The movie Schindler's List, directed by Steven Spielberg, is a historical drama depicting a story of the life of Oskar Schindler who was a German businessman who saved the lives of thousands of Jewish refugees during the Holocaust by employing them in his factories during WWII. The Films influence, was for the exposure of the horrific sacrifice of the Jews during the Holocaust, and this was not just reflected through the plot and story line, but also heavily portrayed through imagery and symbolism, capturing the ultimate viewers emotional and subconscious, giving emphasis to feelings of empathy, humanity and purpose.
The first scene of the movie, Schindler’s List, begins with a close-up of people’s hands lighting a pair of candles, followed by the sound of a Jewish prayer. This scene, was only one of the very few color scenes in the film, and the scene closes as the flames of the candle go out. A trail of smoke from the burnt out candles flames fades into the next scene, and the movie turns into black and white. The use of this imagery, initiated my sense of intrigue and established a solemn mood within my understanding, as it built anticipation.
The movie was set in Poland following the collapse of the Polish army, and at the beginning of the German occupation. Oskar Schindler, arrives in the city looking to open a factory in order to gain profits from the war. The character of Schindler is betrayed as a callous man, who is compassionate and caring. Schindler’s factory became a safe haven for the Jews.
Steven Spielberg the director of the film, used music, camera angles and symbolism, to replace dialogue throughout the film, to emphasis the message and purpose of the plot. It was intriguing watching this film from an analytical perspective as I really noticed and documented the importance of how the director used sounds and colour to make significant points of a movie. Within these scenes there was also emphasis on close ups and facial expressions to show the significance of emotion of the characters of the film, and allowing myself, as the viewer to connect with these emotions on a personal level.
This technique also allowing there to be less dialogue, and more personal perspective and opinion, as the characters facial expressions, would tell a thousand words, without speech. An example of this is the scene, where Shcindler is placed in jail for kissing Jewish girl, he and the girl are made fun of by the other inmates, who are laughing and trying to make the situation humorous, however the camera zooms in on Schindlers face, which shows an unimpressed expression, providing an insight into his respectful humanistic personality.

The girl in the red coat, was one of the most important scenes in the movie, when talking about purpose, context and film techniques. The reason that I believe this scene was so important was this was one of the few times, colour was used again in the film, and after watching minutes of black and white it provided a unique contrast. In this scene Oskar Schindler is standing on top of a hill and they are looking at all of the Jewish murders below. A