Europa Europa
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: André Wilms, Julie Delpy, Marco Hofschneider, Piotr Kozlowski, René HofschneiderBrand: HOFSCHNEIDER,MARCO
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); German (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; French (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
Format: Color, Dubbed, DVD, Letterboxed, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.66:1
Running Time: 112 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2003-03-04
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
Movie Reviews of Europa Europa
Movie Review: Europa Europa
Summary: 5 Stars
Most Holocaust films focus on the horrors of the death camps or devolve into cliché-ridden war films. Polish director, Agnieszka Holland`s `Europa, Europa` is one of the few that dares to present a different side. `Europa, Europa`s` originality lies in its devastating ability to show what it meant to survive as a Jewish person inside the Third Reich.
Solomon Perel`s story is as incredulous as it is moving. Youngest son of a German-Jewish family, he escapes the vandalism and murder of Kristalnacht (his sister does not) and migrates with his family to Lodz, Poland where they naively believe they will be safe from harm. Then, September 1939 arrives and Poland exists no more, eviscerated by two tyrants. Solomon`s father sends him and his brother as far east as possible. Reaching Soviet Poland, Solly becomes a Komosol member and embraces Bolshevism as the best way to survive. Yet, safety is not to be as Hitler soon invades Stalin`s Empire. Joining the refugee flotsam streaming eastward, Solly is soon apprehended by the advancing Germans. Since Nazi policy was to immediately exterminate all Jewish prisoners, Solly uses his perfect German to escape detection. Pretending to be a Volksdeutsch (German living outside the Reich), Solly once again embraces his new found masters in order to survive. He joins a Wehrmacht unit and despite attempting to escape is sent to a Hitler Youth school in Germany as a reward for his courage. Here, Solly endures his most tortuous of days as any lapse in vigilance could instantly betray his Jewish origins. Finally, Allied bombs and the Soviet advance free Solly from his hellish prison.
Such is Solomon Perel`s incredible story and Holland`s amazing film manages to capture Solly`s head spinning peregrinations without ever lapsing into monotony. Each step of Solomon`s miraculous life is documented with color and drama. A sense of impending doom accompanies Solly`s every move. Will he be found out and when? Holland`s film masterfully captures the maddening paranoia that must have gripped every European Jew in hiding. The cost of living a lie in order to survive is shown in excruciating detail. Solly knows his Achilles` heel is his circumcision and goes to absurd lengths to hide it. He avoids intimacy with his girlfriend at the Nazi school and even tries to stretch back his foreskin in a near-tragic experiment.
When a German soldier befriends Solly and discovers his `difference,`he refuses to turn him. The film shows that while National Socialism infected German society as a whole, not everybody was corrupted by its poison. The German soldier feels a kinship with Solomon. A homosexual, the soldier himself has had to hide his true self in order to escape the concentration camps. `Europa, Europa` captures the essence of what it means to betray one`s self in order to survive.
Moreover, Holland`s film shows just how monolithically racist a society the Nazis succeeded in creating. Neighbors attack Solomon`s family on Kristalnacht, and yet, a neighbor girl is the only one who helps Solly after the attack. Holland juxtaposes the individual humanity of a few with the collective madness of the rest. It is this collective madness that the film so tellingly portrays. While at his Nazi school, Solly must learn the fundamentals of `racial science.` As the fanatic teacher takes calipers to Solly`s head, the young students gawk in fear and awe. Scenes such as these show just how profoundly German children were brainwashed by Nazi ideology.
Marco Hofschneider`s portrayal of Solomon is full of pathos and sensitivity. His performance highlights the psychological costs of Solomon`s double life. In her portrayal as Solly`s girlfriend at the Hitler Youth school, Julie Delpy shows presence and believability as an arrogant youth thoroughly poisoned by the lies of Nazi ideology. In fact, all the roles in this remarkable film are played with a rare accuracy and attention to detail. `Europa, Europa` is a powerful film that will help the viewer better understand what life was like for those caught in the insanity of Hitler`s Third Reich.
Summary of Europa Europa
A young Jewish boy survives World War II and the Holocaust by passing for Aryan.Genre: Foreign Film - German
Rating: R
Release Date: 7-SEP-2004
Media Type: DVD
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