World War II changed the fate of many countries, but most prominently that of the European continent and the United States of America. Though late to the battlefield, America was one of the victors that occupied Germany after the war, and it’s this tension and setting that is at the center of Lars von Trier’s lone war drama Europa. Alternatively known as Zentropa in some territories, the film is inspired by Hollywood noir, from the black and white film to the femme fatale, but the film takes more experimental routes, starting off with lulling the viewers in a hypnotic trance, and later playing on with rear-projection and multiple layers for surreal effect. It takes noirish cynicism on a ride, exaggerating history but nonetheless reflects the way this memory is formed in the cinema of its respective countries. Europa is a fascinating breakdown of an idealist that hasn’t gone through the same terrors, one that still lingers in today’s consciousness.
Just after World War II, an American takes a railway job in Germany, but finds his position politically sensitive with various people trying to use him.
U.S.-occupied Germany, 1945. German-American Leopold Kessler takes a railway job, however, after falling in love with Katharina Hartmann, Kessler gets caught up in a nefarious Nazi plot to destroy the train he works at.
Max von Sydow’s narration. How strange it is to start your film with hypnosis.
There is a reason Spielberg was inspired by this in making the Schindler’s List, the reason being this film is so dang cool.
Cannes
3 wins, 1 nomination
European Film Awards
2 nominations
