A : Ben Kingsley!
Above: Ben Kingsley in "Gandhi" as an Indian, vs. Ben Kingsley in Schindler's List as a Jew. Cool eh?
All fun-facts aside, "Schindler's List" (1993) is about Oscar Schindler, a German who through his factory, saved many Polish-Jews by putting them to work. Initially though, Schindler's intention was to make a fortune out of them, but in the end, he realizes the gravity of what his actions could do - save the people! With Itzhak Stern (Ben Kingsley) as his administrator, many Jews were saved (through falsified documents too =s ). Schindler was kind to them, to the extent of allowing them to even celebrate the Sabbath. At that point his factory did not produce even one working shell, as he bribed officials and sold shells from other companies to keep his workers alive. Towards the end of the war however, he runs out of money and just as he came to that realization, the war ends. He is then a "criminal" and has to flee the Red Army as he is a member of the Nazi. The Jews however, give him a letter that explains he is not a criminal to them, and a ring with the words " " engraved on it. Schindler is deeply moved to tears, and wishes that he saved more of the Jews instead of wasting his wealth on material things.
The part that struck me the most about this movie was the role of Amon Goeth, the SS officer. It bewildered me how the man could be so emotionless and just kill, as if it were a sport, a hobby, something to just fill his free time! It pained me to see how another person was just reduced to nothing more than an animal in his eyes. Throughout the show he shot many women, and elderly, which brought to my mind the concept of double minorities. Firstly the people he shot were Jews, and secondly to add to that, they had other characteristics of a minority such as being of a (perceived) gender of lower status, and an age of lower power. As we see from Zimbardo's prison experiment, the notion that one posses power over another does in-fact spur one on to act even in ways that are inhumane!
In sum, the movie portrayed the scenarios very well, and was good in terms of depicting the torture and the cruel journey that the Nazis put the Jews through. However, I did cringe often at the cruelty of it all!
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwfIf1WMhgc
For more info: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108052/
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