't have done as good a job as Spielberg because I couldn't have been as objective as he was."[95] He cited Schindler's List as an influence on his 1995 film Death and the Maiden.[96] The success of Schindler's List led filmmaker Stanley Kubrick to abandon his own Holocaust project, Aryan Papers, which would have been about a Jewish boy and his aunt who survive the war by sneaking through Poland while pretending to be Catholic.[97] When scriptwriter Frederic Raphael suggested that Schindler's List was a good representation of the Holocaust, Kubrick commented, "Think that's about the Holocaust? That was about success, wasn't it? The Holocaust is about 6 million people who get killed. Schindler's List is about 600 who don't."[97]
Filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard accused Spielberg of using the film to make a profit out of a tragedy while Schindler's wife, Emilie Schindler, lived in poverty in Argentina.[98] Keneally disputed claims that she was never paid for her contributions, "not least because I had recently sent Emilie a check myself."[99] He also confirmed with Spielberg's office that payment had been sent from there.[99] Filmmaker Michael Haneke criticized the sequence in which Schindler's women are accidentally sent off to Auschwitz and herded into showers: "There's a scene in that film when we don't know if there's gas or water coming out in the showers in the camp. You can only do something like that with a naive audience like in the United States. It's not an appropriate use of the form. Spielberg meant well – but it was dumb."[100]
The film was criticized by filmmaker and lecturer Claude Lanzmann, director of the nine-hour Holocaust film Shoah, who called Schindler's List a "kitschy melodrama" and a "deformation" of historical truth. "Fiction is a transgression, I am deeply convinced that there is a ban on depiction [of the Holocaust]", he said. Lanzmann also criticized Spielberg for viewing the Holocaust through the eyes of a German, saying "it is the world in reverse." He complained, "I sincerely thought that there was a time before Shoah, and a time after Shoah, and that after Shoah certain things could no longer be done. Spielberg did them anyway."[101] Spielberg accused him of wanting to be "the only voice in the definitive account of the Holocaust. It amazed me that there could be any hurt feelings in an effort to reflect the truth."[102]
Reaction of the Jewish community[edit]
At a 1994 Village Voice symposium about the film, historian Annette Insdorf described how her mother, a survivor of three concentration camps, felt gratitude that the Holocaust story was finally being told in a major film that would be widely viewed.[103] Hungarian Jewish author Imre Kertész, a Holocaust survivor, feels it is impossible for life in a Nazi concentration camp to be accurately portrayed by anyone who did not experience it first-hand. While commending Spielberg for bringing the story to a wide audience, he found the film's final scene at the graveyard neglected the terrible after-effects of the experience on the survivors and implied that they came through emotionally unscathed.[104] Rabbi Uri D. Herscher found the film an "appealing" and "uplifting" demonstration of humanitarianism.[105] Norbert Friedman noted that, like many Holocaust survivors, he reacted with a feeling of solidarity towards Spielberg of a sort normally reserved for other survivors.[106] Albert L. Lewis, Spielberg's childhood rabbi and teacher, described the movie as "Steven's gift to his mother, to his people, and in a sense to himself. Now he is a full human being."[105]
Accolades[edit]
Schindler's List featured on a number of "best of" lists, including the Time magazine's Top Hundred as selected by critics Richard Corliss and Richard Schickel,[4] Time Out magazine's 100 Greatest Films Centenary Poll conducted in 1995,[107] and Leonard Maltin's "100 Must See Movies of the Century".[5] The Vatican named Schindler's List among the most important 45 films ever made.[108] A Channel 4 poll named Schindler's List the ninth greatest film of all time,[6] and it ranked fourth in their 2005 war films poll.[109] The film was named the best of 1993 by critics such as James Berardinelli,[110] Roger Ebert,[78] and Gene Siskel.[111] Deeming the film "culturally significant", the Library of Congress selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry in 2004.[112]
Spielberg won the Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing – Feature Film for his work,[113] and shared the Producers Guild of America Award for Best Theatrical Motion Picture with co-producers Branko Lustig and Gerald R. Molen.[114] Steven Zaillian won a Writers Guild of America Award for the screenplay.[115] The film won National Society of Film Critics awards for Best Film, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Cinematography.[116] New York Film Critics Circle awards were won for Best Film, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Cinematography.[117] Los Angeles Film Critics Association awards were won for Best Film, Best Cinematography (tied with The Piano), and Best Production Design.[118] The film also won many other awards and nominations worldwide.[119]
Major awards

Category
Subject
Result

Academy Awards[44]

Best Picture
Steven Spielberg
Gerald R. Molen
Branko Lustig
 Won
Best Director
Steven Spielberg Won
Best Adapted Screenplay
Steven Zaillian Won
Best Original Score
John Williams Won[a]
Best Film Editing
Michael Kahn Won
Best Cinematography
Janusz Kamiński Won
Best Art Direction
Ewa Braun
Allan Starski
 Won
Best Actor
Liam Neeson Nominated
Best Supporting Actor
Ralph Fiennes Nominated
Best Sound
Andy Nelson
Steve Pederson
Scott Millan
Ron Judkins
 Nominated
Best Makeup and Hairstyling
Christina Smith
Matthew Mungle
Judy Alexander Cory
 Nominated
Best Costume Design
Anna B. Sheppard Nominated
ACE Eddie Award[120]

Best Editing
Michael Kahn Won
BAFTA Awards[121]

Best Film
Steven Spielberg
Branko Lustig
Gerald R. Molen
 Won
Best Direction
Steven Spielberg Won
Best Supporting Actor
Ralph Fiennes Won
Best Adapted Screenplay
Steven Zaillian Won
Best Music
John Williams Won
Best Editing
Michael Kahn Won
Best Cinematography
Janusz Kamiński Won
Best Supporting Actor
Ben Kingsley Nominated
Best Actor
Liam Neeson Nominated
Best Makeup and Hair
Christina Smith
Matthew W. Mungle
Waldemar Pokromski
Pauline Heys
 Nominated
Best Production Design
Allan Starski Nominated
Best Costume Design
Anna B. Sheppard Nominated
Best Sound
Charles L. Campbell
Louis L Edemann
Robert Jackson
Ronald Judkins
Andy Nelson
Steve Pederson
Scott Millan
 Nominated
Chicago Film Critics Association Awards[122]

Best Film
Steven Spielberg
Gerald R. Molen
Branko Lustig
 Won
Best Director
Steven Spielberg Won
Best Screenplay
Steven Zaillian Won
Best Cinematography
Janusz Kamiński Won
Best Actor
Liam Neeson Won
Best Supporting Actor
Ralph Fiennes Won
Golden Globe Awards[123]

Best Motion Picture – Drama
Steven Spielberg
Gerald R. Molen
Branko Lustig
 Won
Best Director
Steven Spielberg Won
Best Screenplay
Steven Zaillian Won
Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
Liam Neeson Nominated
Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture
Ralph Fiennes Nominated
Best Original Score
John Williams Nominated
American Film Institute recognition

Year
List
Result

1998
AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies #9[124]
2003
AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes and Villains Oskar Schindler – #13 hero; Amon Goeth – #15 villain[125]
2005
AFI's 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes "The list is an absolute good. The list is life." – nominated[126]
2006
AFI's 100 Years...100 Cheers #3[127]
2007
AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) #8[128]
2008
AFI's 10 Top 10 #3 epic film[129]
Controversies[edit]

 

 Commemorative plaque at Emalia, Schindler's factory in Kraków
For the 1997 American television showing, the film was broadcast virtually unedited. The telecast was the first to receive a TV-M (now TV-MA) rating under the TV Parental Guidelines that had been established earlier that year.[130] Senator Tom Coburn, then an Oklahoma congressman, said that in airing the film, NBC had brought television "to an all-time low, with full-frontal nudity, violence and profanity", adding that it was an insult to "decent-minded individuals everywhere".[131] Under fire from both Republicans and Democrats, Coburn apologized, saying: "My intentions were good, but I've obviously made an error in judgment in how I've gone about saying what I wanted to say." He clarified his opinion, stating that the film ought to have been aired later at night when there would not be "large numbers of children watching without parental supervision".[132]
Controversy arose in Germany for the film's television premiere on ProSieben. Heavy protests ensued when the station intended to televise it with two commercial breaks. As a compromise, the broadcast included one break, consisting of a short news update and several commercials.[64]
In the Philippines, chief censor Henrietta Mendez ordered cuts of three scenes depicting sexual intercourse and female nudity before the movie could be shown in theaters. Spielberg refused, and pulled the film from screening in Philippine cinemas, which prompted the Senate to demand the abolition of the censorship board. President Fidel V. Ramos himself intervened, ruling that the movie could be shown uncut to anyone over the age of 15.[133]
According to Slovak filmmaker Juraj Herz, the scene in which a group of women confuse an actual shower with a gas chamber is taken directly, shot by shot, from his film Zastihla mě noc (Night Caught Up with Me, 1986). Herz wanted to sue, but was unable to fund the case.[134]
The song Yerushalayim Shel Zahav ("Jerusalem of Gold") is featured in the film's soundtrack and plays near the end of the film. This caused some controversy in Israel, as the song (which was written in 1967 by Naomi Shemer) is widely considered an informal anthem of the Israeli victory in the Six-Day War. In Israeli prints of the film the song was replaced with Halikha LeKesariya ("A Walk to Caesarea") by Hannah Szenes, a World War II resistance fighter.[135]
Impact on Krakow[edit]
Due to the increased interest in Kraków created by the film, the city bought Schindler's former enamelware factory in 2007 to create a permanent exhibition about the German occupation of the city from 1939 to 1945. The museum opened in June 2010.[136]
See also[edit]
1993 in film
Notes[edit]
a.Jump up ^ Williams also won a Grammy for the film's musical score. Freer 2001, p. 234.
Citations[edit]
1.^ Jump up to: a b c Freer 2001, p. 220.
2.^ Jump up to: a b c d e McBride 1997, p. 416.
3.^ Jump up to: a b c McBride 1997, p. 435.
4.^ Jump up to: a b Corliss & Schickel 2005.
5.^ Jump up to: a b Maltin 1999.
6.^ Jump up to: a b Channel 4 2008.
7.Jump up ^ McBride 1997, p. 425.
8.Jump up ^ Crowe 2004, p. 557.
9.Jump up ^ Palowski 1998, p. 6.
10.^ Jump up to: a b McBride 1997, p. 424.
11.^ Jump up to: a b c McBride 1997, p. 426.
12.^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h Thompson 1994.
13.Jump up ^ Crowe 2004, p. 603.
14.^ Jump up to: a b c d McBride 1997, p. 427.
15.Jump up ^ Palowski 1998, p. 27.
16.Jump up ^ Palowski 1998, pp. 86–87.
17.^ Jump up to: a b c d Susan Royal interview.
18.Jump up ^ Palowski 1998, p. 86.
19.Jump up ^ Entertainment Weekly, January 21, 1994.
20.Jump up ^ McBride 1997, p. 429.
21.Jump up ^ Palowski 1998, p. 87.
22.^ Jump up to: a b c d Corliss 1994.
23.Jump up ^ Crowe 2004, p. 102.
24.Jump up ^ Freer 2001, p. 225.
25.Jump up ^ Palowski 1998, pp. 87–88.
26.Jump up ^ Mintz 2001, p. 128.
27.Jump up ^ Palowski 1998, p. 48.
28.^ Jump up to: a b c McBride 1997, p. 431.
29.Jump up ^ Palowski 1998, p. 14.
30.Jump up ^ Palowski 1998, pp. 109, 111.
31.Jump up ^ Palowski 1998, p. 62.
32.^ Jump up to: a b c Ansen & Kuflik 1993.
33.Jump up ^ McBride 1997, p. 414.
34.Jump up ^ McBride 1997, p. 433.
35.Jump up ^ Palowski 1998, p. 44.
36.^ Jump up to: a b McBride 1997, p. 415.
37.Jump up ^ Palowski 1998, p. 45.
38.Jump up ^ McBride 1997, pp. 431–432, 434.
39.^ Jump up to: a b c d e McBride 1997, p. 432.
40.Jump up ^ Gangel 2005.
41.Jump up ^ Perlman video interview.
42.Jump up ^ Rubin 2001, pp. 73–74.
43.Jump up ^ Medien 2011.
44.^ Jump up to: a b 66th Academy Awards 1994.
45.Jump up ^ AllMusic listing.
46.Jump up ^ Loshitsky 1997, p. 5.
47.Jump up ^ McBride 1997, p. 428.
48.Jump up ^ Loshitsky 1997, p. 43.
49.Jump up ^ McBride 1997, p. 436.
50.Jump up ^ Schickel 2012, pp. 161–162.
51.Jump up ^ Patrizio 2004.
52.Jump up ^ Caron 2003.
53.^ Jump up to: a b Gilman 2013.
54.Jump up ^ Logocka 2002.
55.Jump up ^ Rosner 2014.
56.Jump up ^ Horowitz 1997, p. 124.
57.Jump up ^ Horowitz 1997, pp. 126–127.
58.Jump up ^ Palowski 1998, p. 112.
59.Jump up ^ Gellately 1993.
60.Jump up ^ Mintz 2001, p. 154.
61.Jump up ^ Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–2014. Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. Retrieved February 27, 2014.
62.Jump up ^ Freer 2001, p. 233.
63.Jump up ^ Loshitsky 1997, pp. 9, 14.
64.^ Jump up to: a b Berliner Zeitung 1997.
65.Jump up ^ Loshitsky 1997, pp. 11, 14.
66.Jump up ^ Broadcasting & Cable 1997.
67.Jump up ^ Meyers, Zandberg & Neiger 2009, p. 456.
68.Jump up ^ Amazon, DVD.
69.Jump up ^ Amazon, Gift set.
70.Jump up ^ Amazon, Laserdisc.
71.Jump up ^ Amazon, Blu-ray.
72.Jump up ^ Freer 2001, p. 235.
73.Jump up ^ Freer 2001, pp. 235–236.
74.Jump up ^ Mintz 2001, p. 126.
75.Jump up ^ Horowitz 1997, p. 119.
76.Jump up ^ Schiff 1994, p. 98.
77.Jump up ^ Ebert 1993a.
78.^ Jump up to: a b Ebert 1993b.
79.Jump up ^ Rafferty 1993.
80.Jump up ^ Mintz 2001, p. 132.
81.Jump up ^ Maltin 2013, p. 1216.
82.Jump up ^ Verniere 1993.
83.Jump up ^ Gross 1994.
84.Jump up ^ Mintz 2001, p. 147.
85.Jump up ^ Mintz 2001, p. 131.
86.Jump up ^ Houston Post 1994.
87.Jump up ^ Mintz 2001, p. 134.
88.Jump up ^ Horowitz 1997, pp. 138–139.
89.Jump up ^ Horowitz 1997, p. 130.
90.Jump up ^ Bartov 1997, p. 49.
91.Jump up ^ Leistedt & Linkowski 2014.
92.Jump up ^ Horowitz 1997, p. 137.
93.Jump up ^ Epstein 1994.
94.Jump up ^ McBride 1997, p. 439.
95.Jump up ^ Cronin 2005, p. 168.
96.Jump up ^ Cronin 2005, p. 167.
97.^ Jump up to: a b Goldman 2005.
98.Jump up ^ Ebert 2002.
99.^ Jump up to: a b Keneally 2007, p. 265.
100.Jump up ^ Haneke 2009.
101.Jump up ^ Lanzmann 2007.
102.Jump up ^ McBride 1997, p. 434.
103.Jump up ^ Mintz 2001, pp. 136–137.
104.Jump up ^ Kertész 2001.
105.^ Jump up to: a b McBride 1997, p. 440.
106.Jump up ^ Mintz 2001, p. 136.
107.Jump up ^ Time Out Film Guide 1995.
108.Jump up ^ Greydanus 1995.
109.Jump up ^ Channel 4 2005.
110.Jump up ^ Berardinelli 1993.
111.Jump up ^ Johnson 2011.
112.Jump up ^ Library of Congress 2004.
113.Jump up ^ CBC 2013.
114.Jump up ^ Producers Guild Awards.
115.Jump up ^ Pond 2011.
116.Jump up ^ National Society of Film Critics.
117.Jump up ^ Maslin 1993.
118.Jump up ^ Los Angeles Film Critics Association.
119.Jump up ^ Loshitsky 1997, pp. 2, 21.
120.Jump up ^ Giardina 2011.
121.Jump up ^ BAFTA Awards 1994.
122.Jump up ^ Chicago Film Critics Awards 1993.
123.Jump up ^ Golden Globe Awards 1993.
124.Jump up ^ American Film Institute 1998.
125.Jump up ^ American Film Institute 2003.
126.Jump up ^ American Film Institute 2005.
127.Jump up ^ American Film Institute 2006.
128.Jump up ^ American Film Institute 2007.
129.Jump up ^ American Film Institute 2008.
130.Jump up ^ Chuang 1997.
131.Jump up ^ Chicago Tribune 1997.
132.Jump up ^ CNN 1997.
133.Jump up ^ Branigin 1994.
134.Jump up ^ Kosulicova 2002.
135.Jump up ^ Bresheeth 1997, p. 205.
136.Jump up ^ Pavo Travel 2014.
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External links[edit]
 Wikiquote has quotations related to: Schindler's List
Schindler's List at the Internet Movie Database
Schindler's List at the American Film Institute Catalog of Motion Pictures
Schindler's List at the TCM Movie Database
Schindler's List at Box Office Mojo
Schindler's List at Rotten Tomatoes
Schindler's List at Metacritic
The Shoah Foundation, founded by Steven Spielberg, preserves the testimonies of Holocaust survivors and witnesses
Through the Lens of History: Aerial Evidence for Schindler’s List at Yad Vashem
Schindler's List bibliography at UC Berkeley
Voices on Antisemitism Interview with Ralph Fiennes from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Voices on Antisemitism interview with Sir Ben Kingsley from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
"Schindler's List: Myth, movie, and memory" (PDF). The Village Voice: 24–31. March 29, 1994.


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