With various Holocaust movies being released recently and especially with the current clamor over The Pianist, I felt it time to check out Europa Europa (Hitlerjunge Salomon), a film that received good notices and gathered a few awards in the early 1990's. After all the emotionally flat Holocaust films produced this past year, lowered expectations prepared me for this more intriguing film. Although young German actor Marco Hofschneider at times seems emotionally distant as protagonist Solly, overall the film works by putting us inside his shoes—or more accurately, compelling us to continually consider his circumcised penis.

At the end Solly's brother Isaac (René Hofschneider—Marco's real life older brother) tells him to keep his story a secret because no one would believe it. His special circumstances do seem unfathomable, but fortunately the real life Salomon Perel was inspired to write his story after a 1985 reunion with his former Hitler Youth home leader. This was immediately picked up as a film project, of course. Nothing translates to celluloid as rapidly as an interesting Holocaust survival narrative, especially considering Perel's experiences—escaping Peine after Kristallnacht (the Night of Shattered Glass) to join the Russian Kosmonol and eventually become a member of the Hitler Youth. Despite Solly's dark hair and eyes, his looks and fluent German convince the Nazis that he's not Jewish—he's only got to watch his zipper.

Urinating privately is one matter, but Solly finds hiding his Jewish identity more difficult when his good looks attract love interests—both male and female. One gay German soldier discovers his secret, but fortunately his poetic flair and basic humanity are higher values than obedience, and his love for Solly overcomes any temptation to reveal his Jewishness. Concealing his circumcised member becomes far trickier when a doctor arrives to perform a military style physical exam the and when his anti-Semitic girlfriend wants to become more intimate. One of the better aspects plays upon Solly's continual fears of being discovered, and his early circumcision ceremony figures prominently in his destiny.

The most intense scene takes place after a Hitler Youth instructor gives a patented racist lesson about Aryan superiority and how to recognize a Jew. With most of the class eating up the exercise, the camera closes in on young Solly, revealing his silent uneasiness, and then his anxiety turns to fear when called to the front for a demonstration. While Hofscneider's inexperience (his debut feature film) shows in other staged scenes, he nails this one perfectly with subtle and natural eye contact. Numerous times a virtual miracle is required for Solly to survive, but this small moment gives the entire film credibility.

Without preaching and without overtly referring to historical events, the screenplay unfolds gradually, allowing the horrors to evolve. Other movies have attempted to ask the same questions of just what would you do to survive such a situation, but this uneven film succeeds more than most. Undoubtedly, some will have difficulty relating to a character, whose experiences are far different from others that went through the horrors of the concentration camps. After all, the most serious obstacles young Solly faces result from isolation and fear of being discovered. Surrounded by Jewish hatred, he must feign compliance when instructed to bayonet a dummy wearing the Star of David, yet he discovers he's less tolerant when confronted with anti-Semitism from trusted friends. But in such an environment, who can be trusted?

In real life Salomon Perel was an ambivalent Jew, who felt dual loyalties—to his persecuted people and to his native Germany. He actually was saddened when learning about the German's devastating defeat at Stalingrad, and the film documents his conflict, showing how he could become friends at one level with his Hitler Youth peers yet still retain his ethnic roots. Nazis here naturally hold a repulsive world view, but on a personal basis retain charm and some measures of humanity. Although aspects like Solly's transition from practicing Jew to lecturing young Communists about the non-existence of God, are not fully explored and developed, these are not as essential to the film's theme as the miraculous achievement of his survival. Unlike The Pianist, this earlier film gets under the skin of its protagonist to relate his nightmarish existence in a believable fashion.

No one can predict exactly what he's do in such a situation, but survival instincts kick in for nearly all, making Solly's chameleon-like abilities more akin to Dustin Hofmann's benign intentions in Little Big Man than Matt Damon's versatile skills in The Talented Mr. Ripley. Thankfully, Europa Europa doesn't attempt to do too much, and uses the historical background only as a backdrop to the fears and isolation Solly must undergo without dwelling on the evils of the Holocaust. He's just an ordinary guy who'd like to enjoy life, relax occasionally in the bathtub, and urinate without being afraid of who's going to see him. Despite the surreal circumstances and improbabilities, the film comes across believably, making the small true-life human story worth its two-hour viewing time.