Schindler’s List: The colors of life
Spielberg uses colors sparingly in Schindler’s List. In fact, throughout the entire film, there are only three scenes with color: the candles during the opening credits, the girl wearing a red coat, and during the end credits. The majority of the movie is in black and white. But what do these colors symbolize? Why didn’t Spielberg just leave the entire movie in black and white?
It doesn’t take much analyzing to know that the colors symbolize life or a lack thereof. The extinguished candle symbolizes how lives ended during the Holocaust. The girl in the red coat was supposed to represent the slaughter of millions of innocent Jewish people. In the end, the survivors are all in color because they are life-preserving.