Europa

1991 [GERMAN]

Action / Crime / Drama / Thriller

27
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Certified Fresh 81% · 16 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 88% · 5K ratings
IMDb Rating 7.5/10 10 24064 24.1K

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Plot summary

A young, idealist American gets a job as a train conductor for the Zentropa railway network in postwar, US-occupied Frankfurt. As various people try to take advantage of him, he soon finds his position politically sensitive, and gets caught up in a whirlpool of conspiracies and Nazi sympathisers.

Director

Top cast

Udo Kier as Lawrence Hartmann
Max von Sydow as Narrator
Barbara Sukowa as Katharina Hartmann
720p.BLU 1080p.BLU 720p.WEB 1080p.WEB
1.01 GB
1280*534
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 52 min
Seeds 6
1.87 GB
1920*800
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 52 min
Seeds 16
1.01 GB
1280*538
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 52 min
Seeds 1
1.87 GB
1904*800
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 52 min
Seeds 15

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by diand_ 7 / 10

Manipulation

Von Trier once explained how he created such strong involvement from the viewer with his movies by placing his movie world in about the middle of the real world and the imagined world. So as viewers we think we watch a "true" story while in fact we are thoroughly manipulated, often to the point that the movie works disturbing (Dancer in the Dark) or painful (The Idiots/ Idioterne). Of course the Dogme-films acted only as a vehicle for this theory (besides creating some welcome spotlight on Von Trier).The story is typical for Von Trier: our hero is idealistic, seems to balance his relations with everybody else, but soon becomes the victim of the problems others have created in the past for themselves. The idealist inevitably has to reject society in order to stay idealistic and becomes the terrorist. Mankind is spoiled and purity only leads to (self-)destruction. (These elements were also very omnipresent in Breaking the Waves and Dancer in the Dark.) The movie is also full of cynical (even humorous) undertones about the role of the Germans and Americans in post-war Germany.As a technical achievement the movie is wonderfully designed: shifting and fading washed-out colors, screen overlays, action on different overlays (with the shooting of the soon-to-be mayor as the most interesting). In this movie we can see how good Von Trier's handles film as a technical medium. In his later works he seems to step down from this (as if he is not longer interested in technical achievements because they become so easily available).
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Reviewed by WriterDave 10 / 10

One of the Greatest Films of All Time

Someone release this movie on DVD so it can take its hallowed place as one of the greatest films of all time in ten to twenty years when critics and film historians look back on the so-called films of the 1990's and see how vapid they were for the most part, and how Lars Von Trier tried to revolutionize and revitalize the international film world with this masterpiece. As it stands, "Zentropa" (or "Europa" as it is referred to outside the US) is one of the most fascinating and artistic views of the bleakness and almost psychotic uncertainty that oozed out of post WWII Europe, namely the decimated German landscape, whose physical horrors were matched only by the damage to the psyche of its people. Von Trier brilliantly paints his vision on screen. You will feel like you are watching some lost espionage noir classic from the late 1940's with the perfectly lighted black and white scenes, while at the same time feel you are on the brink of something beyond the cutting edge, especially in scenes like the assassination aboard the train. Literally, when you see this movie, you are witnessing the evolution of an art form.

For some reason, Von Trier got caught up in his own Dogma movement shortly after this. And while his "Breaking the Waves" and "Dancer in the Dark" are classics in their own right, it is with "Zentropa" that he truly lifted the art of film making to new and exciting heights. 10/10, ages like a fine wine, and begs for a DVD release.

***Postscript - Criterion released the film on DVD in 2009. Highly recommended.

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