Schindler's List

Shabbat candles. Color fades to black and white. Krakow 1939. Nazi occupation. Jews registered, marked. Oskar Schindler arrives: opportunist businessman, Nazi party member. Charm, bribery, connections. Profiteer begins.

Itzhak Stern: "The list is life." Theme of moral awakening, power to save lives, and transformation from profiteer to protector. One person can make difference against absolute evil.

Schindler meets Stern, Jewish accountant. Opens enamelware factory using Jewish labor - cheaper than Poles. Purely business. Stern secretly hiring endangered Jews. Schindler comfortable with Nazi officials. Profiting from war.

Krakow ghetto liquidation. Schindler watches from hill. Girl in red coat walking through chaos. Violence, murder, brutality. First time witnessing Holocaust horror directly. Cannot unsee. Something shifts inside him.

Should Schindler just protect his workers for business or truly save them? Amon Göth arrives, more brutal commandant. Plaszow camp. Schindler navigating both worlds: Nazi friend, Jewish protector. Conscience awakening. Risk growing.

Schindler actively bribing Göth to get more workers. No longer just business. Deliberately saving people. Stern understands. "Oskar, there are eleven hundred people alive because of you." Enter world of rescue mission. Purpose found.

Schindler and Stern partnership deepens. Unspoken understanding. Stern compiles lists. Schindler provides cover and money. Göth represents evil Schindler could have been. Choice between greed and humanity. Choosing humanity.

Schindler partying with Nazis while protecting Jews. Walking tightrope. Kissing Jewish girl - arrested briefly. Bribing Göth for workers. Running factory as sanctuary. Promise: one man resisting genocide from within system.

Girl in red coat seen dead on cart. Innocence murdered. Bodies burned. Schindler watching from distance. False defeat: personal connection to victim. Can never save them all but must try to save some. Stakes absolute.

War ending. Nazis evacuating camps. Orders to liquidate Plaszow. Everyone will die. Göth shooting randomly from balcony. Auschwitz looming. Schindler running out of time and money. Cannot save everyone. Who lives, who dies?

Stern and Schindler write list of 1,100 names. Every name a life. Women sent to Auschwitz by mistake. Schindler must bribe again. Fortune spent. Factory relocated. Risk of failure. Each moment could mean death for hundreds.

Germany surrendering. Schindler must flee as war criminal. Goodbye to workers. Breaks down: "I could have got more. This pin, two people. This car, ten people." Guilt of those not saved. Weight of choices.

Workers give Schindler ring: "Whoever saves one life saves the world entire." Synthesis: profiteer became protector. Money meant nothing compared to lives saved. Transformed through moral action. Legacy of rescue.

War ends. Russian liberation. Göth executed. Schindlers survive. Workers free. 1,100 lives saved. Their descendants number over 6,000. Schindler honored as Righteous Among Nations. Good triumphed in darkest time.

Real survivors placing stones on Schindler grave. Color returns. From opportunist to savior. One person made difference. "The list is life." Memorial to those saved and those lost. Never forget. Hope persists.