Europa Europa
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Movie Reviews of Europa Europa
Movie Review: The Casualties of War
Summary: 5 Stars
EUROPA, EUROPA is one of the most tender stories to come out of the films that deal with WW II. Based on the autobiographical book by Solomon Perel and adapted for the screen by Paul Hengge and director Agnieszka Holland it is a tale of how far a child will go to honor his promise to his father to survive. Solomon Perel (Marco Hofschneider) is a young Jewish boy when the war breaks out and as the Jews are being gathered for deportation to the camps, his father makes him promise he will do anything to survive. And survive he does - by adopting the personage of a German Aryan (non-Jew), even to the point of spending days physically trying to reverse his telltale circumcision. He becomes involved with the Hitler's Youth, adopts the life of a Nazi and, despite a few slips with people who discover his identity, he manages to survive the war. He not only survives but also falls in love with a perfect German girl Leni (Judy Delphy), excels in the school for Hitler's Youth, and is so popular that even the commandant wants to adopt him. But in time the war is over and he goes to the concentration camps looking for his family. The measure of despair and joy that happen as he reunites with his brother is one of those memorable moments in time.
Marco Hoschneider is exceptional in this film, but much of the success of the movie goes to the director Agnieszka Holland who manages to find juts the right amount of harsh reality and lighten it with moments of human frailty to make the film wholly credible. Composer Zbigniew Preisner provides the atmospheric and memorable musical score. Grady Harp, 2010
Movie Review: A Boy In Search Of Himself
Summary: 5 Stars
If it were not for the fact that the real Solomon Perel appears towards the end of Europa Europa, I would be tempted to believe this film was fiction. It seems too unlikely that a Jewish boy could survive World War II, first as a good Soviet, then as a good Nazi, without being discovered. But apparently it happened, and this film does an excellent job of depicting the extraordinary story.
Solomon Perel was on the eve of his bar mitzvah when his world was shattered. A pogrom in his German hometown in the late 1930s killed his sister and forced his family to flee to Poland. There they were once more endangered when Germany invaded Poland in September, 1939. Solomon is separated from his family, ends up in a Soviet orphanage where he becomes a good Marxist, then through a series of bizarre twists and turns he becomes a hero of the Third Reich and is sent to an elite Hitler Youth school where he's praised as an excellent example of Aryan superiority.
Now as a Jewish male Solomon has a major problem keeping the physical evidence of his religion hidden from those who are sworn to exterminate him. He manages it through a series of coincidences and evasions that are blackly humorous. Eventually his sense of who he and his family truly are returns, and he begins the long process of re-identifying himself.
The film is beautifully presented and manages to give a fuller sense of the horror of the Holocaust much better than many more graphic depictions.
Movie Review: Mesmerizing story based on true events
Summary: 5 Stars
Europa Europa is set in the year before and during the World War II in Europe. The story is based on the true events of the young boy, Salomon "Solly" Perel (Marco Hofschneider), son of a shopkeeper in Poland who experienced brutality through the eye of the enemy as he had to disguise himself in order to survive as his heritage was Jewish. Initially Solly escapes the German's wearing a Nazi leather coat with the Swastika on the arm, which becomes his first disguise or act in order to survive. This continues throughout the film where Solly must hide his true identity, which deals with his circumcision, culture, and background. The constant acting by Solly leads him to begin to feel unsure about his true identity as he tries to assimilate into Nazi-German culture and reject himself. At one point Solly's feelings towards his Jewish background are close to hatred as he also struggles with the natural dilemmas of a teenager such as identity and love. Europa Europa is a dark coming of age film depicting the terrible destiny of Solly as he grows up as a pro-Nazi in order to survive and have self-discovery while hiding himself from himself. When the audience stretches their legs during the end credits there will be much room for pondering and contemplation as Europa Europa leaves the viewers with an excellent cinematic experience.Movie Review: Five stars from the heart
Summary: 5 Stars
After seeing the film on DVD, deeply moved and enlightened, I turned to the Amazon reviews. Particularly touching for me was that of Amanda Haley who had watched the film with Solomon Perel. The others who gave it five stars have said more than I can in few words, i.e. "it's absolutely wonderful". What distressed me more than any scene of Nazi cruelty in the film were the various commentaries of those who trashed the entire movie.
I'm not Jewish, but again am reminded of the anti-Semitism still thriving in American society...dear to those who deny the existence of their own dark Shadow, according to psychoanalyst Carl Jung, and hence foment the hatred we all claim to decry.
"Europa, Europa" is NOT a documentary. Would we have watched a very important story without the dramatic and emotionally laden moments? I've seen both "Schindler's List" and the documentary on Schindler. Both are very similar and authentic. Why then did the movie touch me more than the latter? The art of cinema is to make those elements of truth resound in our own psyches, and I highly commend Director Holland for shaking us to the core with one of the most important movies ever done on the Holocaust.
Movie Review: The worst event in history
Summary: 5 Stars
When I saw this movie for the first time ever I was in my German History class in college. We only saw a short section of the movie but, being from Germany, I had to borrow this movie from my professor. It was amazing to see this story of survival. What makes it more imprssive is that it is based on a true story of a jewish boy serving in the German Wehrmacht and is porttrayed as the picture perfect Aryan soldier due to his heroics. It was kind of ironic how no one found out that he was jewish except for his gay friend who served at the front with him. The main point of that relationship was that German's come in different shapes and forms. The type of German's they concentrated on were gay's and jew's, two of the most hated lifestyles in Germany at the time. The movie shows you the horrors of war with an artistic twist to it. EX: Hitler dancing with Stalin and Hitler hidding in the closet saying he is a jew, too. I could go on and on but this is a must see if you are into foreign movies. Although I am a native German, I had to put on the subtitels because when everyone started speaking Russion I couldn't understand a word. ENJOY and take the good message from this movie.