Course
Description
Reading
List
Course
Syllabus
Discussion List
Writing Assignments
Images
Europa, Europa
Directed by Agnieszka Holland, 1990
Below you will find a number of questions and information about Europa, Europa . Please consider these as an outline for Wednesday's discussion.
Links:
Agnieszka Holland homepage: http://www.perfectnet.com/holland/
Discussion Questions:
1. The film seems to defy categorization into one particular genre. In her article regarding deconstructive humor in a Holocaust film, Susan Linville regards "Europa, Europa" as a "hybridization of genres and narratives" (Linville, 45). How does the film’s multifarious nature serve to tell the story of Solomon Perel? ...of Central and Eastern Europe? Considering that the film was released in 1990 could it also be seen as a contemporary commentary on the identity issues?
2.Consider carefully the film’s title and comment on its possible significance. What does "Europe" and "European" mean in the construction of an identity? Is the film’s German title "Hitlerjunge Salomon" a clearer comment on the paradox Solly finds himself in?
3. Blame, guilt and judgement are all themes that have been dealt with in the readings and films. What are we to make of these themes in the case of Solomon Perel?
4.What effect does the film’s ending have on the viewer? Are we able to draw any arcs between this final scene and the rest of the film?
 |
AGNIESZKA HOLLAND was born in Warsaw, Poland in 1948. Unable to attend film school in Poland due to her Jewish heritage, Holland attended the Prague Film Academy (FAMU), studying at the height of the Czechoslovak New Wave and witnessing the Prague Spring of 1968. Following graduation in 1971, Holland returned to Poland where she worked with Krzysztof Zanussi before becoming part of Andrzej Wajda’s production company, Unit X, and made her first feature films during this time of reform in Poland. Abroad during the December 1981 military coup in Poland, Holland was unable to return to her homeland, living and working in France. Her films Angry Harvest (1985) and Europa, Europa (1990) both received Academy Award nominations for Best Foreign Film. In addition to directing, Holland is a superb screenwriter, writing for many of her own features as well as with Wajda on his 1982 film, Danton, and writing the screenplay for Krysztof Kieslowski's Blue (1993) from his Trois Coleurs series. Holland now divides her time between Europe and the United States, with two films currently in production, Golden Dreams in the US and Julia Walking Home, a co-production between Canada, Germany, and Poland. |