Schindler’s’ List vs “The Watch”

Nowadays, movies like Schindler’s List or short stories like “The Watch” are two great examples of learning about the Holocaust. However, many people discuss on which source is better at exploring the effect of war on an individual society. The two stories are a great example of learning about the Holocaust as they take place in two different places and one can learn a lot as it shows the events of WWII from two different points of view. Furthermore, both stories are sad but at the same time show hope. Schindler’s List and “The Watch by Elie Wiesel”, both show the historical events of the Holocaust in WWII. The main characters are Oskar Schindler, a Nazi profiteer and Elie Wiesel, a Holocaust victim which personality as well as Shindler’s changed completely due to the war. Schindler realized that what the Nazis were doing was wrong when he saw the liberation of the Ghettos. He saw all the damage that his Party was provoking to some innocent Jews. After that, his personality started to change. On the other hand, in “The Watch”, the narrator, returns from a Concentration Camp and after 20 years and he is still shocked. Schindler’s List, the movie is the best source because the plot was more clear and easier to understand the full effects of war on these people.

Firstly, Schindler’s List shows better the events of the Holocaust in WWII. Schindler’s List is a better example at exploring the effect of war on an individual society than “The Watch” because it is easier to understand, it is more visual, meaning that one does not have to make their own idea, it is not confusing as “The Watch”, it is more emotional and more complete. In addition, Schindler was a member of the Nazi Party who ends up saving 1,200 interned Jews. A great example that shows when his personality started to change, was when the Nazis were liberating the Jews from the Ghettos to the camps. Schindler stood at the top of a hill and observed. He saw all the damage, but the turning point of the film was when he saw a little girl wearing a red coat. She was a Jewish girl that was alone without her parents trying to look for them. A lot of people were surrounding her. When Schindler saw that, his personality changed radically. Furthermore, almost at the end of the movie, when he already saved a bunch of Jews, he cried saying, “I could have saved one more person. One more person, I could have saved one more person and I didn’t” (Spielberg). This dialogue that Schindler had with the Jews that he saved is one of the best examples if not the best of the movie as it gives the readers a great example about humanity and it is also the best example of his personality change.

Secondly, “The Watch by Elie Wiesel”, is not as good as Schindler’s List at exploring the effect of war on an individual society. Despite being a magnificent example and a great story, problems like the hard understanding, specific points in the story that had no answer, moments in which the story was confusing, or the making the idea on one’s head did not make the short story as good as the film. In addition, many people also complain about the credibility of the story. The author is the narrator and it is a fact that “Elie Wiesel” was a Holocaust victim, but the problem is that people do not know if the story was real or not as it was written in 1^st person. There is a sentence in the book that says, “I have just committed my first theft” (Wiesel). Most of the people that read the story, were very confused after reading this. People asked themselves what Wiesel was trying to say: “Did he steal his own watch? Why taken what is yours is stealing?” In the book contest, this sentence had no place, the only thing that it does is confusing the reading. It is a sentence that does not have an answer. Although some parts of the story are confusing and hard to understand, that does not mean that the book is bad. Despite some errors, everybody must agree that it is a great story and a great example to learn about the mistakes that humanity committed during history.

To conclude, Schindler’s List and “The Watch” are two magnificent examples to learn about the Holocaust. Although Schindlers’ List is a better source at exploring the effect of war on an individual society than “The Watch”, the two stories have a lot of differences and things in common as for example the personality change that both characters show in both sources or the huge difference that they have as one is a Nazi and the other is a Jew. Many believe that Schindler’s List’s flow was better than “The Watch”. It is not confusing, easy to understand, it has more detail and it is a rollercoaster of emotions. Meanwhile, “The Watch” is harder to understand, there times in the story that did not have an answer, it is sometimes confusing, or one had to make their own idea which could be wrong. Taking all these, many people may ask themselves after watching Schindler’s List and after reading “The Watch from Elie Wiesel”, if WWII was worth it.

Works Cited

Steven Spielberg, director. Schindler’s List. Universal, 2004.

Wiesel, Elie, and K Goldfield. “The Watch.” The Call of Memory, edited by K. Shawn, Ben Yehuda, 2008.

Reflection:

I’m proud of having done a big essay with a lot of words and I’m also proud of having done the big essay and do more or less fine. I’m not proud of the quotes that I used and I think that I should have added more content to the essay.