Europa Europa

"Europa Europa" is the sort of film that is filled with so many ridiculous coincidences that it can only be true...which it is! Time and time again, a young Jewish man's life is miraculously saved during the Holocaust and this film is his story.

This film begins in Germany just before WWII breaks out. Salomon Perel and his family are Jews and they leave Germany for safety in Poland. Unfortunately, soon the German army invades and takes Poland...and Salomon and his brother run off to avoid the pograms. Here is where the story starts to get interesting. The brothers get separated and Salomon escapes to the Soviet portion of Poland where he is taken into a communist re-education school. He learns to be the ideal communist. But, the Germans are once again on the move and invade--taking the school and its students. Thinking twice, Salomon concocts a crazy story when he's caught--telling them he's a German orphan and he was forced to go to the school. And, because he doesn't appear Jewish and can understand Russian, the Germans keep him as a sort of mascot in their army. Soon, the soldiers adore him! Later, when he tries to defect back to the Russian lines, through a funny coincidence, it appears he's captured a group of Russian soldiers--and he's an even BIGGER hero to Germany! This is only through about half of the film--the coincidences and difficult to believe situations increase tremendously! Overall, this is an excellent production and a truly unique film. There have been so many Holocaust films that it's nice to see one that is so different. It's interesting from start to finish and I strongly recommend it.

By the way, it's a minor problem but the plane Salomon sees up in the sky late in the film is a VERY modern one--made decades after WWII.

I reckon 'Europa Europa' to be the best Holocaust feature film ever produced. I have been using this film for many years to teach the Holocaust to British 14-year-olds. They identify with the central character of Saloman Perel, a German-Jewish boy who survives the Holocaust by hiding his identity in ever more difficult circumstances. The film moves at a cracking pace and the music adds to the dramatic tension. A lot of difficult history is made accessible in a very entertaining and often comical way - Nazi and Communist indoctrination of the young, Jews and homosexuals as outsiders in the new Reich, the Nazi-Soviet Pact and the events of the Second World War. We have a great sense of the individual being swept along by the most destructive tide that history has yet unleashed.

The comic relief is a stark contrast to 'Schindler's List', a copy of which was donated by Spielberg to every British high school.The film is too long, slow and dark to appeal to the age group in question and I have not used it since coming across 'Europa Europa'.

Julie Delpy plays the female romantic lead as the delectable Leni, attractive but flawed, a perfect tribute to Nazi teaching methods. On the other hand there is a sympathetic portrayal of Germans who were not Nazis and who were just as much victims as the Jews. The film explores the human complexities which result when an ideology is allowed to mediate personal and social interaction. There is a lot going on in this film at many levels, but none of it detracts from the entertainment value.

Marco Hofschneider portrays Perel as a vulnerable but resourceful human being, a boy who desperately wishes to be normal in abnormal times. The adolescent quest for self-identity and self-assertion is not an easy option for a Jew on the run. This 'enforced self-denial' theme is successfully maintained throughout the film by its autobiographical format. The schizophrenic implications of being both German and Jewish during the Nazi period are well illustrated.

This film has held the attention of hundreds of 14 year-olds, without exception. Although not aimed specifically at this age-group, it strikes a particular chord with adolescents who can identify with the main character. It is a major contribution to making the Holocaust both accessible and entertaining. There should be no conflict of interest here. Just as the recent film 'Downfall' successfully 'humanises' Hitler by displaying the personal charm which he exercised over so many people, so 'Europa Europa' humanises the Holocaust by its concentration on the survival of one human being. This is its chief strength. I have never tired of watching this film.

'The Pianist' is also concerned with the survival of the individual but is a more 'static' and slightly less entertaining film. Its pace is much slower. 'Escape from Sobibor' is an excellent portrayal of how several hundred slave labourers escaped from this death camp and gives a vivid and unrelenting account of the camp system. It provides balance to the notion of Jews as passive victims. Not to be missed. The American TV series 'Holocaust' is good but long. It successfully turned the Holocaust into a soap opera lasting many hours. To my knowledge it and the 2002 film 'Amen.'contain the only re-enactments of how Zyklon-B crystals were tipped into the 'shower-room'. 'Holocaust' also shows gas chamber procedures.

When, this summer, I saw "Saving Private Ryan", I was immediately reminded of this film. Using the same kind of camera angles that got Spielberg praise in "Ryan", we see the hollowness of the war-torn psyche and the brutality that emerges in people during warfare. We see hideous indoctrination that the German youth were subjected to, giving them depth beyond a few simple lines. Most of all, however, we see the absurdity inherent in such a large scale, world-shattering conflict. The film communicates its message with a clarity that makes one almost uneasy. As good as "Ryan" was, this is better.

"Europa Europa" (original title "Hitler Youth Soloman") is the story of a Jewish boy who is separated from his family and ends up assuming different identities (including, yes, a Nazi) to stay alive. What makes this film different from all the Holocaust movies I've seen is that it shows the perspective of the other side. This is NOT done in a sympathetic way but in a way that simply shows what was going on amongst the brainwashed youth and how ordinary humans were coerced into doing the most inhuman things.

Our protagonist Soloman (Marco Hofschneider) is played with a wide-eyed innocence, almost like an objective observer, as he navigates the Nazi heirarchy inadvertently making friends wherever he goes. Thus the interesting spin is that the Nazis are shown with more personality than the stone-faced butchers we've come to expect from Holocaust flicks. In fact there is very little Jewish persecution and violence shown since most of the story is set behind the ranks where Soloman is fed the same propaganda and brotherhood that the Hitler youth were fed.

The brutality is clear, and as Soloman rises through the ranks he starts to peel away the truth that, no, Jews are not simply being "relocated to Madagascar". In addition he falls for a girl (Julie Delpy) who is a rabid anti-Semite. So the film ends up posing a very interesting point that's applicable to all our lives, regardless of the WW2 context: What do we do if it turns out that our friends & adoptive family turn out to be vile monsters?

I highly recommend this movie even if you're not interested in war flicks. It's more like a coming of age story but set in the most horrifying chapter of human history.

This story is made even more amazing since it is based on fact. The real Solomon Perel has quite a story to tell. I have also read the book, and the movie is a bit factually inaccurate, but it is still tremendously well-made.

Young Solly is played by a beautiful young actor named Marco Hoffschneider. His good looks and charm are part of what get him to convince the Gestapo that he is not a Jew, but an ethnic German. But Solly has much more getting him through this ordeal. His determination and strength of spirit, plus blinding will to live, and perhaps the youthful exuberance of being able to accomplish it, help him to pull off the charade. The young boy speaks several languages, and is able to use this skill to convince Nazi soldiers that he is not Jewish. The soldiers adopt him as a sort of "mascot." Solly is careful not to show his circumcised penis to anyone, including the German girl he falls in love with. Fate is also on his side, since several times when it seemed he might be found out, the hand of a higher power intervenes.

This is an engrossing film, sad and funny. Perhaps Solomon Perel is ashamed that he lived with the enemy to save his life, but, he is alive today to tell his story. The real Solomon Perel makes a brief appearance at the end.