**DEVASTATING!!** Schindler's List (1994) Reaction: FIRST TIME WATCHING Steven Spielberg 

Yes, as I'm sure you're already aware by this point, Amon Göth (played by Ralph Fiennes) was a real person. No, he wasn't as bad as he's depicted in the movie. By all accounts, he was _much worse._

Every Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Rememberance Day) here in Israel, we have sirens that ring out twice throughout the country, and everything comes to a standstill. Cars on the freeway stop, and people stand at attention. Entertainment venues are closed. TV and radio plays Holocaust related programming. We have many survivors still alive that we hear stories from. In Jerusalem, we have Yad Vashem. The Holocaust Memorial/Museum. In fact, it’s law here in Israel that all foreign officials or heads of state must visit Yad Vashem. There is actually a tree that is planted in memory of Schindler, as well as other individuals that risked their lives to save us. His grave is actually in Jerusalem, outside the Old City walls. I want to thank individuals like yourself that react to this, and bring awareness of this film to others. Especially the younger generation. As time goes on, and the survivors slowly disappear, we can’t let this be forgotten. We can’t let it be another statistic in a history book. Each of these individuals were people. They had hopes and dreams and fears and aspirations. They were mothers and fathers, sons and daughters, brothers and sisters. We need to always remember that. We have to keep their memory alive. Especially with the rise in antisemitism we see across the world right now. Because antisemitism is not a Jewish problem. It’s a world problem. And we cannot turn a blind eye to it and we have to keep narratives like this film alive. We cannot sugarcoat it. We have to show the reality of it. So it never ever ever happens again. To anybody.

Germans and Austrians generally see the movie for the first time in school, most of the time in history class when the whole Germany-Affair is taught. It is incredibly painful to watch but at the same time beautiful and informative. I am forever grateful to have seen the movie even if it breaks me every time I watch it.

the idea of it not being that long ago really hits home when you see the real people at the end that were in his factories. they were alive when this movie was made, and some still are now. schindlers secretary just died two months ago. this is not some horrible long ago thing. this is somethingthat happened within the lifetime of people here now. i have relatives who were alive during wwII.

I recently saw a news story that the actress who played the little girl in red, has gone to Ukraine to volunteer. 👍

My girlfriend is descended from a family that was saved by Schindler. The film is not 100% historically accurate, but very good and also shows the most important points. It's nice to know that even if everything is only cruelty - there are still individuals who do something good. Thank you to all who make the world a little bit better every day.

Ralph Fiennes was so convincing it’s said that the holocaust survivor who consulted on the movie was terrified of him.

And the saddest thing to me is, people still think that the Holocaust didn’t happen. Like, how?

Filming fact: In the scene where they're burning all the bodies, there is a Nazi who starts screaming and then firing into the fire. That wasn't acting. The actor really did freak out and start acting crazy. The whole thing was just too much for him, and he cracked.

I visited the Schindler Museum in Krakow, Poland. It is located in the real factory, right outside of the Jewish ghetto. It is an great museum, very informative and powerful. Afterwards you want to buy a big drink.

Such a powerful film. Schindler actually started out as, well, not a great person. He rose up ranks and was a pretty powerful and influential person among the Nazi ranks. But because of that, he had connections that allowed him to save these people. It’s an interesting factoid that a lot of people miss. Like the movie notes, Schindler struggled continuously after the war. And in fact, he was fed, clothed, and given shelter at times by donations from the many people he saved. Spielberg refused to take a salary for this film; he said it would be blood-money. Instead, what would have been his portion was donated to preserve the stories of people that survived genocides.

"How could people do that?" is not the real question. "How CAN people do this?" is more accurate. We did not change a bit, there were always those, who are capable of these things - and there are still as many as to those times. And the worst of all are the silent majority, they pretend not to see, not to hear and not to be part of that - your neighbours, co-workers, supposed friends today as back then.

Earlier this year, the young actress that played the little girl in the red coat, Oliwia Dabrowska, helped fleeing Ukrainian refugees. She drove many refugees from the border to towns in Poland where they’d be safer. It’s remarkable how she was able to help. She said she saw the little girl in the red coat in every child she was able to help.

Making this film took a real emotional toll on Spielberg. He would call his good friend Robin Williams on the phone regularly and he would do his stand-up and tell jokes to cheer him up. Pretty cool friend.

My step-dad was in Europe during WW2. The one and only time he ever talked about what it was like was unbelievably horrific. He never went inside a concentration camp but he came within about 5 miles of one. He always said you didn't need to go inside one, you could smell them even at that distance. He also said there was NO WAY people around these places couldn't have known what was going on, as many later claimed.

"How can people do this?" I still see people do this every day. It's called dehumanisation. When people demean another group as inherently evil or less than themselves. Only the groups change.

Being a baby boomer, I’ve often had to point out to those of more recent generations what my generation grew up being taught. I’m referring to the scene in which the female engineer [Diana Reiter] is executed after informing SS Hauptsturmführer [Captain] Amön Goth that the foundation had to be torn up and re-poured, which puzzles many. Her fatal mistake was informing Goth that she was an educated Jew. (Much like the mistake made at the beginning of the film by those who couldn’t conceive that professionals and teachers weren’t essential workers. Typically, only skilled blue collar workers were deemed essential and entitled to a Blauschein (“blue card”).) When you are trying to degrade and eradicate a people, who do you target first ? Well, the intelligentsia. Recall the dialogue, which is immediately understandable to those of my generation. : I'm a graduate of Civil Engineering from the University of Milan. : Ah, an educated Jew . . . like Karl Marx himself. Unterscharführer [Corporal] ! [Note that although Marx was born and grew up in Germany and attended German universities, he is not (and would not be) referred to as a German because he is Jewish.] : Jawohl ? : Shoot her. : Herr Kommandant ! I'm only trying to do my job ! : Ja, I'm doing mine [helping to exterminate the Jewish intelligentsia].

Voldemort is not the most horrifying bad guy Ralph Fiennes has portrayed.

Last quick thought: There was a sitcom that ran from 1965 to 1971 called "Hogan's Heroes". The common throwaway punchline threat was about sending some German soldier "to the Russian Front". This referenced how many Germans died trying to invade Russia, which was so big that resupply was difficult is not impossible. The Russian Front was also ghastly cold, so many died of hypothermia. Frostbite occurred in epidemic proportions. Some 100,000 cases were reported by end of 1941, resulting in the amputation of nearly 15,000 limbs. Together, between the battles and the cold, Germany lost over 700,000 men by 1941. So, whenever a WWII era storyline references a German being sent to the Russian Front, understand it is not just discussing a death sentence but a particularly torturous way to die. This is why the soldier at the train station snapped to and enthusiastically helped to find Stern in one of the boxcars.

I bawled like a kid first time I saw this. Especialy since all that was happening here, the factory is in my country, Shindler was a german born in Czech. It's a horribly beautiful movie, I never had the courage to watch it again...

There is a documentary/ DVD feature on the original release, where the survivors (who you saw at the very end) discuss their experiences and you can see how many of them were basically recreated 1:1 for the movie (The guy tidying up suitcases on the street and saluting to survive, the kid that jumped in the latrine etc. all of those things actually happened... it is haunting and equal to the movie itself).

John Williams was asked by Spielberg to compose the score (the like the film is devastating) and Williams said "I'm not qualified to do this score." Spielberg said, "you are right but everyone who is qualified is dead."

When Spielberg showed a cut of this movie to John Williams he said he was so moved he was speechless. He finally said to Steven that you need a better composer than I am to do this movie. Steven replied I know but the rest are all dead

The whole movie is so emotional, but that little girl in the red coat gets me every time

Schindler was an opportunist & an apologist at first. He didn't want to see what they had become. And he was a womanizer. However, he was not bedding Jewish women - that would've landed him in prison (or worse), as we see later in the film. As he began to see the autrocity for what it really was, his views changed. Also, Stern was forced to do business with Schindler, he also saw an opportunity to help his people avoid the ghetto, at first and then later, the concentration death camps. Many Jews hail him as a true friend to Israel. The end really shows the love afforded him by those he helped. On a side note, did you notice what the road to Goth's camp were paved with? Headstones from a Jewish cemetary

I'd like to suggest you check out Life is Beautiful as well. It is an Italian movie also about WW2 and it is such a beautiful and heartbreaking movie. It is intense and incredibly sad but it has some lighthearted moments. It is one of my favorite movies of all time.

In the end, when they are placing the rocks on the grave, the real people were accompanied by the actor who played them.

hey thor, thanks for the reaction, this one hits hard for sure also, just as an FYI, ralph fiennes' first name is pronounced like 'rafe' (rhymes with safe)

Thank you for pointing out the bystander effect. The laws against Jews in Germany (the Nuremberg laws) began under the Nazis in the 30s and gradually increased in excluding Jews from normal roles in society, thus dehumanizing and 'othering' them in the minds of the other Germans. They weren't killing anyone yet; so most Germans just accepted it and were bystanders, even if it seemed weird or unsavory to them; until it got to the point where the Nazis were just killing the "undesirables" outright - especially the children, who represented the future and survival of the Jewish people. Most nations in the world participated in the Munich Olympics under Hitler in 1936. It didn't seem worth actually cancelling their athlete's opportunities to compete, even though it totally ended up a PR propoganda event for the Nazis. Lesson to learn: When we go along with the unacceptable, or are willing to 'normalize' evil rulers and look away from their victims for our own convenience or comfort, we are bystanders.

Remember, the people in Germany had been exposed to a massive level of state supported propaganda for years before the WW2 even started. Hitler quite openly declared the Jews being lower than humans, "Untermencshen" and direct threat to superior "Aryan race" meaning the Germans. And the antisemitic attitudes were already there, long before Nazis actually coming into power. Jews were indiscriminated through centuries in Europe, and in the Eastern Europe the attitudes were actully even more negative than in the Western Europe. Hitler just used those underlying attitudes on his advantage very skillfully, and the rest is history. "If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it" ~Joseph Göbbels/Propaganda Minister of the Nazi Germany~

I’m sure someone has already commented but he’s everyone in this movie is based on real people. My great grandfather was a “Schindler Jew.”

like most movies about the holocaust if anything the horror and degradation is actually toned down here in order to keep people watching, many people (spielberg included) have said that trying to recreate the actual day to day in a place like auschwitz would be too brutal for most audiences to endure. even still he fell into a deep depression while making schindler's list, which is understandable considering what he had to immerse himself in for months.

This is a really heavy one 💔 What gets me the most in that scene when Oskar breaks down crying is his emphasis 'one more PERSON. A person.' The Nazis totaly dehumanized the Jews and also many other people in their atrocities. Some probably used this to their advantage to make it easier to do 'their job'. Many others on the other hand were just horrible MONSTERS.

my grandmother used to tell me that the Germans let her go by bicycle through the countryside in Emilia Romagna Italy and she drove many kilometers to fetch potatoes one of the few things available from civilians in wartime and in her absence he hid my father as a child in a barn (my father had only a male goat as a friend and the Germans killed that goat one day)! An absurd age, an absurd war commanded by a madman like Hitler!💔

yes, Voldemort's character was based on a real person. history records show he was much more brutal than the movie depicts. Spielberg told the little girl with the red coat not to watch the movie until she was 18 because he didn't want to traumatize her.

This movie is like 3 hours long and I watched it only once, because I felt it was important to get an idea, and it took me over 5 hours to watch it because I cried so much I had to pause every few minutes. I always try to see the good in people but what happened in the concentration camps at the time is so absolutely inhumane that it's impossible to find any good in the perpetrators. Mengele is one of the most well-known ones, you might have heard of him. He would snatch all pairs of twins and conduct horrible experiments on them, including children. I saw interviews of some of the survivors and it was hard to listen to as well. I think that for me, one of the worst things about this is that it is coming back. There is a rise in popularity for far-right parties in Europe at the moment, although it slightly declined in a few countries over the last 2-3 years. Nazis are back. Jewish monuments are vandalized, racist slurrs are written on the walls along nazi symbols, there was even a shooting in a museum dedicated to Jews in my country (Belgium). We saw the camps at the end of the war and people said "never again". But now nazism is rising again, in different forms sometimes, but it's there. My grandpa was 7 at the end of WW2, he is in his mid 80s now, and he has to watch it all come back again. Such horror and it took less than a lifetime. "Never" is such a short period of time.

Cruel things like this are almost unimaginable. I am so glad that I saw the movie at a young age. Since then I am much more sensetised to separation of people. Dehumanisation. I keep reminding myself that only through dehumanisation this could happen and my inner alarm system warns me when I notice something like separation or villifying a group in our socitety.

My grandparents survived the Holocaust, they were from Hungary. My grandmother survived Auschwitz. She had a husband and child before the war that were killed in horrific ways. She was in the camps with her two sisters. They refused to tell us anything about it, until the end of their lives, and when they did, it was so horrible & intense I couldn't get out of bed the next day. You ask how people could commit these horrible acts? It was years of brainwashing that made them believe the "other" was subhuman and it didn't matter how they treated them. It didn't happen overnight, it went slowly, step by step until no one cared or were too afraid to speak up. It's incredibly dangerous and these were the results. If you want to watch another true Holocaust story you can watch "Defiance" with Lieve Schreiber and Daniel craig. They play the Bielski brothers who saves 1200 Jews in the forest. Incredible true story.

My parent's showed me this movie as a child because I had a great aunt and uncle that were in Auschwitz and the only members of their family to survive. My aunt and uncle were sweet people, despite the horrors that were visited upon them. I am all the better for knowing them. This movie just scrapes at your soul. I cannot begin to describe how much this is. I applaud you for watching and learning; trying to understand that while this is intense to watch, this is a watered down version (in some instances) for so many who did not make it out.

I had to watch it in my English class in 8th grade, and it was the first time I have saw everyone so invested in a movie (and I had to watch a few films that were based on the book that we needed to be read in school like Animal Farm and Lord of the Flies). This movie is one of those movies that need to be in seen in every country not just because it is a fantastic movie, but because of the serious topic that can translate into today's society, as well as to say "don't forget that this could happen to anyone of us today and respect everybody for who they are".

For me the little girl in the red coat, represents Schindler finding his humanity, he stopped seeing dollar signs and started seeing human beings!

Amon Goeth was real person. A survivor visited the set one day and fainted when she saw Ralph Fiennes because he looked so much like the real Amon.

I loved that your reaction kind of mirrored the development of Schindler - in the beginning you were disgusted by him, showed disdain, then you were confused and not sure - is he changing or not-, and then realization and determination about what's happening and what is to do. Great reaction! I loved all acting in this movie but Ralph Fiennes is the by far the best of it. To bring such a real life monster on the screen, convincingly, I was scared by him (as were survivors seeing him on set!). Awesome performance!

This movie... I have so many thoughts that I can't summarize in a comment but it hits deep in my soul... I love Itzhak Perlman's violin theme its so emotional. And the Quote by Stern "Whoever saves one life, saves the world entire" has accompanied my life since I watched this. Great performances by Liam Neeson and Ralph Fiennes, I have a crush with Fiennes but this role scares me a lot. I enjoyed your reaction, as always!

I knew a woman named Esther Atlas, and her brother who survived the Holocaust....he was my father's garment apprentice, and she had been working in Canada, a part of the Birkenau (Auschwitz 11) camp, where they sorted thru the suitcases. She survived and I actually saw her tattoo number. We went to visit them in Montreal, which is where a large congregation of European Jewry came after the War to settle. I will never forget her.

The actor who played the girl in the red coat is now helping Ukrainian refugees in her homeland of Poland

Ralph Fiennes is so good at playing villains. Rameses in Prince of Egypt, Voldemort and Amon Goeth! I guess someone has to do it lol

The iconic little girl in the red coat is in her 30s now and she has been volunteering at the Poland-Ukraine border to help Ukrainian refugees (she is Polish). I think she was about 5 years old in this film, and Steven Spielberg asked her to promise not to watch the film until she was 18 years old. But her parents let her see it when she was 11 years old, and she later said she was horrified and traumatized by it.

Probably the saddest movie I've ever seen. Well done, Thor. Thanks for doing this.

A cool current fact that I’m not sure if you know yet but the little girl in the red coat Olivia Dabrowska, is volunteering her time helping Ukrainian refugees on the Polish boarder.

I don't think 20,000 people would've been enough for Schindler. I think that no matter how many he saved, he always would've been haunted by the "one more person" he couldn't save.

regarding the architect, and "if you're doing what she said, why would you kill her:" goethe definitely made it clear that they will not be arguing or agreeing with jewish people. she was killed because she was loud and expressed an opinion, no matter how right she was. the nazis won't have any dissent whatsoever.

You seemed shocked by Nazi's Atrocities. This is how they were. keeping them working there kept them alive

Never again they say, but I believe history repeats itself. This was Spielberg's legacy. So well done. You did a great job reviewing the movie, even though you felt shaken. You're very mature.

You can say he was a hero, but he had the ressources to become one. He went completely broke over this. If he wasn't the greedy business man he was at the beginning, he couldn't have saved as many as he did.

This is one of those very rare movies (for me) that is a masterpiece but devastating two others that I can name that are like it in that regard are "Boys Don't Cry" and "The Boy In The Striped Pajamas", all three of these films are truly stunning but are also very painful (too painful for me personally) to ever watch a second time

One of my favorite movies, I watch this movie every year , to remember that there is evil but also there is kindness and good in people, i think everyone should watch this at least once in their live, we humans should learn from our past and make sure it never repeats, truly this is a masterpiece, thanks for your reaction, maybe next time you can watch “ the pianist” , as always love your channel, greetings from Costa Rica

The B&W filming broken up by a small girl in a red coat. You can't take your eyes off her. Awesome direction. This film is about what happens when you start seeing a group as the problem.

Ooh, here's an interesting but excellent choice. Definitely a tough film to watch at times, but that's the point. It was an unpleasant, awful period in history, and this is just a masterpiece of film, imo. Great reaction as ever. Keep being one of the best reaction channels out there, oh mighty Thor!😁 Cheers!

There are people with numbers tattooed on their arms still walking the earth today. It was only 77 years ago. If they were children at the time, they'd only be in their 80s. People routinely live to their 90s these days, so they'll be with us for another 15~20 years. Yes, this was not that long ago.

A few facts I now about the movie; was that Spielberg insisted on doing in in Black-and-white when the studio wanted it in colour and they never expected it to do well but it blew people away; The woman who was the mistress of Ralph Fiennes character visited the set and seeing him embody the man to such a great extent made her terrified of him even if she knew he was simply an actor acting; The scene in the camp with the room of the shower was true fear because of the conditions and no warning when the water would be released. The gas rooms was as a result of the fact many soldiers could not keep killing people in cold blood and burning them as seen. It was for most of them too much so they found an easier way that removed the need to fire a bullet. Something that so frighten me in learning about the war and how they brainwashed the German youth to side with the Nazi was among other things to swear allegiance to the Reich flag and Hitler every morning in school, sound familiar? America started doing the same far earlier and kept doing it to "protect" them from influence through the first and second war, the Cold War and so on and have actually evolved the same mindset where to protect the flag is more important than the people living in the country it stands for...

You're right, what CAN you say? The movie was directed by Spielberg and was his best to date 👍

This movie was tame compared to what the Jewish people went through !

Winner of 7 Oscars including Best Picture. This is most important and most powerful motion picture ever made. This is the kind of movie they should show in schools today, as Spielberg said in his Oscars acceptance speech that they should teach kids about the Holocaust and how it's very relevant today, with persecution, racism, and bigotry.

What always comes to my mind when thinking of the amount of Jewish people who were killed, is the fact that my country's population is less than them. So every person in my country would be dead if it had been the target.

The other guy was Julius Madritsch, he also saved a lot of people. What I find not so good about Schindler's List though is that they don't show how much his wife Emilie did. She was the one who would go every day to get food and all for all these people.

Ralph Fiennes' character was indeed based on a real person, Amon Goeth. There's an interesting book out there called, "My Grandfather Would Have Shot Me: A Black Woman Discovers Her Family's Nazi Past" by Jennifer Teege. She is the granddaughter of that man. A very interesting read, to say the least.

I don't think Schindler looked to 'take advantage' of the pretty Jewish girls he hired as what became his unnecessarily-large secretarial staff. Schindler is portrayed here as a sucker for the ladies. He flirted, he was charmed by them, he had a soft spot for them. He manipulated men (he seemed a master at psychological games), but he played on equal footing with women, being charmed by and charming to the ladies. The most important moment that pulled Schindler's conscience was his catching sight of the little girl in the Red Coat, ambling her way through a horror show of violent chaos. I think he liked children and he liked femininity and they came together in this little girl. Then the visit from the young woman trying to save her parents. He blew up about the danger (you could imagine the blood draining from his face when she said "haven"), but he didn't turn her in and he authorized the bribe that saved the parents. He kissed a Jewish girl in front of the Nazis; bad move. First the little girl's cheek, then the young woman on the lips. Likely he was a little drunk, so he forgot where he was and with whom. His affinity for the feminine almost got him in irreparable trouble. Visiting Helena in her basement sanctuary, his heart melted, but it was compassion, not lust. He likes the ladies, is charmed by them, but he does care about them. So, a little bit here, a little bit there, a rabbi here, a traumatized child there, but then he saw the Red Coat go by in a pile of the dead on a cart. That's when he REALLY committed. That's when he spent all his fortune, to save all he could. After the war, he lost his marriage, he could make a success at any other business, he died poor. No legacy of success, but a legacy of saving lives. Who Oskar Schindler really was, we'll never know. This film is loosely-based on a book loosely-based on witness report, documentation, and speculation. But the firm fact is he made a fortune oppressing over a thousand lives and then saved them to survive the war. But for Schindler, very very few would have made it.

It was such a difficult production for Spielberg emotionally that he would call up Robin Williams after the day's filming to help cheer him up.

The movie is so well made that's even hard to believe that it's a movie, sometimes the scenes look too real as if they were recorded there in the middle of gunshots

the scene with the girl in the red coat when they are clearing the ghetto is when Schindler has his change of heart

The little girl say goodbye Jews wasn't German, she was Polish.

I get upset even today, because people still do this TODAY, I see it on YT, I see it on Twitter, of treating other human beings as if they aren't human. No matter what, no one should be dehumanizing anyone else. Calling people "plague rats", calling people "orcs", no matter if you think you're right and they're wrong, is dehumanization. And I don't see how people can see this, or know that this happened, and STILL do that and say these things today about people they don't like, or people who are someone's enemy. It doesn't matter if they're you're enemy - they're humans, they're people. We need to always remember that, even in war, especially in war. Thank you for recognizing that you HOPE you would do the right thing if in that situation. I always see people say they WOULD, but I'm sure a lot of people who did treat the Jewish people terribly would say they wouldn't have if they were here today. The level of propaganda and brainwashing is insane - you would just have to hope that you didn't get caught up in it. People need to realize that everyone isn't magically special and could resist the propaganda or falling into line and doing what everyone else is doing - if we think that, these same things could happen again. You have to see it happening in the beginning, before it even gets to this point, or even the years before actual discrimination on a large scale starts. You have to see the signs. I see them happening still - today - when people speak of one's political opponents, people doing something someone doesn't like, people on the wrong side of a war, whoever they are, I still see people treating entire groups of people like they aren't human. And yet those same exact people will sit here and comment "I would never treat anyone this way". I have been yelled at and admonished for telling someone off for dehumanizing someone or groups of people, or bringing up the fact that since it happened in history, it can happen again, even to people you don't like.

Glad you’re watching JoJo Rabbit soon. Would also suggest The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, Swing Kids, & Hotel Rawanda

I think one of worst things today is, that we all lern the histories of monsters at school. We all know their names and what they have done and when. And if we ask for the heros, they said: "Nobody could done something." On this way our children lern to know what fear ist, but don't how to get strength from it. Why do we need hollywood to show us, that there WAS people who has the courage to stand up and tried to do their best to save lifes. In memory on - Oskar Schindler - Alan Turing - Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg - John Heinrich Detlef Rabe - Witold Pilecki - Hans and Sophie Scholl - Prof. Kurt Huber - Wilhelm Graf - Alexander Schmorell - Jan Kubis and Jozef Gabcik - Max Demmel

Schindler most definitely took advantage of the Jews basically being unable to say no to him at first, but he at least gave them something in return, maybe not money but he was honest about paying them in items they could trade, he wasn't wrong that money was useless to the Jews at the time, items they could trade and barter with though were invaluable. Schindler knew what he was doing from the start, and even though he was originally an incredibly arrogant and selfish man, he still tried to give the Jews something they could use from the start, even though he probably could have got away without giving them anything. Also, if you thought Schindler was in any position to help anyone during the massacre you need to go back and have more history lessons.

This is my first time watching too.

Hannah Arendt, a very profound writer, gave her impressions of the Eichmann Trial, saying that it showed "the banality of evil. That man, a little, mediocre clerk, a paper pusher, helped orchestrate the death of millions. As I think you were trying to say in other words, that banality is the most terrifying thing of all, that it's so easy for people to do or let evil be done, people who don't look like monsters. They look like the person next door. We'd like to think, as you said, that we'd be like Schindler, but how many "Righteous Among the Nations", as they are called at Yad Vashem, were there? Not very many.

I watched this movie for the first time during 2020. I was amazed by the cinematography, the real visceral horror that is some of the absolute worst of humanity. The fact that this was a true story, affected me in a very profound way. While I hail this as *ONE* of the best pieces of modern cinema, I probably won't watch this film in its entirety again.

I like to watch along with you, but just couldn't do this one. Seeing the clips here with your eyes progressively getting red was hard enough. I saw this movie when it came out and once more years later. Your thoughts at the end were spot on to mine. I'm going to have to go watch The Birdcage now or something fun.

Before filming Spielberg showed the cast & crew "come and see" which is still thought of by many as being much more brutal than this and the greatest war movie ever made, also inspired him when making Saving Private Ryan. It'd make for a great reaction but it's a lot more realistic and nightmarish than this.

A MOVIE THAT SHOULD NOT EVER BE FORGOTTON IN OUR LIFETIME, OR ANY FUTURE LIFETIME!

This is why we can never let hate, fear and the belief in superiority of one race over another can bring misery, evil and hell to a nation.

This is seriously one of those movies that should be watched once. For SURE once. But I don't hold it against people who can't watch it a second time. It's a HARD watch.

With regards to realism, there was one of the survivors on set to assist with the realism and when she saw Ralph Fiennes in uniform as Amon Goeth, she was so traumatized as the resemblance was extremely good.

In the early 1980s, my husband and I met a man at a bookstore in the D.C. area. He was an Italian immigrant, but had been in the U.S. since the 1950s. His wife was German. When I first met her, she seemed very nice, however, she made sure to tell me that she believed that the Holocaust was all lies and conspiracy theories. She was a small child during the war, and this is what she was taught. I did not try to argue, as I was a guest in her home, and good Southern girls are taught not to do that. But, I made sure to never visit them again. I had known actual concentration camp survivors. Another good movie you should see is called "The Hiding Place". About a Christian family that hides Jews in their home.

How can they do this? It's simple, you just have to be told constantly from an early age that certain people are less than human.

On youtube, I just watched a movie that rivals Schindler's List. The movie's title is Come and See . It is in Russian with English subtitles. It is about a 16-year-old boy named Flora joining the Partisans in Belarussia. Towards the end, it mentions that the Germans burned 628 villages to the ground in Belarussia, and killed all the inhabitants-men women, and children.

This movie is amazing I still remember the first time I saw it. Super emotional and incredible performances.

I'm emotionally torn. I love to see young content creators experience this masterpiece of a film. But... You're shocked by this? Do young Americans not know what the Holocaust was?

Jo Jo Rabbit is a good next movie. Told by a young boy's experience as is the movie Boy in the Striped Pajamas. The movie The Pianist is about what happened to a famous (in Poland) Jewish pianist during the Holocaust. Adian Brody won an Oscar for this role.

Apparently while making the movie Steven Spielberg suffered emotionally. He would call Robin Williams regularly to make him laugh. Robin told Steven that he needed to tell this story even if it killed him in the process. Edit: Great reaction Thor. 👍

Spielberg is one of the great Western directors of all time (probably in the top 5) and this is by far his greatest piece of work. This movie will live for decades possibly centuries. It's a timeless masterpiece. One of the greatest Western made movies of all time, up there with the likes of The Godfather movies, The Good, the bad, the Ugly, Modern Times, The Shawshank Redemption and Star Wars.

Amon Göth (played by Ralph Fiennes) was a monster. He would teach his dogs to attack, kill and eat the prisoners in his concentration camp. They actually had to tone down his role quite a bit (as they did the violence in the rest of the movie). One of the original survivors of that prison camp was a consultant on the film. When she first saw Ralph come on set with Amon’s uniform, she began crying and shaking, eventually fainting in terror. Ralph took off the uniform jacket and sat with her until she recovered and he made sure she was taken care of after that. Göth had a wife and young toddler. After Göth was hung for his crimes, his wife would often tell her daughter, “You are just like your father.” whenever she misbehaved. Can you imagine??? The young girl didn’t really remember her father, only what he looked like. When she was much older, she was invited to the first showing of Schindler’s List. She had no idea how her father acted, until she saw him on film and immediately connected him to the family pictures that she had seen when she was little. She eventually met and married a Nigerian (I’m pretty sure that was his nationality) and had a child that she gave up for adoption. The granddaughter, who was Black, learned of her grandfather and eventually wrote a book, titled, “My Grandfather Would Have Shot Me.” Because she knew exactly how he would have treated her. Regarding Schindler, he was a scoundrel, always chasing after women until he died. After the war, he tried to go to various places where Nazis would hide out in after the war, Argentina, etc, but the Nazis (I don’t want to say former Nazis, because to my knowledge, they never really changed) did not want him around, and would threaten to have him killed. He finally joined the Schindler Jews and their descendants in Israel. He was very poor near the end of his life, but from the moment he got there, the Schindler Jews and their families chipped in and took care of him until he died. To date, Schindler is the only (former) Nazi buried in the Jewish cemetery there.

This is not even the worst movie about the Holocaust. The Soviet film "Come and see" is so much worse, it's the true depiction of war and human brutality. It''s very, very, VERY hard to watch. It's also a lesson to the human race about the horrors of war.

A true testament to the horrors that mankind can produce, we should always seek the truth and be moral human beings

@Thor Reacts Nick, so glad you finally got to this important film. Small factoid, in an interview, Ralph Fiennes said that he borrowed from this character to help form his portrayal as Voldemort, who had similar beliefs regarding Muggles. 🖤🌹🖤🧛🏻‍♀️

It sounds weird but I love watching these first time reactions to this movie. Observing the sadism and the brutality and horror connects all of you and me. I am working on a project that will require me to examine the events of a Nazi prisoner of war camp when the Americans liberated the camp.

Hi Thor, a while ago I read the book "Worse than war" by Daniel Jonah Goldhagen, which is dedicated to try and explain how genocide and eliminationism events like this are possible, it is a heavy read but very much worth it if you are trying to understand how it can even come to something like this with so many people going along with it.

It is an amazing and horrible movie, thnx for the reaction ❤ This is absolutely a possibility even today, it is all about indoctrinating children and teens in their early years when they are easily manipulated, when they grow up it is the only reality they know of, there is a reason why u need to be 18 to vote and even that age is a bit stretch It could happen in any country in the world if other countries are not on their feet for the possibility, I still think it is a possible scenario in Sweden where a nazi party all of a sudden had a very charismatic leader and they all dressed up in suits and got a lot of votes because "they looked representable" In the US they also have a problem with the economical gaps because people have been indoctrinated into accepting the reality of their 0.5% of the population owning 99.9% of the money Peoples perspective of reality is unfortunately so easily distorted, even to the point where killing other people is deemed normal It is amazing how just making the movie black and white can make it feel so much more real