swing heil
We watched Swing Kids the other night. I couldn't sleep that night, and now I'm good but I wanted to share my thoughts. I'd always heard it was wicked mediocre, if something can be wicked mediocre, but I thought it was great. It (apparently) hit me stronger than most other movies about Nazi Germany have, and that obviously says something.
For those of you who don't know, the Swingjugend of 30s/early 40s Germany were high schoolers who danced and loved swing and devoted money and energy to collecting the forbidden music and being a general pain in the ass to their nemeses, the Hitlerjugend. The government thought they were a serious effing threat and went as far as to send loads of them to camps when it was clear that banning the American records wouldn't do it. The movie follows three friends who struggle with loyalties and choices and morality etc etc when one is forced to join the HJ.
I had trouble sorting out what made it different from the others that I've seen. First of all, it's not set in a camp or ghetto or a place of "you are so screwed, now let us watch you suffer"-- not that there isn't value to those. Then, the characters-- driven Peter, whose lost his father and whose mother is being courted by an SS agent, punk-ass Thomas, the son of an aristocratic dissenting family, and principled Arvid, who can't run or dance and would rather die than belong to the Nazis.
Otherwise, I kept coming back to a few moments. So the next bit is SPOILERY.
spoiler: nazis suck
1. Thomas - Ugh probably the hardest to deal with of all. Thomas, who started out so anti-HJ and anti-Nazi, and does a total turn-around! And he's not like, that kid who just needed to belong because he had no friends. He was just the dumb one who realized he could climb the HJ ladder without being smart and bought into all their crap. It was honest-to-God heartbreaking, especially to see how far he takes it-- turning against Arvid for his disability, reporting his father for thinking that Hitler was a nutjob who was destroying Germany, and even turning on Peter in the end. Especially his father. HOW DO YOU REPORT YOUR FATHER WTF. Terrifying terrifying.
another spoiler: nazis killed people
2. The deliveries - OK I knew through the whole scene, when Peter's asked to make deliveries and the first house is graffiti-ed when he arrives, that it was going to end horribly horribly and honestly I was expecting some body parts in boxes or something. The fact that it was ashes made it less gorey but no less upsetting. And honestly, that one scene hit me worse than any of the deaths in Schindler's List. I don't know if it was the little girl or the mother screaming or if it was Peter. And I think it was Peter's realization that did it. The damn movie had me empathizing far too much with Peter, though of course I had the advantage of being in the future and knowing that Nazis killed people.
spoilerrr
no, like end-of-the-movie-spoiler
3. So in the end, Peter I suppose knows that he's screwed and he's had it and goes out for a final dance. I was kind of annoyed that Peter went into the dance with a pretty good idea that he wouldn't go home. I know it was no kind of life he was leading, but he had a little brother! And how does it serve a resistance to be at a camp? IT DOESN'T. YOU JUST DIE YOU DUMB SHIT. Sorry. I think it was supposed to be a noble "eff you" but it just felt like... if you know you're going to get caught sooner or later, why not make as much noise possible before you go? Maybe it kept little Willi and his stupid mother safe to get caught with the punk teens instead, but I just felt so so bad for the little brother. And maybe him leaving was necessary for Thomas to snap out of it? But Ximena and I reacted and there was this "So how much longer do they have? Five years? FIVE YEARS HOW IS THAT UPLIFTING AT ALL?" Anyway.
In the end, I think it was, above the rest, the fact that you saw not just the super-atrocity part but how Nazism tore apart Germany society, the fascism and the fear. The indoctrination of the HJ, teaching them to hate their neighbors and report their friends and family. The silencing of all criticism, no matter how respectful or well thought out, no matter how earnest the critic.
The Holocaust was an awful thing beyond words-- that's obvious enough. But what enabled it to happen was the totalitarianism, and I think that's what scared me most.
There's a lot to be thankful for-- I'm in little danger of being bombed, and there's plenty of food, and I'm not homeless or enslaved by sketchy mafia. But that doesn't mean we should forget about the little things that tell us that we're free. May I never stop being thankful that I can say that the government is full of shit and I can walk down a street without being beaten and I can listen to whatever music I please and if I'm arrested I'll be tried with due process. And may all of us always stand up and say, OH HELL NO, when any of these rights, however insignificant they may seem, is threatened.
For those of you who don't know, the Swingjugend of 30s/early 40s Germany were high schoolers who danced and loved swing and devoted money and energy to collecting the forbidden music and being a general pain in the ass to their nemeses, the Hitlerjugend. The government thought they were a serious effing threat and went as far as to send loads of them to camps when it was clear that banning the American records wouldn't do it. The movie follows three friends who struggle with loyalties and choices and morality etc etc when one is forced to join the HJ.
I had trouble sorting out what made it different from the others that I've seen. First of all, it's not set in a camp or ghetto or a place of "you are so screwed, now let us watch you suffer"-- not that there isn't value to those. Then, the characters-- driven Peter, whose lost his father and whose mother is being courted by an SS agent, punk-ass Thomas, the son of an aristocratic dissenting family, and principled Arvid, who can't run or dance and would rather die than belong to the Nazis.
Otherwise, I kept coming back to a few moments. So the next bit is SPOILERY.
spoiler: nazis suck
1. Thomas - Ugh probably the hardest to deal with of all. Thomas, who started out so anti-HJ and anti-Nazi, and does a total turn-around! And he's not like, that kid who just needed to belong because he had no friends. He was just the dumb one who realized he could climb the HJ ladder without being smart and bought into all their crap. It was honest-to-God heartbreaking, especially to see how far he takes it-- turning against Arvid for his disability, reporting his father for thinking that Hitler was a nutjob who was destroying Germany, and even turning on Peter in the end. Especially his father. HOW DO YOU REPORT YOUR FATHER WTF. Terrifying terrifying.
another spoiler: nazis killed people
2. The deliveries - OK I knew through the whole scene, when Peter's asked to make deliveries and the first house is graffiti-ed when he arrives, that it was going to end horribly horribly and honestly I was expecting some body parts in boxes or something. The fact that it was ashes made it less gorey but no less upsetting. And honestly, that one scene hit me worse than any of the deaths in Schindler's List. I don't know if it was the little girl or the mother screaming or if it was Peter. And I think it was Peter's realization that did it. The damn movie had me empathizing far too much with Peter, though of course I had the advantage of being in the future and knowing that Nazis killed people.
spoilerrr
no, like end-of-the-movie-spoiler
3. So in the end, Peter I suppose knows that he's screwed and he's had it and goes out for a final dance. I was kind of annoyed that Peter went into the dance with a pretty good idea that he wouldn't go home. I know it was no kind of life he was leading, but he had a little brother! And how does it serve a resistance to be at a camp? IT DOESN'T. YOU JUST DIE YOU DUMB SHIT. Sorry. I think it was supposed to be a noble "eff you" but it just felt like... if you know you're going to get caught sooner or later, why not make as much noise possible before you go? Maybe it kept little Willi and his stupid mother safe to get caught with the punk teens instead, but I just felt so so bad for the little brother. And maybe him leaving was necessary for Thomas to snap out of it? But Ximena and I reacted and there was this "So how much longer do they have? Five years? FIVE YEARS HOW IS THAT UPLIFTING AT ALL?" Anyway.
In the end, I think it was, above the rest, the fact that you saw not just the super-atrocity part but how Nazism tore apart Germany society, the fascism and the fear. The indoctrination of the HJ, teaching them to hate their neighbors and report their friends and family. The silencing of all criticism, no matter how respectful or well thought out, no matter how earnest the critic.
The Holocaust was an awful thing beyond words-- that's obvious enough. But what enabled it to happen was the totalitarianism, and I think that's what scared me most.
There's a lot to be thankful for-- I'm in little danger of being bombed, and there's plenty of food, and I'm not homeless or enslaved by sketchy mafia. But that doesn't mean we should forget about the little things that tell us that we're free. May I never stop being thankful that I can say that the government is full of shit and I can walk down a street without being beaten and I can listen to whatever music I please and if I'm arrested I'll be tried with due process. And may all of us always stand up and say, OH HELL NO, when any of these rights, however insignificant they may seem, is threatened.