Monday, April 29, 2013

Schindler's List (Movie Review)




                                               “The list is life…”

See it in black and white. See the harrowing experience of the Jews during the Nazi colonization in Krakow, Poland. Young and old, women and children; no one was spared from the terror of the Nazi Army of Adolf Hitler. 

The war has brought the worst in everyone but one man chose to save the lives of many people during the dark moment of their lives. He was Oskar Schindler (Liam Neeson),  a businessman who chose to give salvation to those Jews who feared for their lives in the Nazi regime.  It was the height of the Nazi occupation where the army beat the Polish forces in just two weeks and the Jews were forced out of their homes to register and lived in settlement areas along with other families. It was then Schindler decided to open up business and took advantage on cheap labor he could get with the Jews. The war brought him lucrative income but the worst has yet to come as SS Lieutenant Amon Goeth (Ralph Fiennes) arrived in Krakow, Poland. Soon  the Jews were forced again to live out of the settlement areas and then come the life in the ghetto. Schindler saw the killings that took place and the streets were flooded in blood as the bodies filed up on the roads. People working at Schindler's factory found a haven as more lives were saved through his bribes and connection with SS officers. As the war takes it turn, the remaining Jews were going to be shift to Auschwitz concentration camp were most of the Jews met their death with what they call the "Final Solution". Then comes the Schindler's list which was the Jews ticket to salvation and had caused Schindler his fortune .Thus, comprise the 1,100 list of Schindler's Jews.
 
This 1993 classic Steven Spielberg won an Academy for Best Picture. In the year 1993, I was just starting my grade school and as I grow old I have know my history and the stories that revolved around the tormented innocent lives of the Jews during the World War II. A lot of times, I found myself looking away from the screen as the scene shows a soldier just shooting people like they were stray animals. Sir Liam Neeson had blown me away in this movie. He gave justice to the Schindler character perfectly. It was a poignant scene were Schindler cried in front of his Jews for he knew he could have save more lives. Ralph Fiennes was really scary as he plays the disturb lieutenant who just shoot Jews in his concentration camp as he wakes up in the morning. This movie was no doubt the Best Picture for the Academy, for it recounts the horror and suffering of a lot of innocent Jews. The movie also shows us that power is not about having the authority over a group of people and being able to implement the law. Power is having the courage to find in your heart and conscience to pardon the shortcomings of your people and be responsible for them. 

It would take a great power of courage to be like Schindler during those times but he did. Though he know he has nothing to do with those people he still chose to be right and take the daring move to save the lives of thousand Jews.






"Whoever saves one life, saves the world entire..."
 

Sunday, April 28, 2013

A Love in Time

I was never the pursuing type or I guess thew courting type. I am not your striking beauty that will make you drop the thongs that you were holding because you are dazzled by my presence. But then, I would like to dazzle someone like that. 

You were walking along and just thinking of ordinary stuff and suddenly I came your way. All of a sudden everything around you went into low motion and you could only hear the beating of your heart. Right then and there, you know that there us something about me that will make your beat for a lifetime. Right at that very moment, you know you had found the one you had been searching for all your life. You had found me, You silly guy, whom I had been waiting for.

Well, that would be a cute story for my love life. It is not like the one that happens every day. Then it is not my story. I was just hoping it to be my story. This is the love story that every hopeless romantic girl is praying for to God.

I always have a prayer in my heart for God, for the right man to come in my life but I guess I never really prayed that hard. I also realized that half of my heart is scared that I might not be ready for the man who can give me love. This time I prayed with all my might and now with my whole heart for the love I have always been dreaming of and for it to finally come my way. I could not ask for more on what I have right now. My family is doing great and I have a wonderful bunch of friends. I see that I got love all around me but every single woman like me long for that moment to be swept away by the man destined to love and take care of you for the rest of your life. I also admit that I might not be ready (though I am at the very right age now) but I know in prayers there always be an answer waiting to happen at the right time. So I pray. I prayed harder...

I pray for a man who would accept me as I am and who would not change me for who I am not. I can say I am low maintenance type of girl and I may not be the girl who always preps up to be pretty every day. There are times that I do want to feel pretty but most of the times I just blend in with the crowd. So I think the kind of man whom God will send for me is someone who can see among the crowd of people in one look (or maybe on a second look) and he will know that he had found the girl for him. I pray for a man who will take care of me as I take care of him.I may look string and sturdy like I am good to be by myself at all times but I am weak. I pray for a man who is sensitive to feel the moment when I needed him to hold my hand or to give me an embrace or a soft, soothing kiss. I pray for a man who has time to listen and understand her girl. A man who is not bothered to listen to his girl's incessant rants or amusing stories, I may not talk that much but when I do I want a man who really listens to me not just with his ears but with his heart. I may not pray for good looks, a great body or whatsoever but I know that there is more to love than what you see on the outside. I pray for a man who is proud and brave to love me and be with me. I pray for a man who makes it happen for the girl he truly loves. A man who would love me and would fight for me until the end. 

All of this, I pray for the man who will come in God's own precious time. The time when the moment is right and destiny is right on its path. The time when two hearts are bound to be one, the time when two lost souls are bound to  find each other and share their lives for forever.