Claude Lanzmann's Shoah and Steven Spielberg's Schindler's List are known as two of the most important films of the 20th century portraying the historical tragedy of the Holocaust. Although made eight years apart, both directors used techniques to present specific aspects of these historical events, most notably "slowing down" a scene with silence to create an emotional effect. By using this technique these two films served a significant purpose in preserving the memory of the Holocaust. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Claude Lanzmann's Shoah could be considered one of the best documentaries created in history. His extraordinary documentary tells the story of the Holocaust without the use of voice-overs, narration and historical footage. Lanzmann presented interviews with survivors, bystanders and authors, all living testimonies. He does the opposite of Spielberg, abandoning the historical film and instead using personal interviews from the Nazi death camps in Poland during World War II to show the tragedy of the Holocaust. Lanzmann made his film to connect the present with the past, which he says is more powerful than a typical historical documentary. During the first twelve minutes of Shoah, we are immediately introduced to Simon Srebnik, a Holocaust survivor singing on a boat. He is singing a song he last sang 35 years ago, when he was 13. While Simon sings, the bystanders are aware that something is happening, this technique is similar to what Spielberg did in Schindler's List. They used a sound that is not related to the scene we are watching, but we can draw conclusions and connect the two. Furthermore, Lanzmann's aim was to show how memories of two different individual memories can have the same meaning. In the opening scene, we see the camera slow down as the boat slowly moves down the river. Lanzmann's creativity through the use of both time and silence leads to the manipulation of time as the song speeds up. We see him watching, and as the song fades the emotional power of silence takes over as he is simply looking at what used to be a concentration camp, the camera then slowly moves to depict the camp in its entirety in silence. The film's motion sequences slow down to cause an emotional effect on the audience causing us to wonder and think what the purpose of this memory is and connect it to others. Then he says “it's hard to recognize him but he was here”…”they burned people here”…”nobody ever left here again”. To achieve this emotion, Lanzman had to use all aspects of the film, especially hidden cameras to slowly expose the field in its entirety to depict this testimony. Steven Spielberg's Schindler's List, also known as the "seminal first encounter with the Holocaust" is considered one of them. of the most acclaimed films of his career. This film acts like a time machine, taking us back to the past using one of Hollywood's oldest and most famous storytelling techniques. The purpose of this film was to put viewers in the shoes of those who witnessed the horrors of the Holocaust and to provide awareness of the Holocaust to ensure it is never forgotten. However, not everyone appreciated it. Claude Lanzmann despised the film, as he does not believe the past should be recalled. He doesn't want actors and actresses reading a script to tell a story they haven't personally witnessed, because the testimony.