Plot Details: This opinion reveals major details about the movie's plot.

The Holocaust has inspired many filmed accounts, from "Schindler's List", to "The Pianist", to "The Long Way Home". But few have tackled the unique angle that Agnieska Holland did with "Europa, Europa". EE tells the extraordinary true story of Salomon Perel (Marco Hofschneider), a young German-Jewish teenager who managed to escape death at the hands of the Nazis by becoming one of them.

The film opens with a flashback to Solly's circumcision by a rabbi, a memory which Solly claims he can remember. Solomon Perel came into the world on April 20, 1925. Ironically, Solly just so happens to share the same birthday as Adolf Hitler, the very man who will figure so prominently in Solly's life.

Flash forward to a decade and a half later. Solly is now in his early teens, living happily with his mother (Michele Gleizer), father (Klaus Abramowsky), sister Bertha (Marta Sandrowicz), and brothers Isaak (Rene Hofschneider) and David (Piotr Kozlowski). However, events are fast changing in Nazi Germany. The noose is being progressively tightened around Germany's Jewish population. The Hitler Youth regularly march past the Perels home, hurtling insults and stones at them.

One fateful afternoon while Solly is taking a bath, the Perels become subject to a mass assault on their house by their neighbours, in the incident now widely known as the Crystal Night. Armed thugs throw rocks, smashing their windows. Solly's sister Bertha is killed in the attack, leaving the family in shock.

Solly and his family decide to flee to Poland, where for a short time they are safe. Yet before long, the Germans are invading and Solly and his family must flee once again. Solly and his brother David head eastwards away from the Nazis, only to get separated and find the Soviets invading them from the east. With few options, Solly joins the Soviets and is accepted into an orphanage where he and other children are brainwashed with Communist propaganda.

Solly seems safe here and is more than happy to accept to accept the warped Stalinist ideology. However, in 1941 the Germans invade and Solly is once again separated. Solly finds himself rounded up with other Polish refugees by the Nazis, who are intent on routing out Jews. Solly witnesses Jews being rounded up, carted off, and then machine gunned. Solly however manages to convince the German commander that he is a pure-blood German boy who was kidnapped by the Bolsheviks. He even comes up with a new name for himself, Josef Peters, or "Jupp" as he is affectionately nicknamed.

From here on in, Solly become indoctrinated into the German military. Solly becomes quite popular among the soldiers, including the stern German commander a gay German soldier, who develops a crush on him. After a brief service in the military, Solly is sent to Germany to be brainwashed in the Hitler Youth. There he strikes up a relationship with a girl named, who just so happens to be a loyal Nazi and a rabid anti-Semite.

"Europa, Europa" is a character study of a young man coming of age amidst some of history's most terrible atrocities. To do this, Solly must submerge himself into the very ideologies he so despises. One has to wonder, how far would each of us go if we were to find ourselves in Solly's position. Would we be willing to accept Communist indoctrination if it meant food, clothing, and a roof to sleep under? Would we be willing to join the Hitler Youth if it was the only way to escape death? I imagine for a lot of us, our survival instincts would overrule our consciences.

It's fascinating to watch Solly as he tries to adapt to life in the Hitler Youth. On the one hand he is a Jew struggling to conceal his identity amidst his fellow Nazis, always fearful of discovery. On the other hand, Solly can't help but partially buy into the Nazi belief system and the Nazi lifestyle. Solly even finds himself shedding a tear when he learns the fate of the German army in the Battle of Stalingrad. Let's face it, as sinful as this may be to say, being a Hitler Youth looks like it must have been quite a bit of fun, almost like the boy scouts. You got to enjoy lots of sports, pretty girls, and the unwavering belief that you were part of a master race and the future of Germany. Solly is a very conflicted person. He is a Jew who feels German pride.

Solly also finds himself deeply conflicted about his feelings towards Leni (named after Leni Riefenstahl?), a girl he both loves and despises. Leni is indeed an attractive girl, but she also believes firmly in the Nazi cause. She openly admits to Solly that she would kill a Jew if she saw one, blaming them for the death of her father. Leni even cheats on Solly and gets pregnant. Why? As a proper German maiden, she wants to given an Aryan child to Hitler and she thinks Solly's blood isn't "pure" enough. Needless to say, this does not endear her to Solly who finds he is unable to be intimate with her.

There are also some very suspenseful moments in the film, as when Solly learns that he and other Hitler Youth are expected to strip for medical check-ups. Solly must fake a toothache and have a perfectly healthy tooth extracted to avoid being discovered. There was also one scene in the movie which I almost couldn't bear to watch. This was the scene in which Solly tries to hide his circumcised penis by pulling down his foreskin and tying it with a piece of string. Nice, eh?

One of the most unforgettable moments for me was when Solly, in full Nazi uniform, takes a ride on the trolley going past the Jewish ghetto. There, watching through the window, he witnesses the appalling conditions of the Jews and the cruelties the Nazis inflict upon them. He also sees what looks to be his mother doing slave labour for the Nazis, who take great pleasure in kicking her for all her troubles. Was it her? We don't know, as Solly never sees her again.

Director Holland manages to inject some dark humour into the otherwise grim proceedings. One such moment comes when Solly and his class are given a lecture on racial superiority. Jews, the teacher informs them, can be recognized by their hooked nose, greasy hair, shifty eyes, and by the way they shamble about, always moving their hands. Solly is then called before the class, where his nose is measured. We think he is done for, only to find the teacher holding Solly up as a prime example of an Aryan man. Hilarious.

I also liked the way Holland pokes fun at the Nazi and Communist teachers by reducing them to caricatures. One such Nazi teacher is a woman Solly is being accompanied with to the Hitler Youth school. She becomes sexually infatuated with Solly, imagining him to be Hitler himself.

One of the most fascinating elements of "Europa, Europa" is the way the film explores the nature of totalitaristic ideology and brainwashing. We first see Solly being taught to worship Lenin and Stalin at the hands of the Bolsheviks. We then see him being taught to worship Hitler, believe in racial theory, and serve the fatherland at the hands of the Nazis. I find it ironic that the Nazis and Communists despise each other so fervently, when in fact they are so similar. Both ideologies support brainwashing, rallying around a cult figure, blind patriotism, and tolerate no opposition. I'd be interested to know in real life to what extent Salomon Perel bought into each ideology, and to what extent it was just for survival.

"Europa, Europa" is by no means an easy film to watch, but it's a riveting and unforgettable one. We see up close the hideousness of fascism and the horrors of war, as a result it provides an important history lesson in both respects. Salomon Perel, who has a brief cameo at the end, now lives in Israel. His experiences may be over, but they live forever in this film.

Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: VHS
Video Occasion: Better than Watching TV
Suitability For Children: Not suitable for Children of any age