Patrick Nackaert Producing a film about Nazi Germany is easy and difficult at the same time. It is easy because many viewers are well-informed about the dramatic period in Germany's history, making the viewers' emotional involvement not too difficult. You don't name your son Adolf.It is difficult because clichés are so easy to produce. The classical black-white versions of evil Germans versus glorious Allied forces is an obvious trap.None of this in this film. It follows loosely a true story of a Jewish youngster hiding as a member of the Hitlerjugend - the Nazi youth movement. On top of his puberty, he has to face an identity crisis due to his choices to survive. Other interesting parts of the story are a homosexual German soldier, a girl overly committed to her country and a Polish boy fighting for his catholic religion in communist Poland.The way a part of difficult history books is mixed into the movie deserves to be mentioned, as well as the music. Sometimes though, overacting takes the upper hand.But the fact remains that showing the true horror of the atrocities committed during that period is not fit for film, even in this German co-production, as only very few would be able to watch it.However, it's still a very interesting film to watch.

intelearts Europa Europa is the remarkable true story of Salomon Perel, a young teenage Polish Jew, who passed himself off as, not merely German, but also, as a member of the highest order of the Hitler Youth, while all the time sticking to his Judaic roots, in order to survive the war. The storytelling aspects of the film gives this it drive and purpose and are excellent - based on Perel's extraordinary autobiography it avoids extrapolation and sticks to his tale.It scores very high in two vital aspects - one, the script is superb, (It was Oscar nominated) and two it was shot in German which given it subject matter was no small achievement.The film is well directed, though because of it's use of studio lighting and bright colors it has not aged as well as some of the Holocaust corpus.There are perhaps better films and books that express the absolute evil of the death camps, Weisel and Levi being two prime examples in authorship, but this is a unique perspective as it is not centered on the Shoah but rather on the unique conundrum of daring to survive by living in the heart of the Nazis' twisted dream, and one definitely worth your time - it is a truly fascinating true story with some strong adventure and drama elements.

odin1-277-657893 Europa Europa is an exciting story about a young German Jew (Solly), and his efforts to survive the Nazi Regime and the second World War. Solly's family escapes Nazi Germany and resettles in Poland. However Germany invades Poland, and Solly is separated from his family and ends up living in a soviet orphanage. Along this journey Solly learns Polish and Russian on top of his German, and his ability to speak multiple languages helps him throughout the movie. After the Germans invade the Soviet Union Solly is captured by the Germans. He convinces the Germans that he is a ethnic German, and due to his language abilities is assigned to a German Army unit as a translator. He eventually ends up in the Hitler Youth where he struggles to hide his Jewish origins from his commanders, peers, and a German Girl he falls in love with. It's and incredible true story that shows how great the will to survive can be, and is a good example of will power. One negative of the film is that is portrays the soviets and good guys, despite the fact that they were also guilty of war crimes and atrocities.

Michael Neumann The incredible story of Solomon Perel, an Eastern European Jewish teen who escaped the Holocaust by posing as a Nazi, might be difficult to swallow if it wasn't entirely true. Separated from his family and captured by German troops, Solomon escaped execution by claiming to be a 'pure bred' German orphan, apparently with enough conviction to be welcomed warmly into the ranks of his captors. The film explains the success of his desperate charade by presenting him as a passive victim of chance and circumstance. In constant jeopardy of being discovered, he is inevitably saved by one miracle of fate after another: in the Wermacht, in a Hitler Youth School, and finally as a prisoner of the Russians, awaiting the firing squad. The fact that the Germans embraced him as a model Aryan only reinforces the total blindness of their 'Master Race' conceit. With a rich sense of irony and Old World ambiguity (helping to explain the double title) veteran writer director Agnieszka Holland shows the German people to be simultaneously capable of uncomplicated affection and irrational hatred.