Schindler's List (1993)

The film begins in 1939 with the German-initiated relocation of Polish Jews from surrounding areas to the Kraków Ghetto shortly after the beginning of World War II. Meanwhile, Oskar Schindler (Liam Neeson), an ethnic German businessman from Moravia, arrives in the city in hopes of making his fortune as a war profiteer. Schindler, a member of the Nazi Party, lavishes bribes upon the Wehrmacht and SS officials in charge of procurement. Sponsored by the military, Schindler acquires a factory for the production of army mess kits. Not knowing much about how to properly run such an enterprise, he gains a close collaborator in Itzhak Stern (Ben Kingsley), an official of Krakow's Judenrat (Jewish Council) who has contacts with the Jewish business community and the black marketers inside the Ghetto.

IMDB Rating: 8.9/10

The Jewish businessmen lend Schindler the money for the factory in return for a small share of products produced. Opening the factory, Schindler pleases the Nazis and enjoys his newfound wealth and status as "Herr Direktor", while Stern handles all the administration. Schindler hires Jewish Poles instead of Catholic Poles because they cost less (the workers themselves get nothing; the wages are paid to the SS). Workers in Schindler's factory are allowed outside the ghetto, and Stern falsifies documents to ensure that as many people as possible are deemed "essential" to the German war effort, which saves them from being transported to concentration camps, or being killed.

SS-Lieutenant (Untersturmführer) Amon Goeth (Ralph Fiennes) arrives in Kraków to oversee construction of the new Płaszów concentration camp. Once the camp is completed, he orders the final liquidation of the ghetto and Operation Reinhard in Kraków begins, with hundreds of troops emptying the cramped rooms and arbitrarily murdering anyone who protests or appears uncooperative, elderly or infirm. Schindler, watching the massacre from the hills overlooking the area with his mistress, is profoundly affected. He nevertheless is careful to befriend Goeth and, through Stern's attention to bribery, Schindler continues to enjoy SS support and protection. During this time, Schindler bribes Goeth into allowing him to build a sub-camp for his workers, so that he can keep his factory running smoothly and protect them from being randomly executed. As time passes, Schindler acts on information provided by Stern to try and save as many lives as he can. As the war shifts, Goeth receives orders from Berlin commanding him to exhume and destroy the remains of every Jew murdered in the Kraków Ghetto, dismantle Płaszów, and ship the remaining Jews—including Schindler's workers—to the Auschwitz concentration camp.

At first, Schindler prepares to leave Kraków with his fortune. He finds himself unable to do so, however, and prevails upon Goeth to allow him to keep his workers so that he can move them to a factory in his old home of Zwittau-Brinnlitz, in Moravia away from the Final Solution, now fully underway in occupied Poland. Goeth eventually acquiesces, but charges a massive bribe for each worker. Schindler and Stern assemble a list of workers who are to be kept off the trains to Auschwitz.

Schindler's List is a 1993 American film about Oskar Schindler, a German businessman who saved the lives of more than a thousand mostly Polish-Jewish refugees during the Holocaust by employing them in his factories. The film was directed by Steven Spielberg, and based on the novel Schindler's Ark by Australian novelist Thomas Keneally. It stars Liam Neeson as Schindler, Ralph Fiennes as Schutzstaffel (SS)-officer Amon Göth, and Ben Kingsley as Schindler's Jewish accountant Itzhak Stern.

The film was a box office success and recipient of seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Original Score, as well as numerous other awards (7 BAFTAs, 3 Golden Globes). In 2007, the American Film Institute ranked the film 8th on its list of the 100 best American films of all time (up one position from its 9th place listing on the 1998 list).

..:: Italian synopsis ::..
Cracovia, 1939. L'industriale tedesco Oskar Schindler, bella presenza e temperamento avventuroso, manovrando i vertici nazisti tenta di rilevare un fabbrica per produrre pignatte e marmitte. Già reclusi nel ghetto di Podgorze, ed impossibilitati a commerciare, alcuni ebrei vengono convinti da Schindler a fornire il denaro per rilevare l'edificio: li ripagherà impiegandoli nella fabbrica, pagandoli con utensili da scambiare e sottraendoli al campo di lavoro comandato dal sadico criminale tedesco Amon Goeth.
Dopo aver ricevuto la breve visita di Emilie, la moglie che subito torna in Moravia vista la vita di libertino impenitente del marito, Schindler, sempre più nelle grazie dell'alto comando nazista e di Goeth, costruisce un campo per i suoi operai, dove le milizie non possono entrare senza la sua autorizzazione. Infine, scatenatosi lo sterminio, decide di attivare, dando fondo a tutte le sue risorse finanziarie, una fabbrica di granate nella natia Brinnlitz. Con l'aiuto dell'inseparabile Itzhak Stern, il contabile ebreo, compila una lista di 1100 persone ebree perché vengano a lui affidate come operai. Mentre gli uomini arrivano a destinazione, le donne vengono per errore tradotte ad Auschwitz, e solo con grande rischio ed impiegando a fondo risorse e conoscenze, Schindler riesce a strapparle alla morte. Per sette mesi la fabbrica produce appositamente granate difettose, finché l'armistizio non trova l'industriale senza denaro. I suoi operai gli donano un anello d'oro con su incisa una frase del Talmud: "Chiunque salva una vita salva il mondo intero".

..:: French synopsis ::..
Oskar Schindler (Liam Neeson) est un industriel allemand, membre du parti nazi. Ne pensant tout d'abord qu'à son profit, il emploie une main d'œuvre juive bon marché dans son usine. Mais Oskar Schindler ne se rend véritablement compte de l'horreur et la folie nazie qu'en assistant à la liquidation du Ghetto de Cracovie par le commandant SS Amon Göth (Ralph Fiennes), et particulièrement en voyant une petite fille au manteau rouge perdue dans le massacre. Dès lors, il tente avec son comptable Itzhak Stern (Ben Kingsley), de sauver le plus de vies possibles.

Alors que le camp dirigé par Amon Göth reçoit l'ordre de fermer et que des milliers de Juifs doivent alors être transférés à Auschwitz, Schindler décide d'acheter 1 100 de ces hommes pour les « abriter » en les embauchant dans la nouvelle usine d'armes qu'il a ouverte. Il rédige alors la liste contenant les noms de ceux qui seront sauvés. Mais un train de femmes destinées à partir à son usine est détourné vers Auschwitz. Elles échappent de peu à la mort et vont enfin à l'usine de Schindler. Dans cette usine, il interdit aux gardiens tout méfait sur les employés et ira même jusqu'à saboter sa propre marchandise pour qu'elle ne puisse être tirée par les canons.

Quelques mois plus tard, la guerre se termine. Oskar Schindler et sa femme quittent le pays car ils sont pourchassés comme criminels de guerre par les alliés, mais pas avant d'avoir dit adieu aux 1 100 Juifs qu'ils ont sauvés et de s'être vu offrir par ces derniers une bague portant la maxime tirée du Talmud : « Celui qui sauve une vie sauve l'humanité tout entière »

From Wikipedia