I watched the movie for the first time.

[Guest Biblicist]

I am not sure I should post this here, nor am I sure I should talk about this movie at all.

My son [15] has been studying the Holocaust in school and has to write a Thesis about one aspect of it. He has chosen the Jewish risistance during the Holocaust.

We rented a couple of movies to watch, in addition to the books and internet research. Naturally, we chose Schindler's List.

There is a HUGE difference between reading about it, and watching it. This version of Schindler's List is quite graphic, featuring Liam Neeson as Oskar Schindler and Stephen Spielberg as the director.

All I can say about it is that I am thankful that my son fell asleep early in the movie and has not seen it. I am not sure I want him to. There are some things that are too heavy for children to carry.

I am not certain why I am sharing this with all of you. I guess I was just so shocked at the graphic nature of the movie that I had to say something.

On the other hand, studying this aspect of the Holocaust has shown me some things about the lengths the Jewish people were willing to do simply for survival. It's heartbreaking and encouraging at the same time. How strong they had to be to do the things they did to survive. Things that they would never had done, under normal circumstances. They were not fighting for their personal rights or even the rights of their country. They were fighting for the right to exist!

[Giaour]

Sophies choice is another good movie on the subject.

Bring hankies with you.

[Guest Biblicist]

Thank you Giaour.

Was it rated R? I think my son is too young to see anything that is rated R.

[LossForWords]

Usually when the Oscar award winners are announced I will rent the winners, just to see how good they are. One year there was a movie that won three oscars, Best Actor, Best Director, and Best Screenplay. It's called "The Pianist." It is rated R...because of the graphic violence involved. I would not recommend showing it to a child (teenagers included) because of the nature of the film. Sometimes a movie is rated R not only because of language or sexual content, but because of the absolute drama that some movies carry. Anything about Holocaust victims is going to be disturbing. The Pianist is one of those movies. It disturbs you to watch it. However, I now own the movie because it is so real. They didn't cut out scenes to make the suffering of the Jews seem more pleasant. They didn't cut any corners. I would recommend the movie to adults, however I would not recommend children or teenagers sitting down and watching it. Especially in today's society, there are so many special effects that can be placed into movies now that make them SO real. It amazes me and frightens me at the same time. This particular movie is another survival story, but it also shows compassion from an odd source and makes you sympathize for an enemy. It's an amazing movie about that time.

If your son is researching, I would highly recommend JUST reading, as films have a way of showing what we aren't capable of even imagining in our sheltered minds.

[Giaour]

Thank you Giaour.

Was it rated R? I think my son is too young to see anything that is rated R.

I dont know the rating.

What I do remember is; Sophie had to make a choice on which one of her children would be allowed to live and go to a concentration camp and the other was to be killed.

[Guest Trent D.]

I am not sure I should post this here, nor am I sure I should talk about this movie at all.

My son [15] has been studying the Holocaust in school and has to write a Thesis about one aspect of it. He has chosen the Jewish risistance during the Holocaust.

We rented a couple of movies to watch, in addition to the books and internet research. Naturally, we chose Schindler's List.

There is a HUGE difference between reading about it, and watching it. This version of Schindler's List is quite graphic, featuring Liam Neeson as Oskar Schindler and Stephen Spielberg as the director.

All I can say about it is that I am thankful that my son fell asleep early in the movie and has not seen it. I am not sure I want him to. There are some things that are too heavy for children to carry.

I am not certain why I am sharing this with all of you. I guess I was just so shocked at the graphic nature of the movie that I had to say something.

On the other hand, studying this aspect of the Holocaust has shown me some things about the lengths the Jewish people were willing to do simply for survival. It's heartbreaking and encouraging at the same time. How strong they had to be to do the things they did to survive. Things that they would never had done, under normal circumstances. They were not fighting for their personal rights or even the rights of their country. They were fighting for the right to exist!

[MorningGlory]

I am not sure I should post this here, nor am I sure I should talk about this movie at all.

My son [15] has been studying the Holocaust in school and has to write a Thesis about one aspect of it. He has chosen the Jewish risistance during the Holocaust.

We rented a couple of movies to watch, in addition to the books and internet research. Naturally, we chose Schindler's List.

There is a HUGE difference between reading about it, and watching it. This version of Schindler's List is quite graphic, featuring Liam Neeson as Oskar Schindler and Stephen Spielberg as the director.

All I can say about it is that I am thankful that my son fell asleep early in the movie and has not seen it. I am not sure I want him to. There are some things that are too heavy for children to carry.

I am not certain why I am sharing this with all of you. I guess I was just so shocked at the graphic nature of the movie that I had to say something.

On the other hand, studying this aspect of the Holocaust has shown me some things about the lengths the Jewish people were willing to do simply for survival. It's heartbreaking and encouraging at the same time. How strong they had to be to do the things they did to survive. Things that they would never had done, under normal circumstances. They were not fighting for their personal rights or even the rights of their country. They were fighting for the right to exist!

Schindler's List is VERY disturbing but it's something Christians and Jews need to keep in their minds. The Holocaust is something that must never be allowed to happen again. Those that deny it happened, the Iranian President comes to mind, are the tools Satan uses to blind us to the horror of the extermination of six million Jews. Makes it easier to plan the next one, IMO.

[Guest Biblicist]

Schindler's List is VERY disturbing but it's something Christians and Jews need to keep in their minds. The Holocaust is something that must never be allowed to happen again. Those that deny it happened, the Iranian President comes to mind, are the tools Satan uses to blind us to the horror of the extermination of six million Jews. Makes it easier to plan the next one, IMO.

glory, Thanks for your reply.

While we should do our best to keep the actions of the Holocaust from happening again, I do not believe that it is possible. I read something that was written thousands of years before the Holocaust that I feel proves this point.

Ecclesiastes 3:9 History merely repeats itself. It has all been done before. Nothing under the sun is truly new.

Ecclesiastes 4:1-3 Again I observed all the oppression that takes place in our world. I saw the tears of the oppressd , with no one to comfort them. The oppressors have great power, and the victims are helpless. So I concluded that the dead are better off than the living. And most fortunate of all are those who were never even born. For they have never seen all the evil that is done in our world. [NLT]

Apparently, Solomon had seen Holocaust-like behaviors before. And I believe that we will continue to see this till the day of our Lord's return.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I really appreciate everyone's comments. They are quite helpful to me. I am still not certain that I will allow my son to watch this movie. As I said before, there are some things that are to heavy for a child to carry.

"It would be a pretty poor father who would ask his little girl to carry such a load. It is the same way, Corrie, with knowledge. Some knowledge is to heavy for children. When you are older and stronger you can bear it, but for now you must trust me to carry it for you." ~ Casper Ten Boom

One of the books we got from the Library is called When Light Pierced The Darkness ~ Christian Rescue of Jews in Nazi-Occupied Poland. It was written by Nechama Tec who interviewed many survivors of the Holocaust and the protectors as well.

I never knew why the Nazi's, and Christians [though Christian by my standards is not the defination used during this time] believed that the extermination of the Jews was an OK thing to do. I never realized the deapth of their belief that the Jewish community were nothing more than "rats" or sub-creatures, not even human. Even those who rescued some of the Jewish people still believed this, as they had been taught from birth. That the Jews were "filthy, liars, and thiefs, who kidnapped Christian Children for their passover sacrifices." To them it was as if they were just exterminating the rats, or possibly rabid dogs, that had moved into the neighborhood.

I think we could learn something here. Not about the Holocaust but about the way we speak to each other. To call someone an Anti-Semite is to say that they believe that the Jewish people are not human. I don't think there are any Christians here who believe that.

My father used to use "Anti-Semite" terms but I never believed, and still don't, that he thought of Jews as somehow less than human. It was just a term that he heard growing up. Many of the rescuer's say that these views were taught to them as they suckled on mother's milk. How can one break that type of attitude when it is taught from birth?

What I am most surprised at is the fact that these people who thought of the Jew's in such a way were Catholic. They call themselves Christians yet they do not act in a Christ-like manner at all. I am wondering where these Anti-Semite attitudes started. Was it at the foot of the cross? Was it later, or possibly earlier? Did it begin in the early church when the general public was unable to read the Word of God for themselves and relied on "teacher's" to read and translate it for them.

I realize one thing. The anger and attitudes toward the Indians and then the African-American community was only something that spilled over from the Anti-Semite attitudes. If it is easy to believe one group is not human, then it is easy to transfer that attitude to another group that does not look or act like you.

Aah, well, thanks for listening to my ramblings. This is an interesting study and I pray that my son and I become better Christians through it. I also pray that he is able to share the gospel with his Public School teacher through it as well. I pray that we will be able to portray the Anti-Semite message and shed some Christian light on the situation and the wrong attitudes of the time, and still are apparent today.

[Arash_the_archer]

The Pianist is much better, it is the best spielberg done. Schindlers list is okay.

[nebula]

Edit: Scratch that - I was confusing The Pianist with The Piano.

***************************

The interesting thing about Schindeler's List was that while it was heavy and hard to bear, there were also elements of hope. Did you notice the change that had taken place in Schindler's heart by the end of the movie?

Edited April 5, 2007 by nebula