Film Lesson: "Schindler's List"

In our Global 4 class, we watched the movie "Schindler's List". This movie illustrated the Holocaust in a less disturbing manner. The movie also threw in some romance to make the story a bit more interesting, I guess you could say. Although the movie included fictional scenes of the Jews being taken away to the concentration camps and being killed and tortured, it still was not as powerful as "Night and Fog". This does not mean that "Schindler's List" didn't leave me upset and bothered. Something that was powerful to me as a viewer was how the children were roughly taken away from their parents by the Nazis. They would be taken to work at the concentration camps and they were to be tortured if they didn't obey the Nazis that ran the camps.

Another thing in the movie that bothered me was how the children would have to view all this violence happening around them. They probably saw their own neighbors get violently beaten to death. That is something that can be very traumatizing for these children at such a young age. It's sad to know that some of these children didn't live long enough to finally be liberated. These children probably had goals they wanted to achieve in the future and their dreams were crushed just because of cruelty and prejudice. As I said in my previous blog, I believe "Night and Fog" was more powerful than "Schindler's List". Seeing the real stuff has a more powerful effect than a Hollywood version. Most of the scenes in "Schindler's List" will stay in my head for a minimal amount of time, but the many scenes in "Night and Fog" will definitely stay in my head for a larger amount of time, if not as long as I live. Again, I say that the Holocaust is an event in history that I will never forget reading and learning about.

Film Lesson: "Night and Fog"

The Holocaust is an event in history that I will never forget reading and learning about. What happened in those concentration camps was absolutely devastating and tragic. I also think that the Nazis who ran those concentration camps were sick! The scenes and pictures in the documentary "Night and Fog" not only broke my heart but they also caused me to feel furious. It broke my heart because of what these poor Jews had to suffer, especially the children. I can't imagine being taken away from my home all of a sudden one day to be taken to that hell hole. The Jews were tortured and killed just because they were Jewish. It was like they were living in a terrible nightmare. That is wrong on so many levels. This is what made me feel furious. The Nazis killed the prisoners just because they were Jewish. That really bothers me. I cannot believe how heartless and cruel these people were.

In my opinion, "Night and Fog" was definitely a very powerful movie. The scenes of the Nazis beating and killing the Jews is what really made the movie powerful. Compared to the movie "Schindler's List", this movie illustrated the Holocaust more effectively. The reason why is because the scenes and pictures shown are all real and they are also images that I will never forget seeing. The Hollywood version may have been upsetting but the documentary shows you what really happened and what the Jews really suffered. The documentary is all facts while the Hollywood version includes romance and such, like many other Hollywood movies about historical events.