Creative Elements in the Film Schindler's List

                                 Novel is defined as a long narrative in prose. It is a factious prose narrative in which characters, actions and events representative of real life of past or present are portrayed in a plot of more or less complexity. Similarly, film is also a narrative that combines both theatrical and dramatic elements. However, the novel and the film imitate human life. To a large extent, the novel and the film are complementary to each other because they are the works of fiction.  Moreover, both are independent art forms.  Basically, the adaptation of the novel to the film is a multidisciplinary process. In a sense, Schindler’s Ark, the novel is adapted into the film Schindler’s List, is a detailed account of how German industrialist Oskar Schindler saves the lives of over a thousand Jewish people by claiming they are skilled workers and employable in his factory.

                          Basically, the novel as well as the film is based on the historical saddest incident ‘The Holocaust or Shoah’ during January, 1933 to May, 1945.  During the period, the Nazis were engaged in a systematic program of persecution and, later, mass extermination of the Jews of Europe. This period of genocide has come to be known as the Holocaust (“destruction by fire”), or Shoah, it's Hebrew name.

                     Schindler's Ark (released in America as Schindler's List) is a Booker Prize-winning novel published in 1982 by the Australian novelist Thomas Keneally.  Later on, the novel is adapted into the highly successful movie known as Schindler's List. It is directed and produced by Steven Spielberg. The novel is also awarded the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Fiction in 1983.The novel narrates the story of Oskar Schindler, a Nazi Party member who turns into an unlikely hero by saving 1,200 Jews from concentration camps all over Poland and Germany. It is a Historical fiction which describes actual people and places with fictional events, dialogue and scenes added by the author.

                 The film Schindler's List is released on 15 December, 1993 in the United States. It is a Hollywood film. Its running time is 195 minutes. Its declared budget was $22 million while it earned a net gross revenue of $321.2 million. The screenplay of the film is written by Steven Zaillian. The music of the film is composed by John Williams. The film production company is Amblin Entertainment. The film distribution company is Universal Pictures.

                       Schindler's List is an epic historical film. The film is based on the life of Oskar Schindler, a German businessman who saved the lives of more than a thousand mostly Polish-Jewish refugees during the Holocaust by employing them in his factories. The film is the recipient of seven Academy Awards (out of twelve nominations) including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Original Score as well as numerous other awards including seven BAFTAs and three Golden Globes. Its stars are Oskar Schindler (actor: Liam Neeson), Schutzstaffel (SS) officer Amon Goeth (actor: Ralph Fiennes) and  Schindler's Jewish accountant Itzhak Stern (actor: Ben Kingsley). The other important cast in the film are: Emilie Schindler (actress: Caroline Goodall), Poldek Pfefferberg (actor: Jonathan Sagalle), Helen Hirsch (actress: Embeth Davidtz), Wiktoria Klonowska (actress: Małgorzata Gebel), Marcel Goldberg (actor: Mark Ivanir), Ingrid (actress: Beatrice Macola), Julian Scherner (actor: Andrzej Seweryn), Rolf Czurda (actor: Friedrich von Thun), Investor (actor: Jerzy Nowak) etc.

                         Actually, Poldek Pfefferberg, one of the Schindlerjuden (Schindler Jews), decided to unfold the story of Schindler to all the people of the world. So, he persuades the novelist Keneally to write a novel on the legendry personality Schindler. The film director Spielberg shows interest in the story when he reads a novel review of Schindler's Ark (written by Keneally). Again, Poldek Pfefferberg requests the film director Spielberg to adapt the novel Schindler's Ark for his film. Accordingly, Spielberg adapts and majority of the photography of the film takes place in Kraków, Poland in 1993. Spielberg shot the film in black and white (to reduce the intensity of bloodshed and horror as well as terror)  and considered it as a documentary. Cinematographer of the film Janusz Kamiński  gives the film a sense of timelessness. 

The novel as well as the film is set on the maxim that ‘he who saves a single life saves the entire world’. Schindler’s List, both the novel and the film, include many horrible and terrible heart moving episodes of Nazi's cruelty and violence. Keneally as well as Spielberg handles them in sensitively. Moreover, the novel as well as the film ends on an inspiring note of salvation rather than despair.

                        The film Schindlers List is pretty accurate. However, most of the scenes are shown in the film differently as compared to the novel. (Necessary deviations)  Underneath is a list of major deviations in the film Schindler's List which are in fact the creations of the film producer.

1) In the film, the first meeting between Schindler and Pfefferberg is in a church during the priests preaching. In the novel, Schindler has visited Pfefferberg at his mother’s house where he was almost killed by Pfefferberg because he thought that Schindler was a SS (Nazi special police) man.

2)  In the film, Schindler starts with hiring Jews and pronounces that they are cheaper. In the novel, Schindler starts with hiring only Polish workers. Later on, Schindler's Jewish accountant, Itzhak Stern, hires Jewish workers also. 

3)  In the film, the question if Emilie should join Oskar Schindler in Krakow was asked when she visited him in Krakow. In the novel, this question has not been asked till Oskar Schindler visited Emilie in their hometown Moravia, an Austrian province later on annexed to Czechoslovakia. These two events are probably combined because of the available time in the film.

4)  In the film, Poldek Pfefferberg is not a part of the OD (Ordnungsdienst, the policeforce of the Judenrat).  In the novel, Pfefferberg becomes a member of the OD to have freedom to leave the ghetto for his black market business. Filmmakers have framed the character of Pfefferberg differently to simplify the story.

5)  In the film, Schindler kissed the Jewish girl in front of the German officers during a party. In the novel, Schindler kissed the Jewish girl in his office where delegations of workers come to congratulate him. Filmmakers have framed the kiss scene in public to show that Schindler was not afraid of the German officers and even felt secure that these high placed friends would protect him. This eventually happened. This is framed differently in the movie and the book as well.

6)  In the film, a couple of high ranked friends of Schindler, like  Commandant Goeth and General Scherner, go to talk to the person who is responsible for Schindler’s arrest. They explain him why Schindler did it (the kiss scene) and get him out. In the novel, Schindler meets Czurdaand and justifies himself.

7)  In the film, Schindler is pretty fast out of jail. In the novel, Schindler has to wait for 5 days in jail before they decide to let him go. Filmmakers have speeded this event up because of the limited time that is available in the movie.

8)  In the novel, Pfefferberg wants Blauschein (labour cart) and he thought this would work out without any trouble. He assures his labour with the Spira children so he is counted as essential worker. His yellow card identifies him as a High School Professor. However, the clerks refuse to give him the sticker and he tries to get work in Szepessi’s fabrik. In the film, they show this happening but not to Pfefferberg but to another (unknown named) Jew. We think that the moviemakers decided to split Pfefferberg's character into a couple of different characters, to simplify his character, and make him less important as one person in the movie.

9)  Goeth’s manicurist, in the film, is Helen Hirsch. In the novel, Rebecca Tannerbaum is his manicurist.

10)  In the film, the stay of the women in Auschwitz is not completely shown the same way as in the novel. Keneally, author of the novel, admits that women could have been sent somewhere differently. 

11) In the film, there is a big focus on the gas rooms. It may be for dramatic effect. In the novel, the focus is on how to survive in the hard conditions they have to live in.

12)  In the film, certain scenes are a little over exaggerated as compared to the novel. For example, the fear in Auschwitz for the gas room is not described in the novel in the same way as it is shown in the film. It may be for enhancing the effect in the film. 

                     When Spielberg's film Schindler's List is released, readers as well as audience have noted some of its simplifications. Moreover, the novelist, Thomas Keneally, thought that the film has given his novel a due justice.