Europa Europa is not, however, played-down – quite the opposite, as it has many spectacular, impressive scenes, and the plot proceeds vigorously. What counterbalances this energy is the consequently antiheroic way in which Perel is depicted. For instance, here is a scene that could have easily been quite lofty: Perel and the teenage Nazi girl he is in love with quarrel about Nazism on a Jewish cemetery. The boy gets angry and slaps the girl. Instead of a heroic figure, we are left with a reproduction of violence.
Marco Hofschneider is excellent at portraying all the ambiguities of his character. The film gains authenticity thanks to many languages we can hear – Russian, German, Polish and Hebrew.
The film received a Golden Globe for Best Foreign Film and was appreciated in the US. It was hugely controversial that the German judges eventually did not choose the film as a candidate for the Oscars in the Best Foreign Film category. Holland was nominated only for the script.
Perel himself summed up the influence war had on his life using words no screenwriter could have come up with:
Up until this day I feel those two personalities inhabiting me: Solomon Perel, the Jew, and Joseph Perjell, the Aryan. … Even now when I watch some historical film and see the swastika, I have this impulse of standing up to salute.