Schindler's List and Christiane F
Additionally some of the themes portrayed in both these films also make the subject matter essential in constructing emotional response. Schindler’s list reaches out to quite a wide target audience, and perhaps is especially relevant to people of the Jewish faith, or maybe of the German culture as it is a massive piece of their history which may trigger a higher emotional response in them. Additionally, the huge theme of dehumanisation is bound to affect everyone on emotional level as most of us couldn’t even begin to relate to what they have been through and having our identity and pride taken away from us. Additionally, there are many scenes involving children being killed, hurt and trying to escape the horrors of the concentration camps and this affects a lot of us emotionally, perhaps especially parents because it really intensifies the horror of what people had to go through and because we perceive children as being extremely fragile and that we must protect them it is horrible to watch.
Comparatively, Christiane f presents both different and common themes on minor scale but, once again, due to the sensitive subject matter conjures an emotional response. One key theme is the addiction and use of drugs, in this case heroin. This may be extremely relatable to people who have, or have suffered a similar addiction because due to the unravelling narrative and horrors of what happen to the characters will affect them emotionally. Continually, perhaps the inclusion of a main female ‘protagonist’ (although that could be argued) will affect a female audience more than a male one. One theme in this film was also present in Schindler’s list is the idea of child abuse, especially with our main characters being as young as 14. However, in Christiane f this abuse is self-inflicted, which in some ways conjures a different emotional response such as pity, anger and sympathy.
Additionally, both films are developed upon different bases due to directors and influences. Schindler’s list could be considered an epic war-drama film, and with this comes certain paradigms that are included and conjure emotion such as detailed scenes with a lot of equipment and a cast and crew to replicate that. On the other hand Christiane f is a social realist film on many levels so almost completely contrasts to Schindler’s list in terms of equipment, cast, effects and budget yet both have a significant emotional response which I think is important to note. Additionally, Christiane f is certificated as an 18 whilst Schindler’s list is a 15 – limiting its overall audience, but yet this allows both films to do a lot more graphic scenes which intensify the subject matter.
However, one cannot ignore the tremendous importance of film-making techniques in portraying this emotional subject matter and in turn perhaps intensifying the reactions even more. Firstly I think it’s important to talk about cinematography. Both films effectively use prolonged shots to strengthen the emotional response as they can’t help but not want to watch, or see that certain scene anymore such as the constant close-ups of people injecting heroin in Christiane f and mid/long shots of dead bodies and close-ups of people faces in Schindler’s list. in Schindler’s list I personally find the scene in which a Jewish man making hinges for Oskar is taken outside by Amon Goeth (a commandant of the Nazi party) to be shot but the gun won’t work. This extremely emotional because you don’t want this character to die but we anticipate it is going to happen and the tension established through the prolonged shot also prolongs our intense emotional response. furthermore when the final scene is in colour I personally find that the most emotional scene as it to me symbolizes the end of the war and summarises all of the emotion in theme by acknowledging the life and death of Oskar Schindler and also having the real-life Jews presented with the their corresponding actor/actresses. In Christiane f the mid-shot of an unknown character injecting heroin straight into his neck is prolonged and we see the reaction of a woman also in the bathroom. Our emotions replicate the woman’s character performance and also the man doesn’t seem to display any emotion almost displaying him as being completely dehumanised by heroin further conjures an emotional response in the audience.
Additionally, it is important to take the film’s overall aesthetic into consideration. This consideration is especially important when talking about Schindler’s list. I think it is extremely effective having the entire film in black and white except the ending sequence which makes that particular scene more poignant. Personally, I feel this makes the film more emotional as it registers it more as an historical event, intensifies the bleakness of the event and additionally allows Spielberg to emphasis two particular things – the girl in the red dress and the light of the candle. The girl in the red dress is also extremely poignant within the narrative and is also an important point when considering mise-en-scene aspects of the film. The girl in the red dress signifies Oskar’s transition from a simple prospering business man into a man determined to save as many Jews as possible as first he sees her and then he later sees her dead. Furthermore, the candles have certain connotations of hope and when the flame is extinguished it further intensifies the bleakness that Spielberg has portrayed continually. On a practical basis, I believe that the black and white aesthetic really allows emphasis to be put on the details such as lighting/shadows and character performance instead of being distracted by masses of colour and costumes. Christiane f in its own right has a completely different aesthetic to Schindler’s list. Edel manages to give the film a somewhat ‘grungy’ 70’s vibe and appearance without making it look at all cheesy or artificial. the natural lighting and shooting not only goes in conjunction with its social realist roots but also makes it seem extremely real and makes it even more relatable to an audience. additionally I think that Edel contrasts the night/club scenes and the day scene exceptionally well with each other and originally highlights the two different lifestyles Christiane has, but then this distinction disintegrates as her life is taken over by heroine and I believe the aesthetic complements the gritty realism and this disintegration exceedingly well. This realism makes the audience feel as they are watching real life unfold in front of their eyes once again heightening the emotion but in a very different way to Schindler’s list.
Finally one extremely poignant aspect of film technique present in both films is character performance. In Schindler’s list I think the employment of a vast amount of actors/actresses really intensifies the event and the core subject matter as it reminds the audience of the wide scale of the holocaust. This triggers a strong emotional response especially in scenes where a lot of these characters are killed either via mass shootings or scenes in which we see the bodies being burnt and ‘buried’. Contrastingly, Christiane f has limited character numbers and instead focuses on the individual’s journey and emotions developing a strong emotional relationship between us and them once again triggering an emotional response to their deaths or breakdowns. another interesting point is the fact that Schindler’s list being a Hollywood film employed some known actors such as Ralph Fiennes and Liam Neeson which perhaps may take away our ability to have an emotional connection with them, whilst on the other hand Christiane f’s completely constructed of unknown actors and actresses (except for the brief inclusion of David Bowie playing himself) which allows us to perhaps have a stronger emotional connection to them because we don’t have any pre-constructed opinions and knowledge of them. Finally, I believe some of the individual performances highly contribute to an emotional response. in Schindler’s list the addition of young children yelling “goodbye Jews” to the them as they’re being transported is extremely shocking and really triggers the feeling of shock in the audience as you wouldn’t expect children being so judgemental and outwardly opinionated towards a group of people and it also really intensifies the overall regime Hitler employed, not just what happened inside the concentration camps. Additionally the binary opposition between Oskar and Amon is extremely poignant and by interjected scenes of their interactions in between violent scenes once again makes us feel anger and hate towards Amon and appreciation and like towards Oskar, which highlights the director’s manipulation on their audience. similarly in Christiane f to me the character of the mother is extremely shocking as she doesn’t exude any real emotion towards her daughter, especially when she’s overdosed and also her lack of parenting to get her off the drugs and control her rebellious behaviour leaves an audience, perhaps mainly adults and parents, extremely shocked and disgusted that somebody would let that happen to their daughter. Continually, I believe both films highlight character performances that signify disintegrations, such as Christiane and Detlev in Christiane f, leaving them to be extremely dehumanised and epitomizing the negative messages Edel wanted to portray about drug abuse, and Amon and Oskar in Schindler’s list who really highlight the effect that ww2 had on people.
To conclude, I believe that emotional response comes from a synthesis of subject matter and film techniques. Without either Edel or Spielberg employing film techniques such as character performance, mise-en-scene, lighting, cinematography and film aesthetic I don’t think the subject matter would have as much of an emotional impact. conversely, I film can have a lot of high tech film techniques and look aesthetically brilliant but without a core emotional subject matter the director will never achieve a strong emotional response. I believe that both Schindler’s list and Christiane f highlight how a heightened emotional response can be achieved by balancing out a strong subject matter with their individual surrounding contexts and great film techniques and not by having an imbalanced mixture of the both.
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