Europa Europa (1991)

Don't Believe the Hype

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Covers the Biography of Solomon Perel very well! And it does a perfect job of exposing the dangers of socialism and political correctness that was present in both Germany and Russia during WWII! This is a absolutely amazing story of how a Jewish kid was able to survive and fool the Nazis, But then again, I am sure it was not very hard to fool most Nazis. If they listened to and trusted a maniac like Hitler, Then they were apparently not very bright to begin with. This is what scares me so badly today! The same basic politics and the same social engineering and same evil is happening in America today, and most of Europe! Except this time it is wearing a mask. And once again people are falling for it hook line and sinker. I just can't understand how people can be so gullible.

This French/German is one that I found in the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, I remembered the title but not the concept, but I was definitely up for it when I read more detail, from director Agnieszka Holland (The Secret Garden). Based on a true story, young Jewish boy Salomon 'Solly' 'Salek' Perel (Marco Hofschneider) and his family, Father (Klaus Abramowsky), Mother (Michèle Gleizer) and brothers Isaak (René Hofschneider) and David (Piotr Kozlowski), move to Lodz, Poland following the death of his sister Bertha (Marta Sandrowicz) who was killed in coordinated attack by the Nazis called Kristallnacht, which occurred on the day of his Bar Mitzvah. After Poland is attacked by the Germans, Solly and Isaak are sent away by their father to safety, they are separated, Solly is rescued by Soviet soldiers, sent to an orphanage in Grondo, and he becomes part of the Soviet Communist Union of Youth, and then the Germans attack the orphanage forcing him and the other orphans to flee. He is captured by the Germans, but because of his fluent German language he convinces them he is a German himself named Josef 'Jupp' Peters, being put with the German army he does everything he can not to be detected, only gay German soldier Robert Kellerman (André Wilms) sees his circumcised penis, but he promises not to reveal his secret. In a battle against the Soviets, where Robert and two others were killed, Solly tries to surrender himself, but they surrender and he is praised as a hero by the Germans, who decide to send him to Hitler Youth School, he and Hitler coincidentally share the same birthday, he shares a room with Gerd (Ashley Wanninger) who becomes his best friend. He also meets and falls in love with German girl Leni (Before Sunrise's Julie Delpy), but they cannot have sex as it would expose his true identity, there is a class to test a true German as opposed to a Jew, his measurements match what they would require as he is assumed to be Aryan, there is also medical exam which requires him being naked, so he fakes a toothache to get out of it. Leni and Solly have an argument about Jewish people, he slaps her and she leaves him, after some months he visits Leni's Mother (Halina Labonarska), she tells him that Leni is pregnant with Gerd's baby, he breaks down in devastation and reveals that he is a Jew, the mother promises to keep his secret. His identity comes into question at school when he is called to the police station and asked for his papers and Certificate of Purity, he says they are in Grondo and he feels he is doomed when they say they will as for them to brought, but then a bomb hits, also killing Gerd, the Hitler Youth students are told to fight for and to defend Berlin. In the battle Solly surrenders himself to the Soviet army and tells that he is Jewish, they do not believe him and say if it was true he would be dead or in a concentration camp, but then Isaak, who was rescued from a concentration camp, recognises and identifies him, therefore they are both let go to Palestine, which later becomes Israel. Also starring Solomon Perel as Himself aka Old Solomon Perel, Nathalie Schmidt as Basia - Cinema cashier and Delphine Forest as Inna Moyseyevna. The performance of Hofschneider is absolutely crucial to this film, he is absolutely fantastic as the young forced to hide amongst the Nazis to save his own life, you have to keep in mind that this was a real story, it really is convincing with it's moments of tension, and of course the chilling war sequences full of explosions and gunfire, a most worthwhile Second World War biographical drama. Good!

Agnieszka Holland can make far better movies - her later one, In Darkness, is a great example of very fine and precise filmmaking, but here she did several mistakes which belittled and virtually midget-ed a very exciting story and a very thrilling plot. To begin with, the color scheme is very poor and makes you feel a bit wondered - er, why. Then, it is obvious that the film was made in the cheap and all those laughable plane models, highly unrealistic bombing scenes and rather sketchy big crowd frames show the mere lack of money, and that all is too obvious and really turns the attention away from following the plot. There are many clichés and very trite moments that we are sock and tired of, such as the very wooden portrayal of Soviet officers or Nazi officials - nay, Agnes, they were far more cunning and sly, not those caricature dimwits as in the film. Some scenes are just hilarious and totally unnecessary and only make you feel a bit fooled - er, what for. Unnecessary much attention to certain aspects also makes a general feeling a bit skewed and not serious. What is also not good, there are very highly improbable moments here and now - like those of Stalin's son, or barn on fire, or Polizei building bombing, or brotherly meeting - they are all very, very unnatural and utterly strange. Much can be said about rather sloppy performance of quite many actors, but not now. This is a very weak film and none close to Holland's better works

And Shoah, limits, courage and fear. A travel without end. A fight and a testimony. Sparkls of love and pieces of a world. And the life as essential gift. It is story of a Jew. And lesson about small things who must be the essence. But the view is more large. Like a book with illustrations - bones of words. The reality of young Salomon is present in any age. The masks and the shadows, the good people and the territories in same color. So, more than a description of a miracle with many faces, the film is praise of sense, in gloomy time, of every day. It is not The Pianist or Schindler List. Only exercise of feelings and searches, of terror and hope, it is way of a silhouette to his real identity.