Again: Polemic on 'Schindler's List'

I'd like to comment on Ms. Rahayu Ratnaningsih's opinion (The Jakarta Post, June 4, 1994) regarding the Schindler's List controversy.

I think she is narrow minded in her views of the film and I doubt she has actually seen it for herself. She and many other people think that the film is nothing but violence, with pornographic scenes, and even worse, Zionist propaganda.

Because the director (Steven Spielberg) is a Jew or because he may hire Jewish actors, the film is automatically labeled Zionist propaganda? He is a Jew, but so what? He's not a terrorist, but a talented director who won seven Academy Awards for the movie.

The film contains images of how the Polish Jews suffered, cried, and fought for their right to live! They were just victims of an evil massacre!

Maybe to our "moral judgment" the film is considered and categorized as pornographic and sadistic, but again, only when viewed in pieces. Without those real facts, which fall into the "pornographic" and "sadistic" category, we cannot really feel the horrible experience the Jews faced! It's pathetic that some Indonesians have just closed their eyes and decided that those facts are Zionist propaganda.

As a work of art, the film is truly too valuable to be abolished, since it is impossible to erase history.

The Film Censorship Board said they did not base their decision on whether or not the film propagates Zionism, but banned it purely because of the nudity and sadistic actions. But what about movies such as Ranjang Ternoda (The Stained Bed), Setetes Noda Yang Nikmat (A Drop of Exciting Stain), Perempuan di Simpang Jalan (A Woman in the Crossroads), Master Blade and Braindead?

They are not only cheap and have no valuable messages to send to viewers, but are also full of pornographic, sadistic scenes, exploit women and deliberately give a message of sex while the stories are just background.

Isn't it ironic and hypocritical enough to give consent to those clearly cheap, meaningless, sickening pornographic and sadistic movies?

Think with an open mind, Ms. Ratnaningsih. Schindler's List does have a noble message to teach us about humanity. As the film describes, even though the German Nazis thought they were gods, still there was one German profiteer who had the heart to save 1,100 Polish Jews from the Nazi death camps during World War II.

The film teaches us how to love human beings, whatever race they are, so that we do not think of ourselves as superior or regard other races as less than us!! That is the message.

Even Rosihan Anwar, a senor journalist and noted film critic who saw the film himself at its first screening, said that although there are a number of repulsive acts which need cutting, the film is actually "a good one to see," especially for Indonesia's younger generation to learn lessons about the Nazi's, Jews and the holocaust, and "a very good one" from an artistic point of view.

SITA KAYANTO

Jakarta