Europa Europa

A film set during the Second World War and based on a real life. Solomon is the son of a German Jewish family. The family flees first to Poland, then scatters again when the war begins. The boy goes east and is taken into an orphanage on the Soviet side. There he is given a communist youth education. When the Germans advance the orphanage is emptied and Solomon is captured. Because he speaks German they take him for a German. He presents himself as a Volksdeutsche and is taken into the unit; he works as an interpreter and quickly becomes a favourite. Then he is sent to Berlin, to a Hitler Youth school. The tension gathers around one detail: circumcision. The showers, the gymnastics, the medical examination and the dormitory scenes all carry the same threat. At the same time a girl at the school falls in love with him, and that becomes a danger too. What the narrative says is how fragile identity is: to stay alive the boy keeps changing sides and belongs to none of them. The source is Solomon Perel's memoir; he appears at the end of the film. Marco Hofschneider plays Solomon. Agnieszka Holland directed. The film won the Golden Globe for best foreign film and was nominated for an Academy Award for its screenplay. A strong production for anyone who likes wartime narratives and films about identity. Before you watch, know this: the film approaches its subject with irony at times, and that register was argued over.