Reviewing Movies

Lies, deception, concealment; a story of what a boy will do to survive. It is a sad truth that North American audiences do not respond well to movies with sub-titles. If Marco Hofschneider had been fluent in English he had the matinee-idol good looks to have been a superstar. As it is his body of oeuvres is rather small. In addition to this movie Foreign Student received limited play and in The Island of Dr Moreau the ape costume hides him completely. As Ulrich in the movie Luther a mature Hofschneider has lost his boyish charisma.

In Europa Europa a coddled Jewish boy just past his bar mitzvah is suddenly jolted into manhood by Kristallnacht. What follows is one of those stories that is so remarkable that if it hadn't actually happened one would accuse the teller of embellishing the truth. Solly escapes from his homeland and separated from his brother is captured by first the Russians and then the Germans. In both cases his engaging good looks endear him to the troops and he gets adopted by the Germans and sent to an elite school for Hitler Youth. There he blends into an Arian Society while struggling to conceal amid the casual commaraderie of boys the fact of his own circumcised foreskin.

The movie ends with the German downfall and Solly's being rescued from a firing squad by his brother dressed in death camp rags. Together they take a whiz symbolicly exposing their common Jewish heritage. As the credits start to roll we meet the actual Solomon Perel—a wizened senior.