Good Evening, Mr. Wallenberg, I thought to be a very hard movie to follow with having to read the dialog and watch the movie. I found myself looking closely at the actions that were taken place, rather than reading to understand what they were saying. Mr. Wallenberg was a very strong passionate man, to save the lives of Hungarian Jews. In one scene, when he actually showed up at the train to save the Jews directly in front the SS Soldiers. This was a very bold and brave move, during this time no one really wanted to help the Jews. I do not think that they truly were not interested in helping or did not feel like dealing with the consequences of helping. With the war talking place, most felt that this superseding the Holocaust. I think the Holocaust was more covered by the ongoing war. The SS soldiers, I feel knew this and took advantage of implementing the horrific acts of death. Mr. Wallenberg would just get right in the heart of raids. As I mentioned saving the Jews at the train, another scene that really showed his courage to me was when they raided one of his safe homes. There were so many SS Soldiers outside; and he remained inside waiting for them to enter just as the Jews were. When the raid was happening, he again owned up to running the operation there. Once, outside he demanded to know who order the raid. The SS Soldiers clearly told him he had over stayed his welcome in Budapest and it was his time to move on. This did not affect him one bit, he went as far to ask another SS Solider if there were orders to kill him. The solider told him yes it had been decided. The facial expression of Mr. Wallenberg show no fear at all, but to me the look of having so much to do and little time to do it. Schindler’s list I thought was going to be another horrible account of individuals trying to gain wealth on the Holocaust. Here is the business man, wanting to open factory and use the Jews as his labors, because it was cheaper. Then he is caught off guard when his witness the deaths in the camps taking place. As many of us have mentioned before, the SS soldiers were humans and most just thought of this as a job. Then there were individuals, like Schindler whom the massive deaths taking place hit them hard. I thought yet again this was very brave and good heart from him to build and separate camp to protect as many of his workers as he can. He also befriends another Nazi solider, and this is where he gets tipped off about the executions. Schindler’s main then becomes to save as many as he can quickly. The man was trying to just run a business and do it as cheap as possible to make money, his intention was not to cause harm to his workers. Both of these movies are very touching that these men took it upon themselves to save people they did not even know. While so many others just ignored what was taking place.
Wallenberg was sent on a diplomatic mission, but he wasn't a diplomat. That is what made him so effective. No diplomat would have handed out Swedish passports to thousands of people, or declared houses in Budapest a part of neutral Sweden.
ReplyDeleteYou need to analyze Schindler's behavior much more thoroughly.
I like how you said that his face showed no fear when he was told that there had been orders to kill him. I went back to that scene just to watch his facial expression, because I hadn't seen before how incredibly brave he looked. It's true. He knew what he was doing, he knew the illegality of it and he knew the consequences. He had decided a while back, when he had started his work in Hungary, that he would take the consequences, head on.
ReplyDeleteI think you make a very important point about characterizing the SS soldiers and anti-Jewish defenders and supporters as having the notion that they are "only humans," and that they thought all that they were doing was their job alone. What they were doing and helping to advocate was not a moral issue because there was no reason to think about their actions in that regard. It was just "business" so to speak. I think this really ties into the concept of business that gets brought up in Good Evening Mister Wallenberg, and especially in comparison to the documentary of Schindler's List. Schindler is the perfect example of a businessman's idea of business done right and wrong. He used his skills and business mindset to do right by the Jews, but later after the war continued to do bad business by operating in arguably unethical manners and ultimately failed him, specifically, in 2 of his jobs. Yet, the difference between him and the SS soldiers, other than the obvious answers, is that he refused to recognize that mass execution and oppression of the Jewish people was okay. This is why I think Wallenberg really takes the reigns. He combines good business ethic with fighting for the Jewish community. He remained professional and acted morally all at once.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your summary that both men were just every day heroes, who decided to take it upon themselves to save the lives of those they didn't know. What was impressive to me was the actions of Mr. Schindler, for certain. He started off as any businessperson would, by attempting to keep costs down. The cheaper Jewish workers could have easily become pawns for his business, pumping out war profits. He could have flipped on them at the moment the SS chose to liquidate, but the murder affected him. The people became more than just employees to him and he made concerted efforts to save them. This type of change in a businessperson is the most impressive to me. It shows that business can sometimes be about more than just the bottom line. For Mr. Schindler, the bottom line was about humanity.
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