Moustroll Good movie but grossly overrated

Listonixio Fresh and Exciting

FuzzyTagz If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

Francene Odetta It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

gavin6942 A boy (Marco Hofschneider) in Nazi Germany, trying to conceal that he is Jewish, joins the Hitler Youth.The film won the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film and was nominated for the Academy Award: Best Writing Adapted Screenplay, but lost the award to "The Silence of the Lambs". It had been expected to be nominated for Best Foreign Language Film but Germany did not submit it.One can understand why Germany was a bit embarrassed. Even today (2015), it is impossible to live down their Nazi past. No one thinks badly of Germany now, and almost everyone alive at the time is today gone. But it's something that will haunt them for a while yet. Films like this probably do not help, even if they tell a powerful story.

Bene Cumb This international co-production (Germany, France, Poland) unfolds a real story of Solomon Perel, a German Jewish boy whose most teen and youth years remained under the oppression of both Nazis and Soviets, mostly during World War II (1938-1944). Being a Jew was "non-welcome" in both dictatorships, under Nazi rule, however, it was oppressed and punished directly, thus Solomon had to become Jozef and became an elite "Aryan" German to almost all around him. Thanks to enormous luck, knowledge of languages and desire for survival, he managed to stay alive in different places and rules (by the way, he is still alive, although was born in 1925!).All this is aptly depicted, and despite the tragic background, there are several absurd, hearty and even comic moments in his unwanted journey between Berlin, Lodz and Grodno, reflecting the fast changes of that period (no wonder that the film won the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film and was nominated for the Academy Award: Best Writing Adapted Screenplay). The cast is even and plausible as well, particularly Marco Hofschneider as Solomon/Jozef who is always visible. Perel appears briefly as himself in the finale.A good and versatile film (there are not too many dealing with events both in the Soviet and Nazi regimes), but the non-original title referring to Europe is confusing, providing a distorted and/or uninviting picture about the real nature of the film.

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.

david-sarkies This is an unbelievable movie. The question that one asks is, "is it true?" What happens in this movie and what Solomon experiences is very unbelievable, but stranger things have happened. At the close to the movie, some old guy appears and is talking in Jewish, and this is not translated - this could be who the movie is about. As Solomon is walking away at the end of the movie, he says, "let us not talk about what happened as nobody is likely to believe me." Europa, Europa is a movie about a young Jewish boy caught up in the events in World War II. After his sister is killed by marauding Nazi's, he and his family flee to Poland, but this place of safety is short lived as Hitler and Stalin invade. Solomon flees to the USSR, as he knows that he will be treated much better than in Nazi Germany. Here he is raised a good communist in an orphanage, but soon Hitler invades and he is caught up in the Nazi invasion. His ability to speak both Russian and German, and the fact that he hides his Jewish heritage, enables him to survive and become of use to the Germans. Then he inadvertently captures a Russian position and is sent back to Berlin a hero, where he joins the Hitler Youth - all the while denying his Jewish heritage.This is a movie about denial of self, and the struggle to survive in a world where your people are being persecuted. Constantly through out the movie the description of the war being called a holy war against the Jews is raised. Solomon is constantly forced to deny his heritage, though by fleeing into Russia he knows that he has a better chance of survival. Still, he easily turns away from God to embrace communism so that he might survive. By doing this, he is chastised by the Catholics, but embraced by the communist leaders. He even eats pork so that nobody will suspect who he is, but his penis is the one thing that will give him away, and must keep that hidden.This proves difficult when the woman whom all of the Hitler Youth desire, chooses him to be her companion. He so much wants to be with her, but knows that he cannot go past a certain point for he knows that he will reveal the truth about himself to her. She does care, especially how she readily speaks of wanting to cut a Jew's throat. It is the one thing that he cannot change, though he tries everything to do it. In the end he must hide it from everybody.The movie also looks at the theme of loneliness. Solomon is alone among enemies and no matter how he tries to escape, he cannot. This is not growth through suffering, this is simply trying to survive knowing that he cannot truly befriend anybody because they kill his people and will kill him if they know the truth. Those who do know the truth end up dying - all except for his girlfriend's mother, who comforts him in his suffering. She states that the older are more accepting while the young are easily swayed by the beliefs pushed into their minds.Another idea is the stupidity of the Aryan philosophy. The irony is clearly seen when Solomon is measured up by a Nazi scientist and describes him as an Aryan, just after describing the hideousness of the Jews. This is a minor point as the major idea is how a Jew is able to live among Nazi's and they don't even realise the truth.