War has followed mankind for centuries and has influenced many writers, artists, and filmmakers. War comes with both successes and failures that lead to both positive and negative consequences. One of the major penalties is poverty. The reason why poverty is a major price of war is because of the reasons behind it. Religion, discrimination, government disorder, and power are just some of the reasons why no one can escape the conflicts of war. Two kinds of poverty exist: self-inflicted, and not self-inflicted. War usually forces poverty onto people by taking away their land, family, possessions and rights. The poverty that results in the war can be seen in many movies such as Schindler's List and Hotel Rwanda. Both movies are based on true stories and their stories are similar. They can show the realities of poverty.
Schindler's List and Hotel Rwanda are anti-war films that show the despair and struggles wars force people live through. Rotten Tomatoes says Schindler's List is “one of the greatest and beautiful movies ever created.” Schindler's List is a black and white movie with only one color which is red. The color red signifies the deaths and struggle of the Jewish people in the Holocaust during World War II. The movie depicts a self-made business man who got rich on the war by selling pots and pans to the Nazis. During this time, the Nazis focused their attention on removing the Jews from the world. Many once prosperous and wealthy Jews were stripped down to mere rags, bartering for bread and butter, and begging for pitiful jobs
like making pots,
Figure 1 Jewish people digging holes
digging holes and being maids when they were once doctors, lawyers and bankers. They were also being killed left and right like insects. The drop from rich to poor is significant in the movie and brings about how war can bring poverty to even the most fortunate people. 
Figure 2 The Nazis are dumping the Jews' belongings
The cruelty of poverty is a strong message in this movie and inspires many people who watch the movie. Even the main character in the movie is moved by the despair and poverty the Jewish people are forced to live through and spends all his money to save the people. New York Times announced that this movie will “have its place in memory” and “cleverly displays the horrific terrors of the Holocaust.” (Manslin) Even after World War II ended, many Jewish people were not able to retrieve their possessions. In the end of Schindler's List, the main character, Schindler, dies. The people he saved visit his grave and give him gifts. There is no grand prize for saving people from a persecution like the Holocaust only self-gratification.
War is no stranger to any parts of the world. World War II caused many misfortunes for the Jewish people and has caused them to lose their land, families, and possessions. World War II is a perfect example of those who were thrown into the depths of poverty against their own will. Wars cause people to be persecuted away from their homeland. During the Dynasty Era in China, many ardent followers of the previous Dynasty were thrown into jail, slavery, and expelled from the kingdom. The Civil War in America put many southerners to the brink of destruction because of the slaves they lost to run their plantations. The freedom is beneficial to the slaves; however, some slaves became worse because the slave owners gave them shelter which some freed-slaves were not able to own after the Civil War. War veterans suffer a lot during the aftermath of the war. Vietnam War veterans who lost their legs because of a mine are stuck on streets begging for money. Even though there is relief for war veterans in America, there are plenty of countries who do not provide support for them and the veterans are left to wallow in their forced unconditional and uneducated black mist. Many wars inspire racism on people. The winners of the war think that they are better and therefore discriminate against the losers. Also, some cultures consider some people are divinely better than other people because of the color of their skin or what family they are born into. This can lead to wars that come in the form of genocides. Any war in human history causes poverty in some way. Some of the damages in the war have been fixed, but human nature is to repeat itself, so the damages will emerge and even become greater.
Hotel Rwanda which is characterized as Africa’s Schindler's List by the New York Times depicts a genocide in Africa. (Holden) The conflict is between the Hutu and Tutsi people. The Hutu people believe that the Tutsi are inferior and must be erased from the face of the earth. The Hutu people started to pillage and kill all the Tutsi people. Many Tutsi people fled from their homes and take refuge in the Hotel which is ran by a Hutu person but his wife is Tutsi. A civil war breaks out in Rwanda and in three months, millions of people were murdered in their homes. The Hutu forced many Tutsi people into poverty by taking away their possessions and making them flee across the country. With no place to rest or work, only the hotel and the foreign countries strive to protect the Tutsi people.
Figure 3Hotel before the genocide
Figure 4 T
he dead bodies the Hotel manager finds
In the end, the hotel manager is broke, but the people try to help support him by giving him gifts. The hotel manager isn’t even characterized as a hero; he is “ordinary and never playing hero” as an author from Entertainment Weekly describes him. (Schwarzbaum) Compared to his previous life, the gifts are like accepting a dead rat from a cat. The results of the civil war left many Hutus in grave poverty because they lost the war when the United Nations intervened to help the Tutsi. Also, the Tutsi lost everything in war due to fire or some form of destruction. The United Nations tried to help by sending soldiers who were “peacekeepers, not peacemakers.” (Puig) Many people in Africa, like Rwanda, suffer from corrupt governments which force the lesser people into poverty. They are not being lazy or just plain stupid. They are forced to live through these conditions because they are simply born there. This conflict is similar to the Holocaust and makes a good point that war is not a onetime event. War consistently repeats itself. The same tactics, beliefs, and reasons sprout up year after year and some of them cause major wars in the world. War is inevitable and no one can avoid it. So long as warfare exists, poverty will reach to the four corners of the world.
Figure 5 The United Nations rescue the survivors
Schindler's List and Hotel Rwanda are examples of how war forces people to make drastic decisions that take away all their hard work and earnings which puts them into the streets of poverty. In both movies, the main character isn’t glorified or rewarded. Sacrifices impact everyone in the war and drags the most righteous to the ground. There is no happy ending to poverty that results from a war and it can persevere in different form for years to come. No one in either Schindler's List or Hotel Rwanda end up being happy in the end. The people in the movie are relieved that they simply survived. Even though there are movies that focus on some survivors from the beatings of poverty, the reality is that the majority of those whom poverty has enclosed its inescapable jaws around are not able to live a prosperous life. War is a classic entrepreneur in making more of these people in the world and this still occurs today.
Works Cited
Holden, Stephan. “Civilization Fell.” New York Times. 15 April 2009.
Maslin, Janet. “Schindler’s List (1993).” New York Times. 15 April 2009.
Puig, Claudia. “Haunting ‘Hotel Rwanda.’” USA Today. 15 April 2009.
“Rotten Tomatoes.” 15 April 2009 < http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/schindlers_list/>
Schwarzbaum, Lisa. “Hotel Rwanda (2004).” Entertainment Weekly. 15 April 2009. < http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,1014175,00.html>
-Raymond Chian
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