Schindler's List (1993) - Full Reaction
Added 2021-06-20 06:10:13 +0000 UTCHere is my reaction to Schindler's List, this was a top-tier patron pick and I'm so glad to have finally seen it. WOW, I have never seen a movie like this, and probably never will again. I watched this a week ago and have not stopped thinking about it. It was heartbreakingly horrifying and also a beautiful story. I will never forget this story and this movie.
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Comments
Spielberg said shooting Schindler's List was deeply emotional for him, as the subject matter forced him to confront elements of his childhood, such as the antisemitism he faced. He was one of many crew members who could not force themselves to watch during the shooting of the scene where aging Jews are forced to run naked while being selected by Nazi doctors to go to Auschwitz. Spielberg on his emotional state during filming: "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." The girl in red was 3 years old at the time of filming. Spielberg asked her not to watch the film until she was 18, but she watched it when she was 11, and says she was "horrified". Upon seeing the film again as an adult, she was proud of the role she played.
Clay F
2024-10-24 01:14:29 +0000 UTCi know i am late to your reaction to this movie, but I did want to make a comment. i appreciate your watching and sharing your emotions with this movie. this was the third time i have watched it, and my tears flowed for the first time, with you.
Stephen Minor
2024-07-31 03:04:57 +0000 UTCD-day just past but Hopefully ma'am, your review like 2 years ago sparks something in someone somewhere that not to forget why the sedge on D-day happened.... and yeah, if you can remind just a little bit of people of how bad people before us were, and there horrible ideologies ... maybe we can learn from that...and I'm all for it ma'am . So keep on keeping on...👍👍
Jay552
2024-06-08 08:54:13 +0000 UTCI just watched Inheritance (2006). A documentary about Goeth's daughter's quest to find out the truth, after being raised to believe that her father was a war hero. The documentary covers her meeting someone who had witnessed her father's brutality firsthand, a Holocaust survivor, inside Płaszów, and discovering a compassionate way of coping with some hard truths. I believe that the full version is available on Apple, or as a TV edit called: "My Father was a Nazi Commandant". Worth watching.
ArsTropica
2024-03-19 15:08:28 +0000 UTCCassie, you asked how so many people could follow evil. Unfortunately history is repeating itself. His name is Donald Trump.
Habman
2024-02-24 17:19:21 +0000 UTCArguably a duty as a citizen of the world is to watch this movie, which is relevant today in that autocratic fascists filled with nationalist racist hate still exist. We can never let our guard down. Fortunately, good people like Oskar Schindler also still exist today.
Clay F
2023-09-10 11:26:27 +0000 UTCI didbt see it in the comments but Schindler was given the highest award possible in Israel, Righteous Among Nations. Upon his death he was buried in Jerusalem on Mt. Zion normally reserved for the highest Jews.
Mark Harrell
2022-04-23 00:30:38 +0000 UTCCassie, watching your reaction to Schindlers List. You are such a brilliant empathetic young lady. I loved how you grasped all the finest details as the movie progressed. I am quite knowledgeable on the holocaust and as bad as the events in the movie were the reality was actually far worse than what the movie showed. If they truly showed the worst of what happened the movie would be unwatchable for any person with a heart. What they did to pregnant women would make you throw up . sadly it's now being done again by the Russians in Ukraine. Executing civilians one by one the same way
Mark Harrell
2022-04-22 23:39:23 +0000 UTCCassie, please don’t ever apologize to us for what you are feeling during a reaction. This is a very difficult movie to watch, but also very important and after BoB, I knew it would be tough for you and I was crying right along with you. Thank you for watching to the end… Until next time 🍿 BTW: You mentioned that you recognized Goeth from Grand Budapest Hotel, but that actor is also Lord Voldemort
Tara
2022-01-03 04:04:38 +0000 UTCThank you for sharing this movie. Your reaction channeled and amplified its power.
Dean A
2021-10-02 21:30:10 +0000 UTCReally hard movie to watch but its important that we know what happned just a few decades ago, is something that we should never forget. and if is hard to watch i cant imagine to live there on those years
Rafael TF
2021-09-16 17:36:54 +0000 UTCThis movie is my top ten favorite movie its a story that needed to be told and it was a story that inspired so much. I learn alot about the holocaust at high school and have seen this movie so many time especially the pianist I've so many horrible story's about that time. But this movie was more then about the holocaust it was about humanity the good and bad and shows how one man can make a differences. Thank you for this video cassie 💗
MatthewBrown74m
2021-09-02 05:24:00 +0000 UTCThis is the first time I've watched this movie and I don't know what to say... My great grandparents were among those that complied with, or at least did nothing to stop, the Nazis. My grandparents immigrated to the US in the early 1960's and they never really talked about what happened during the war other than that my great grandfathers went off to fight in the German army. I hope the world has learned from this and never lets something like that happen ever again...
Michael Gribble
2021-08-13 02:02:39 +0000 UTCJojo Rabbit is a completely different type of movie though to be fair.
Damien beatty
2021-07-24 02:21:25 +0000 UTCIn my opinion the main reason why this movie is so well executed comes from the fact that it is not only based on real events, but survivors actually influenced it heavily. You can see the attention to detail and love in every little detail from the dresses of the performance ladies in the opening sequence to the military uniforms and weapons used even to things like card games (when Oskar Schindler wins Helen Hirsch at a game of 21 -> a realistic card game for the time and place). This movie is brutaly realistic and explains complex situations like the overall feeling in the ghetto with a few simple scenes. NONE of which will be found in Jojo Rabbit. I will just leave it at that. Here is an example I have rarely ever seen explained: Reichsfluchtsteuer -> a tax of the Nazi if a jew wanted to leave Germany at the time. The thing is, the "conquered lands" like Poland during WWII did not count as part of the nation of Germany, they had a different term. If a jew living in....Berlin 4ex travelled to Krakow in 1940 he would have had to pay that tax. EVEN IF the travel happened against his will (concentration camp Auschwitz). So following scenario: You get home, your mother is gone, the apartment is randsacked. No explanation. Weeks later you get a letter saying she was caught doing smth illegal or she is half-jewish or whatever and was transported to a prison in the Generalgouverment (Poland). The state asks you for 180 000$ for it. If thats not bad enough, it gets even worse. In many cases these prisoners wouldnt even be transported that far - they would be killed if in some prison nearby or maybe just sent to a concentration camp in Germany itself.
Naryma
2021-06-26 12:11:57 +0000 UTCI watched this tonight along with your react on a separate screen, and I started to realize why I've been drawn to your content. Having grown up watching a lot of movies where people die a lot (often meaninglessly), you start to become desensitized to it. Watching this vicariously through your eyes gives me a perspective of the film that feels very honest and pure, and I had a sense that I was being re-sensitized to the impact this film has on people. I first watched Schindler's List a long time ago and I don't remember being as moved as watching it along with you. So, thank you.
AnotherMachine
2021-06-26 02:40:57 +0000 UTCCharles: WWI ended almost a decade before the Great Depression. 🙄
Catherine LW
2021-06-25 23:50:13 +0000 UTCShindler's list really brings out the evil worst in men (Hitler and the Nazis), and also the best in men (Schindler). I often wonder how God puts up with the way we treat each other.
Steve Smith
2021-06-24 15:09:01 +0000 UTCthe boy in the striped pajamas... is also a great movie
DJ Harrison
2021-06-24 06:32:15 +0000 UTCA pogrom is a non-specific event, definition being, essentially, a race-riot, particularly those executed against Jews in Europe and Russia in the early 20th Century. I’d wager there were quite a few pogroms in 1938. Conversely, Kristallnacht is a fixed and very specific point in history. The fact that it was named by the Nazis is irrelevant. The Nazis wrote “:Arbeit Macht Frei” above the gates to Auschwitz, and the fact that it was done by the Nazis did not alter the reference as I made it, yes? So why would I alter the way I refer to a specific historical event just because who named it upsets your delicate sensibilities? I assure you, I don’t care. By your logic, Volkswagen should entirely rename the company and discontinue the beetle because the name, concept, and vehicle design were all done with input and final approval of Hitler himself. Rewriting history never ends well, no matter how well intentioned.
Charles
2021-06-24 06:28:24 +0000 UTCOnly a little detail from my side - They are called Progrom Nights or the November Progrom of 1938. Kristallnacht was a name given to them by the Nazis and refered to the windows of jewish shops which got destroyed and plundered in those nights. That name is not politicly accurate anymore.
Naryma
2021-06-24 06:10:08 +0000 UTCFun fact to lighten the mood: Steven Spielberg graduated with a B.A. in film production in 2002 after previously dropping out of college years before. His final project requirement was to make a 12 minute film, and he submitted Schindler’s List as his final project.
Tim Klug
2021-06-24 02:43:20 +0000 UTCThe Allied Powers could barely sustain themselves after the war. The Great Depression was global, not a uniquely American phenomenon. The only countries who recovered before the war were those who found a scapegoat to push their troubles on. For Germany, it was the Jews. The Japanese pushed it off on those they conquered across the pacific. America didn’t recover until the war-time industrial boom,
Charles
2021-06-23 20:29:42 +0000 UTCIf the victors had occupied Germany after WWI, WWII would have been avoided.
Catherine LW
2021-06-23 20:25:10 +0000 UTCSimply put, the German people were angry after WWI. The entire blame on the war was forced on them, they were in a major economic depression, and things seemed like they couldn’t get any worse. Then this charismatic veteran takes the stage and gives them a scapegoat for all of their problems. Who is the reason you can’t get a job? The successful Jew tailor down the road. Who is the reason you have no money? The Jew banker across town. Why are your children hungry? The Jew butcher is price gouging to get fat in your misfortune. He wrote a book, he gave speeches, and slowly, his policies turned around the economy and made Germany the economic powerhouse of Europe. What difference did it make to you if your Jew neighbor wasn’t allowed to own property anymore? Served him right for being the cause of your suffering last year! Before anything, before making Jews register, before making Jews wear stars and move into ghettos, before kristalnacht and “Arbeit Macht Frei,” the first thing Hitler did was turn neighbors against each other. The Jews, then the Gypsies, the homosexuals, the Catholics, the mentally and physically handicapped, and the German people went along with it because it looked like it was making their lives better on the surface.
Charles
2021-06-23 06:18:23 +0000 UTCI remember watching this in the theater when it first came out. (Keep in mind, this was 1993, so before widespread internet availability -- no spoilers, no trailers.) I simply thought "Hey, Steven Spielberg is always good for a date film, why don't I take a date to the movie theater!" ... Yeah, that didn't go so well.
A. F. Idiot
2021-06-22 05:04:32 +0000 UTCSaw the movie when I was a kid. Yeah I'm good for the rest of my life thank you.
Joshua s. Jackson
2021-06-22 04:32:00 +0000 UTCBut the more people get aware of this and not follow authority the better. Also good to remind people that the Holocaust (as well as slavery) was done according to the law. The law and moral is not necessarily the same thing although many defend their actions (even today) with "it´s the law".
Björn Von Knorring
2021-06-21 22:48:36 +0000 UTCYou ask how this could happen. The easiest way is to learn about the Stanley Milgrams experiment. In short; we follow orders. Especially when there is someone else with authority that "takes responsibility". Its easy to say that you would not comply; the fact that most of us would. But it is also easier to live with yourself thinking that you would be someone who would oppose.
Björn Von Knorring
2021-06-21 22:46:30 +0000 UTCWhen I was in college many moons ago, I rented an apartment with 2 other girls. My landlord was a Polish Jew who fought in the Warsaw Uprising and escaped from the Nazis. He had numbers tattooed on his wrist. I used to babysit his grandson. He and his wife were very kind to us girls, and were good landlords. I think of what they must have been through whenever I watch The Pianist or this film. Incredible.
Catherine LW
2021-06-21 20:41:23 +0000 UTCThank you for this reaction. Such an important film.
matthew
2021-06-21 07:59:17 +0000 UTCThey also exterminated gypsies, Catholics, dissidents, and of course the disabled and mentally handicapped. So much death. So awful.
Aimee
2021-06-21 06:26:10 +0000 UTCI’m not going to lie, I was really concerned for you going into this one. My mother allowed me to watch this at the age of 12 when it was released on video. I was a precocious child, but I still question this parenting choice. It was rough, but it also gave me a consciousness from a young age of how hatred and fear can be used as a weapon to turn people against each other. Stephen Spielberg used to have almost nightly calls with Robin Williams during this filming because it was so heavy. Also,the actor who played Amon Goeth also plays Voldemort. He’s really good at portraying evil, it seems. I hope you’re okay after that. It is so difficult to watch, but so necessary.
Aimee
2021-06-21 06:21:41 +0000 UTCNo one suggest Sophie's Choice. Son of Saul was tough too.
Rich Mcclure
2021-06-21 02:30:25 +0000 UTCThis was really good.
Mr. Killeverything
2021-06-21 00:08:51 +0000 UTCI haven't seen this movie since the 5th grade, oddly I actually watched it in elementary school and it was considered essential viewing then, times have changed. Will have to follow along and watch again
Bubba Fett
2021-06-20 21:11:22 +0000 UTCNext you need to watch Grave of the Fireflies and Amistad.
Matt Gwinn
2021-06-20 20:29:27 +0000 UTCThey actually filmed this movie in krakow and at Auschwitz. to make it more realistic and to tell the story as accurate as possible. I cant imagine the thoughts running through the minds of the film crew and actors
James
2021-06-20 19:30:13 +0000 UTCSomething I learned recently (so I could be wrong). But after WW2 some nations thought the Jews could use their own land after what they went through and not being able to trust government. So that's when the state of Israel was formed. It wasn't as nice as that though as a lot of places refused to take Jews that were displaced by WW2. One other thing the Japanese also had concentration camps that are not talked about much (Unit 731 for example). Great reaction though Cassie and I had a feeling this would be requested eventually. I was just hoping it would be further down the road, so that you could kind of get used to some of this brutality. Though I don't think anything can remove the impact of this film. As for it being shot in B&W without looking it up, I think that was done to make it feel like a documentary. almost forget your watching a movie that's "made up" with actors.
Bret
2021-06-20 18:45:54 +0000 UTCThis brings even the most hardened person to their emotional knees. The arch of Schindler's transformation is really the focus. There are stories similar in human history, but Spielberg focusing all of his talent and summoning his great knowledge of past and present directors' capabilities and techniques of story telling into this film, he is remarkable. As John Williams' music completes the movies, so it is here. To hear Itzhak Perlman play this music will reach right back into you and grab your soul and not let go before you tell yourself, "Never again!"
Mike McLaughlin
2021-06-20 17:46:13 +0000 UTCYou guys are making her watch Schneider's List? That's just mean man.
Henry from CO
2021-06-20 16:52:58 +0000 UTCi love that
Cassie
2021-06-20 16:31:45 +0000 UTCThis film, even as a hardened veteran of both film and history, was the hardest to see through till the end. Its one thing to have read about what happened, its something else to see it. Its the difference between reading names on a list and see the people they belong to. Some details I'd like to add to the conversation. Sadly, Ammon Goth was worse in reality than the extent he was portrayed in the film. I will not divulge details, but it pains me that such is the case. I would rather live in a world where men like Goth don't exist, but we do. Spielburg didn't take any pay to make this. Obviously the studio made money from it. The cast and crew were all compensated, but Spielburg didn't by choice. He had is pay donated instead. I hope you have a "cute cats" compilation or something lined up after this. Also some advice, I wouldn't recommend watching something like "The Pianist" right after. You'll have the light sucked out of your eyes for a month. Not that...I would know anything about that...
JORDAN HANSEN
2021-06-20 14:40:26 +0000 UTCOh dear, I fear for your sanity. Movies that deal with the Holocaust can be a tough watch for my grizzled self. At the same time we need them so that younger people can know what went on during that time. So it's worth the popcorn(that will surely go uneaten)to remind us never to forget. They say it takes a village to raise a child we need to realize it also took a village to kill a child as well. I've never been so relieved to see a movie end for you.
softshoes
2021-06-20 14:29:18 +0000 UTCLowballing Nazi atrocities puts it at 11 million victims. The West is myopic in remembering it as the Jewish Holocaust. In Russia, they remember the War of Extermination (also, Stalin killed more Jews than Hitler, so they wouldn't have wanted to compare that) —the surreal horror/war film Come and See offers a window into that. Amon Goeth wasn't fooled when the boy said the dead man stole the chicken, but the boy made him laugh and so they were spared for the day. He knew he could kill them all later anyway. And yes, the real Amon was that bad, and this movie only had so much time to show his crimes.
Michael Hawk
2021-06-20 12:18:28 +0000 UTCI've always thought of Schindler as having fallen down the slippery slope of good.
Mingo Wayama
2021-06-20 11:56:39 +0000 UTCThere hasn't been a time I have watched this movie and haven't cried more than a few times. I will have to stock up on tissues before I start this :D I saw this, for the first time, in high school. And then I remember when I saw this two things struck me. First, was how everything was incremental. At first they just registered everyone, then they moved them to the cities, then they moved them to the ghettos, then they moved them to the work camps, and so on... Everything was incremental. The second thing that struck me that by telling individual stories it humanized things. I have always loved history and read as much as I could(I still do). But, while I can be horrified at reading the numbers, it's just numbers. It never had the same impact then when I saw the stories of individual people. That stuck with me. Then when I multiplied that by millions the weight of it was that much more. I am definitely going to have to make sure I have plenty of tissues this time. :)
MattN
2021-06-20 10:55:36 +0000 UTCAlso worth noting that Spielberg also directed Jurassic Park the same year. So, he made the biggest blockbuster of the year, and the film that swept the Oscars in the same year. Quite the achievement.
Maxoutkast
2021-06-20 07:21:58 +0000 UTCThis is a harrowing movie. I hope that Roxanne and The Breakfast CLub were enough of a pallete cleanser for you after this ordeal.
Brian McGovern
2021-06-20 07:04:34 +0000 UTCI saw this at The Continental theater in Denver, and it was one of the most memorable, and by far the most emotional theatrical experience of my life. The film speaks for itself, but near the end of the film, when Oskar Schindler insists that the remaining Jews under his protection be allowed to celebrate The Sabbath, The woman sitting next to me began to recite the scripture in unison with the characters in the film, and that was it for me. I was already completely, emotionally drained- I was barely able to contain myself, and then there’s this person next to me who unintentionally reminded me of the reality of everything I had just witnessed. I broke down, and after only a minute or so, she reached over and handed me some fresh tissue, and said, “Here, I think you need this more than I do.” And she was right. I of course had not prepared myself for the emotional state I’d be in. I had no idea. It’s funny to think that today I have no idea who she was, and I’ll never see her again. And if I did see her again I wouldn’t even know it. Truly one of the most remarkable films ever made. I saved a newspaper article, months later, in which Spielberg was quoted as saying he was done making movies as a result of the emotional distress and spiritual awakening he endured from making Schindler’s List. It tore me apart to know my favorite director would never make another film, but at the same time I completely understood. Obviously he recovered, but his films took on an entirely new tone, and it took some time for him to find his voice again.
Maxoutkast
2021-06-20 06:54:42 +0000 UTCThis movie is hard to watch but it really is incredible at the same time. It held no punches at all. It shows how people can change. It also shows the brutality that humans are capable of. The thing this movie captures is that is was very graphic which i think is needed to get the point across We all read what happened in school but seeing it visually in detail hits harder and has more impact.
James
2021-06-20 06:33:26 +0000 UTC
