Why is such a powerful ethical metaphor? Because it rejects the notion that ordinary people are powerless.

The film focuses on the lives of the approximately 1,200 Jews who worked in Schindler's factory, known as the Schindlerjuden. These Jews were spared from the horrors of the concentration camps and were eventually transferred to a new factory in Czechoslovakia, where they were able to survive the war.

Released in 1993, the film is a masterclass in visual narrative. Spielberg famously refused to take a salary for the film, calling it "blood money," and shot the movie in 72 days on location in Krakow.