The film explores the theme of good and evil, using as its main protagonist a "good German", a popular characterization in American cinema. While Göth is characterized as an almost completely dark and evil person, Schindler gradually evolves from Nazi supporter to rescuer and hero. Thus a second theme of redemption is introduced as Schindler, a disreputable schemer on the edges of respectability, becomes a father figure responsible for saving the lives of more than a thousand people.

The girl in red

Schindler sees a girl in red during the liquidation of the Kraków ghetto. The red coat is one of the few instances of color used in this predominantly black and white film.
While the film is shot primarily in black and white, a red coat is used to distinguish a little girl in the scene depicting the liquidation of the Kraków ghetto. Later in the film, Schindler sees her exhumed dead body, recognizable only by the red coat she is still wearing. Spielberg said the scene was intended to symbolize how members of the highest levels of government in the United States knew the Holocaust was occurring, yet did nothing to stop it. He said: "It was as obvious as a little girl wearing a red coat, walking down the street, and yet nothing was done to bomb the German rail lines. Nothing was being done to slow down ... the annihilation of European Jewry. So that was my message in letting that scene be in color." Andy Patrizio of IGN notes that the point at which Schindler sees the girl's dead body is the point at which he changes, no longer seeing "the ash and soot of burning corpses piling up on his car as just an annoyance". Professor André H. Caron of the Université de Montréal wonders if the red symbolizes "innocence, hope or the red blood of the Jewish people being sacrificed in the horror of the Holocaust".

The girl was portrayed by Oliwia Dąbrowska, three years old at the time of filming. Spielberg asked Dąbrowska not to watch the film until she was eighteen, but she watched it when she was eleven, and says she was "horrified".[60] Upon seeing the film again as an adult, she was proud of the role she played. Roma Ligocka, who says she was known in the Kraków Ghetto for her red coat, feels the character might have been based on her. Ligocka, unlike her fictional counterpart, survived the Holocaust. After the film was released, she wrote and published her own story, The Girl in the Red Coat: A Memoir (2002, in translation). Alternatively, according to her relatives who were interviewed in 2014, the girl may have been inspired by Kraków resident Genya Gitel Chil.

In Kraków during World War II, the Nazis force local Polish Jews into the overcrowded Kraków Ghetto. Oskar Schindler, a German Nazi Party member from Czechoslovakia, arrives in the city, hoping to make his fortune. He bribes Wehrmacht (German armed forces) and SS officials, acquiring a factory to produce enamelware. Schindler hires Itzhak Stern, a Jewish official with contacts among black marketeers and the Jewish business community; he handles administration and helps Schindler arrange financing. Stern ensures that as many Jewish workers as possible are deemed essential to the German war effort to prevent them from being taken by the SS to concentration camps or killed. Meanwhile, Schindler maintains friendly relations with the Nazis and enjoys his new wealth and status as an industrialist.

SS-Untersturmführer (second lieutenant) Amon Göth arrives in Kraków to oversee construction of the Płaszów concentration camp. When the camp is ready, he orders the ghetto liquidated: two thousand Jews are transported to Płaszów, and two thousand others are killed in the streets by the SS. Schindler witnesses the massacre and is profoundly affected. He particularly notices a young girl in a red coat who hides from the Nazis and later sees her body on a wagonload of corpses. Schindler is careful to maintain his friendship with Göth and continues to enjoy SS support, mostly through bribery. Göth brutalizes his Jewish maid Helen Hirsch and randomly shoots people from the balcony of his villa; the prisoners are in constant fear for their lives. As time passes, Schindler's focus shifts from making money to trying to save as many lives as possible. To better protect his workers, Schindler bribes Göth into allowing him to build a sub-camp at his factory.

As the Germans begin losing the war, Göth is ordered to ship the remaining Jews at Płaszów to Auschwitz concentration camp. Schindler asks Göth for permission to move his workers to a munitions factory he plans to build in Brünnlitz near his hometown of Zwittau. Göth reluctantly agrees but charges a huge bribe. Schindler and Stern prepare a list of people to be transferred to Brünnlitz instead of Auschwitz. The list eventually includes 1,100 names.

As the Jewish workers are transported by train to Brünnlitz, the women and girls are mistakenly redirected to Auschwitz-Birkenau; Schindler bribes Rudolf Höss, the commandant of Auschwitz, for their release. At the new factory, Schindler forbids the SS guards from entering the production area without permission and encourages the Jews to observe the Sabbath. Over the next seven months, he spends his fortune bribing Nazi officials and buying shell casings from other companies. Due to Schindler's machinations, the factory does not produce any usable armaments. He runs out of money in 1945, just as Germany surrenders.

As a Nazi Party member and war profiteer, Schindler must flee the advancing Red Army to avoid capture. The SS guards at the factory have been ordered to kill the Jewish workforce, but Schindler persuades them not to do so. Bidding farewell to his workers, he prepares to head west, hoping to surrender to the Americans. The workers give him a signed statement attesting to his role in saving Jewish lives and present him with a ring engraved with a Talmudic quotation: "Whoever saves one life saves the world entire". Schindler breaks down in tears, feeling he should have done more, and is comforted by the workers before he and his wife leave in their car. When the Schindlerjuden awaken the next morning, a Soviet soldier announces that they have been liberated. The Jews then walk to a nearby town.

An epilogue reveals that Göth was convicted of crimes against humanity and executed via hanging, while Schindler's marriage and businesses failed following the war. In the present, many of the surviving Schindlerjuden and the actors portraying them visit Schindler's grave and place stones on its marker (a traditional Jewish sign of respect for the dead), after which Liam Neeson lays two roses.

Schindler's List is a 1993 American epic historical drama film directed and produced by Steven Spielberg and written by Steven Zaillian. It is based on the 1982 novel Schindler's Ark by Australian novelist Thomas Keneally. The film follows Oskar Schindler, a German industrialist who saved more than a thousand mostly Polish–Jewish refugees from the Holocaust by employing them in his factories during World War II. It stars Liam Neeson as Schindler, Ralph Fiennes as SS officer Amon Göth, and Ben Kingsley as Schindler's Jewish accountant Itzhak Stern.

Ideas for a film about the Schindlerjuden (Schindler Jews) were proposed as early as 1963. Poldek Pfefferberg, one of the Schindlerjuden, made it his life's mission to tell Schindler's story. Spielberg became interested when executive Sidney Sheinberg sent him a book review of Schindler's Ark. Universal Pictures bought the rights to the novel, but Spielberg, unsure if he was ready to make a film about the Holocaust, tried to pass the project to several directors before deciding to direct it.

Principal photography took place in Kraków, Poland, over 72 days in 1993. Spielberg shot in black and white and approached the film as a documentary. Cinematographer Janusz Kamiński wanted to create a sense of timelessness. John Williams composed the score, and violinist Itzhak Perlman performed the main theme.

Schindler's List premiered on November 30, 1993, in Washington, D.C., and was released on December 15, 1993, in the United States. Often listed among the greatest films ever made,[4][5][6][7] the film received universal acclaim for its tone, acting (particularly Neeson, Fiennes, and Kingsley), atmosphere, score, cinematography, and Spielberg's direction; it was also a box office success, earning $322 million worldwide on a $22 million budget. It was nominated for twelve Academy Awards, and won seven, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Original Score. The film won numerous other awards, including seven BAFTAs and three Golden Globe Awards. In 2007, the American Film Institute ranked Schindler's List 8th on its list of the 100 best American films of all time. The film was designated as "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant" by the Library of Congress in 2004 and selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.

Major awards
Category Subject Result
Academy Awards[51]
Best Picture
Steven Spielberg
Gerald R. Molen
Branko Lustig
Won
Best Director Steven Spielberg Won
Best Adapted Screenplay Steven Zaillian Won
Best Original Score John Williams Won[c]
Best Film Editing Michael Kahn Won
Best Cinematography Janusz Kamiński Won
Best Art Direction
Ewa Braun
Allan Starski
Won
Best Actor Liam Neeson Nominated
Best Supporting Actor Ralph Fiennes Nominated
Best Makeup
Christina Smith
Matthew Mungle
Judy Alexander Cory
Nominated
Best Sound
Andy Nelson
Steve Pederson
Scott Millan
Ron Judkins
Nominated
Best Costume Design Anna B. Sheppard Nominated
ACE Eddie Award[132]
Best Editing Michael Kahn Won
BAFTA Awards[133]
Best Film
Steven Spielberg
Branko Lustig
Gerald R. Molen
Won
Best Direction Steven Spielberg Won
Best Supporting Actor Ralph Fiennes Won
Best Adapted Screenplay Steven Zaillian Won
Best Music John Williams Won
Best Editing Michael Kahn Won
Best Cinematography Janusz Kamiński Won
Best Supporting Actor Ben Kingsley Nominated
Best Actor Liam Neeson Nominated
Best Makeup and Hair
Christina Smith
Matthew W. Mungle
Waldemar Pokromski
Pauline Heys
Nominated
Best Production Design Allan Starski Nominated
Best Costume Design Anna B. Sheppard Nominated
Best Sound
Charles L. Campbell
Louis L Edemann
Robert Jackson
Ronald Judkins
Andy Nelson
Steve Pederson
Scott Millan
Nominated
Chicago Film Critics Association Awards[134]
Best Film
Steven Spielberg
Gerald R. Molen
Branko Lustig
Won
Best Director Steven Spielberg Won
Best Screenplay Steven Zaillian Won
Best Cinematography Janusz Kamiński Won
Best Actor Liam Neeson Won
Best Supporting Actor Ralph Fiennes Won
Golden Globe Awards[135]
Best Motion Picture – Drama
Steven Spielberg
Gerald R. Molen
Branko Lustig
Won
Best Director Steven Spielberg Won
Best Screenplay Steven Zaillian Won
Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama Liam Neeson Nominated
Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture Ralph Fiennes Nominated
Best Original Score John Williams Nominated

All Real People

Novels
The Place at Whitton. 1964.
The Fear (1965), rewritten in (1989) as By the Line
Bring Larks and Heroes (1967), winner of the Miles Franklin Award, set in an unidentified British penal colony
Three Cheers for the Paraclete (1968), winner of the Miles Franklin Award, comic novel of a doubting priest
The Survivor (1969), a survivor looks back on a disastrous Antarctic expedition
A Dutiful Daughter (1971), Keneally's personal favourite
The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith (1972), also filmed. Written through the eyes of an exploited Aboriginal man who explodes in rage. Based on an actual incident. Keneally has said he would not now presume to write in the voice of an Aboriginal person, but would have written the story as seen by a white character
Blood Red, Sister Rose (1974), a novel based loosely on the life of Joan of Arc
Moses the Lawgiver (1975)
Gossip from the Forest (1975), tells of the negotiation of the armistice that ended World War I
Season in Purgatory (1976), love among Tito's partisans in World War II
Ned Kelly and the City of the Bees (1978), a book for children
A Victim of the Aurora (1978), a detective story set on an Antarctic expedition
Passenger (1979)
Confederates (1979), based on Stonewall Jackson's army
The Cut-Rate Kingdom (1980), Australia at war in 1942
Schindler's Ark (1982), winner of the Booker Prize, later released and filmed as Schindler's List
A Family Madness (1985)
The Playmaker (1987), prisoners perform a play in Australia in the 18th Century
Act of Grace (1985), (under the pseudonym William Coyle) Published as Firestorm in the US
By the Line (1989), working-class families face World War II in Sydney
Towards Asmara (1989), the conflict in Eritrea
Flying Hero Class (1991), Palestinians hijack an aeroplane carrying an Aboriginal folk dance troupe
Chief of Staff (1991), (under the pseudonym William Coyle)
Woman of the Inner Sea (1992), Keneally retells a story once told him by a young woman that haunted his imagination
Jacko: The Great Intruder (1993), madness and television
A River Town (1995)
Bettany's Book (2000)
An Angel in Australia (2000), also published as Office of Innocence
The Tyrant's Novel (2003), an Australian immigration detainee tells his story
The Widow and Her Hero (2007), the effect of war on those left behind
The People's Train (2009), a dissident escapes from Russia to Australia in 1911, only to return to fight in the revolution
The Daughters of Mars (2012), two Australian sisters struggle to nurse soldiers horrifically wounded in World War I
Shame and the Captives (2014), ISBN 147673464X, recounts the escape of Japanese prisoners of war in New South Wales during WWII
Napoleon's Last Island (2015)
Crimes of the Father (2016)
Two Old Men Dying (2018)
The Book of Science and Antiquities (2019)
The Dickens Boy (2020)
Keneally, Thomas (2021). Corporal Hitler's pistol. Australia. ISBN 978-1-76089-322-4. OCLC 1257067130. Winner of the 2022 ARA Historical Novel Prize.
Keneally, Tom (1 November 2022). Fanatic Heart. Milsons Point, NSW: Vintage Australia. ISBN 978-0-14-377781-6. OCLC 1333614618.
The Monsarrat series, co-authored with Meg Keneally
The Soldier’s Curse (2016)
The Unmourned (2017)
The Power Game (2018)
The Ink Stain (2019)
Non-fiction
Outback (1983)
Australia: Beyond the Dreamtime (1987)
The Place Where Souls are Born: A Journey to the Southwest (1992)
Now and in Time to Be: Ireland and the Irish (1992)
Memoirs from a Young Republic (1993)
The Utility Player: The Des Hasler Story (1993) Rugby league footballer Des Hasler
Our Republic (1995)
Homebush Boy: A Memoir (1995), autobiography
The Great Shame (1998)
"My father's Australia". Granta. 70: 331–349. Summer 2000.
American Scoundrel: The Life of the Notorious Civil War General Dan Sickles (2002), biography of Daniel Sickles
Lincoln (2003), biography of Abraham Lincoln
The Commonwealth of Thieves: The Story of the Founding of Australia (2005)
Searching for Schindler: A Memoir (2007)
Australians: Origins to Eureka (2009)
Three Famines: Starvation and Politics (2011)
Australians: Eureka to the Diggers (2011)
Australians: Flappers to Vietnam (2014)
Australians: A Short History (2016)
A Bloody Good Rant: My Passions, Memories and Demons (2022)
Plays
Halloran's Little Boat (1968)
Childermas (1968)
An Awful Rose (1972)
Bullie's House (1981)
Either Or (2007)
Screenplays
The Survivor (1972)
Silver City (1984)
The Fremantle Conspiracy (1988)