Schindler was living in Cracow, Poland in 1939 when the Nazis had invaded and occupied the western part of the country.  Upon the Nazi occupation, Poland's Jews were forced to leave their homes and crammed into specified ghettos.  Although Schindler was a member of the Nazi party he was not a fanatical Nazi who believed in all of their policies.  Although at the time of the occupation he was not feeling any pain or sympathy for the fate of the Jews, it was not out of strict belief of Nazi racial theory, the truth was that he did not care enough to even pay attention to them.  He was too much into himself and his own life.  Shortly after the occupation, he began looking for another way to make money - a new business to open.  He found an enamelware factory that had not been in operation for quite some time and he purchased it.  For his accountant he hired Itzhak Stern, the Jewish accountant who had previously been employed by the factory.  When it came time to hire workers, Schindler discovered that if he were to hire Poles he would have to pay them wages but if he were to hire Jews he would not have to pay them anything, thus he hired Jews to work his factory.  Unlike all of Schindler's previous business ventures, his new enamelware factory - DEF (Deutsche Email Fabrik) was incredibly successful and this was due to the war that had just began.  Due to his gregarious personality Schindler had made many powerful friends and formed valuable army business contracts.   The war was supplying him with the business that he needed.  But the success was a double-edged sword for him because he began to grow close to his Jewish workers.  He watched as the Nazi treatment of the Jews became more and more barbaric.  The Cracow ghetto was raided and Schindler's workers were taken to Plaszow, a newly constructed concentration camp under the command of the brutal Amon Goethe.  Schindler began to go to lengths to save the lives his workers and word began to spread among the Jewish community that he was a good man, but this was a dangerous reputation to have in a country occupied by the Nazis.   Schindler could not stop helping the tormented Jews but he needed to hide it well from his Nazi friends.  

Eventually Schindler was informed that Plaszow was closing down and all of the Jews were going to be taken to Auschwitz, which was a certain death sentence.  Desperately, Schindler managed to convince Berlin to let him buy his workers back.  Instead of having them sent to Auschwitz he would pay a set amount for each person and take them with him to a new factory that he was opening up in Brinnlitz, Czechoslovakia.  He was told that he would be allowed to take 1,100 workers with him and was instructed to draw up a list of all the people he wished to buy.  This was Schindler's list - the list of the lucky 1,100 people whose lives would be saved instead of being sent to Auschwitz.   In a very moving scene when Schindler and Itzhak Stern were preparing the list, Stern said, "The list is an absolute good.  The list is life.  All around it's margins lies the gulf".

This is a very moving and emotional movie, if you watch it be sure to have plenty of tissues.  The performances were top notch.  Liam Neeson did a fantastic job as Oskar Schindler.  Ralph Fiennes was equally amazing as Amon Goethe, in my opinion this is his best work.  Ben Kingsly as well as the rest of the cast, many of them virtually unknowns, did a fantastic job of bringing this difficult and powerful story to life.  Typically, the direction of Steven Spielberg is outstanding, he never ceases to amaze me.  The movie was shot entirely in black and white but there is one splash of red color in two scenes, I will not say what it is, only that it is masterfully done.   This movie is very realistic and historically detailed and Spielberg does not spare the viewers eyes from the disturbing.  There are very graphic and harrowing scenes in this movie but they are necessary because they tell the whole story.  Such things, although disturbing cannot be censored too much.  This is a movie about horror and death but also about hope and life and of helping fellow human beings in trouble even at the risk of one's own life.  In this powerful movie you see the very worst of human beings and the very best.