Europa Europa

Somewhat reminiscent of Lina Wertmuller's Seven Beauties (1976), Europa, Europa follows the adventures of one Solomon Perel (Marco Hofschneider), a young German Jew who survived the Holocaust by aping his captors, initially the Russians, then the Nazis themselves, even to the point of becoming a celebrated member of the Hitler Youth.

Whereas Wertmuller's film was a Grand Guignol-ish comedy-of-errors Agnieszka Holland's work is an over-glossy account (based on Perel's autobiographical retelling) of almost impossible good fortune as our protagonist glides providentially from one life-threatening close call to another that in its seamlessness cannot help but feel superficial, allegorical intentions, alluded to in the plaintive title, notwithstanding. This shortcoming is reinforced by the poor handling of action sequences, for instance the demise of Zenek, who is accidentally run over just as he is about to denounce Perel. In the lead, Hofschneider is a rather bland young man who fails to elicit empathy although Julie Delpy is very effective as his Nazi-loving girlfriend.

In general, the film fails to find a balance between the personal drama of a character-based fiction and its wider historical context.

 

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