Schindler’s List

written by Norith Soth

Before we wore clothes, before we drank milk, before we walked on two legs… we told stories. And the same stories continue to circulate and confront us. Like a cinematic Easter Egg, there is sometimes a hidden story inside the very movie you are watching.

Speaking of Easter, today we will crack open “Schindler’s List” and examine the hit movie’s kosheriness. Why were we so enthralled by the tale of a businessman who gains a fortune from slave labor? Let’s begin with…

WHAT HAPPENS: 1934, Poland. Oskar Schindler doesn’t come to Krakow for the weather, but for the crazy cash he’s about to make.
Slave labor is the hot investment of the day and he wants in. Oskar is so grateful to his slaves for helping him make his fortune that he saves all of their lives, but it costs him his position and fortune to pull this off.

“Schindler’s List” is one of the oldest stories ever told. No, literally. Give me an M. Give me an O. Okay, it’s Moses.

Let’s take a look at their…

SIMILARITIES: Oskar and The Pharao are both powerful guys. They both retaliate against the very system that feeds them, and save a group of slaves. Schindler is responsible for the generation known as Schindler’s Jews. According to Sigmund Freud’s final book, “Moses and Monotheism,” Moses was actually not a Jew but a Pharao, who was responsible for the survival of the Jewish people.

UNIVERSALITY: This is the old story of a merciful God (”The Abyss,” “The Ten Commandments,” “Pulp Fiction”). Yes, this all powerful being has the power to squash you like a grape but chooses not to because… said being kinda likes you and wants to give you another chance (even though you’ve been reaping the rewards of slave labor your entire life and don’t deserve it).

MESSAGE: Stories are social mirrors. Their purpose is to broadcast messages we can’t admit to ourselves. So, why do we care so much about stories of the merciful God. Because we are in deep shit if MGs like The President, Rupert Murdoch or Mark Zuckerberg fail to act in our best interest. These MG stories (or, in modern day parlance, “Pimp stories”) demonstrate mercy on the little people is appealing to us because… we are the weak little people, and we need the security of thinking that… when the shit hits the fan (like it did in Poland in 1933), one of these “pimps” will put his neck on the line for our microscopic butts.