"Europa Europa" is a German/French/Polish co-production from over 25 years ago and here in Germany it is more known under the title "Hitlerjunge Salomon". The movie is based on the book Solomon Perel who tells his autobiographic story of how he survived in 1940's Nazi Germany. The lead actor is Marco Hofschneider and, even if he was very young back then, he never managed to star in a more known film than this one. It was nominated for a BAFTA, won a Golden Globe and was nominated in the Screenplay category at the Academy Awards. This latter fact already shows that they very much loved this movie and I have no doubts that it would have won the Oscar if Germany had decided to submit it. I saw the reason that this film was not German enough to represent the country, but then I wonder why they submitted nothing at all. Of course, it was a time of change 25 years ago in Germany, but still.. Very odd.
The writer and director here is Agnieszka Holland, one of the most influential female directors in the last 30 years when it comes to world cinema. Other films by her managed Oscar nominations as well. I personally believe that this film here is a good watch especially for younger audiences. The violence is not too graphic and the young main character will possibly get this target group especially interested in the film. At times, it almost had a comedic touch looking at the ways how Germans were so proud of him not knowing he was their worst enemy. I am talking about the scene for example when the teacher calls him to stand up and he explains why Solomon is an Aryan despite his not really German looks. The boy was also extremely lucky that (especially in the first half of the film) basically everybody who found out about his real origin got killed for whatever reason. The good thing about all this is that it keeps the material a lot lighter and makes it not as heavy a watch as it could have been. I am not sure if it hurts the film's significance though. The emotional and political gravity is still existent during the majority of the film.
Today Solomon Perel is 90 years old and still alive. I genuinely wonder how close this film (or his book) is to reality and if there are sequences that may not have been 100% accurate. We will never know. But we don't have to. It is really easy to appreciate these almost 2 hours for what they are: a quality movie about World War II. Interestingly enough, the only somewhat famous cast member 25 years later is Julie Delpy who portrays the typical young German woman who is in full admiration of the Fuehrer and ready to give him her child. A strong performance and her talent clearly shows. Of course, it is not on par with Hofschneider due to the mere quantity of scenes his character is in, but she is still very memorable. And very attractive. I recommend "Europa Europa". A must-see for everybody with an interest in films about World War II that do not focus primarily on battle action. Thumbs up. Holland did a pretty convincing job here.
The writer and director here is Agnieszka Holland, one of the most influential female directors in the last 30 years when it comes to world cinema. Other films by her managed Oscar nominations as well. I personally believe that this film here is a good watch especially for younger audiences. The violence is not too graphic and the young main character will possibly get this target group especially interested in the film. At times, it almost had a comedic touch looking at the ways how Germans were so proud of him not knowing he was their worst enemy. I am talking about the scene for example when the teacher calls him to stand up and he explains why Solomon is an Aryan despite his not really German looks. The boy was also extremely lucky that (especially in the first half of the film) basically everybody who found out about his real origin got killed for whatever reason. The good thing about all this is that it keeps the material a lot lighter and makes it not as heavy a watch as it could have been. I am not sure if it hurts the film's significance though. The emotional and political gravity is still existent during the majority of the film.
Today Solomon Perel is 90 years old and still alive. I genuinely wonder how close this film (or his book) is to reality and if there are sequences that may not have been 100% accurate. We will never know. But we don't have to. It is really easy to appreciate these almost 2 hours for what they are: a quality movie about World War II. Interestingly enough, the only somewhat famous cast member 25 years later is Julie Delpy who portrays the typical young German woman who is in full admiration of the Fuehrer and ready to give him her child. A strong performance and her talent clearly shows. Of course, it is not on par with Hofschneider due to the mere quantity of scenes his character is in, but she is still very memorable. And very attractive. I recommend "Europa Europa". A must-see for everybody with an interest in films about World War II that do not focus primarily on battle action. Thumbs up. Holland did a pretty convincing job here.