Europa Europa (1990)

Where can one begin to list this film's seemingly endless number of fantastic departures from reality?? To say that this movie is "based on a true story" is much like saying that "Mary Poppins" was likewise based on an actual nanny, only with minor artistic enhancements to embellish an otherwise ordinary plot. There is NO substantiated and or documentary evidence to support or to corroborate Solomon Perel's wild flight of fancy. Poorly acted, poorly directed, poorly edited. There are more convenient plot twists in this movie than in a James Bond film.

There are many documented and historical examples of true chameleons living surreptitiously and dangerously in Nazi Germany during WWII. Any of these would have made for a much more believable and tolerable cinematic experience. Directional and production laziness won the day with this film school reject!

Fmovies: The print that I saw of this film was stunning. Come to think of it, every aspect of this film was well though out, excellently executed, and just as stunning. And just like any other film that deals with the plight of the Jewish people during WWII, this is not a feel good film that will have you wanting to watch it again and again. Very well made and well acted film.

Hitlerjunge Salomon a.k.a. Europa Europa is probably one of the best films ever made. It delivers hard-to-believe scenes quite often, but knowing it's based on a true story, it just becomes more and more fascinating. It's impossible not to admire the courage and the persistence of Salomon Perel. And a subtle depiction of his real life experiences has given us an adorable movie. I'm personally a fan of Holocaust movies in general, but this one is just special. Fear, anxiety, love, hate, friendship.. Basically, life itself! I really admire Jewish people for enduring this neverending hatred against them; and I admire the Germans who are not afraid to put the magnifying glass on their ancestors' dirty deeds by making such marvellous movies about The Second World War. Nothing much to say about the acting. This is one of the very few movies that the casting is just right, and everyone's the best actor of the movie. Language adaptation could be mentioned as a minor flaw of the movie. There must be enough suitable German, Polish, and Russian actors to play their own countrymen. I wonder why they used foreign actors and thus dubbing instead. In spite of this fact, the movie is simply magnificent, and deserves every kind of praise there is.

10/10

Europa Europa fmovies. This has absolutely got to be one of the best movies dealing not only with World War II, but also with the Holocaust. It tells a most incredible and almost unbelievable story with so many amazing twists of fate for young Solomon Perel. It is one of the few films that I feel puts a very personal face on what it was like during WW II. If you know German you will find the actual German dialogue to be particularly fascinating, especially the scenes in the elite Hitler Jugend school. The line where he says, "I was very confused..." is the understatement of any film ever made. I consider this film a "MUST SEE" if you are a member of the human race. If you are a student of German or of German history, then it is even more than a "MUST SEE"!

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.

I have seen many foreign films but Europa Europa ranks really high.

It is the real-life story of a young Jewish man who escapes persecution from the Nazis by masquerading as one. He soon wins the minds and hearts of the Germans he serves with. Some discover his true ethnicity but still help him since he is so likable. He even wins the hearts of some women who fall hard for the likable Josef Peters( the name he takes to pass as a non-Jew Aryan) He becomes so well liked that even his commander wants to adopt him .He goes on to excel in a school for the Hitler Youth and again becomes popular among both his fellow students and teachers. He goes to great lengths to pass as a non-Jew , and many of his methods to achieve that end truly are unorthodox.

The beautiful Julie Delpy plays a young German girl who's taken by this young man. She however is a fanatical Nazi and the relationship takes on a life of it's own.

This film is a must see for those of us who are unrepentant movie buffs.