Flyerplesys Perfectly adorable

Micransix Crappy film

Tacticalin An absolute waste of money

Kamila Bell This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

bmoviep You're never sure where you will find yourself when you watch a film by director Lars Von Trier. The style, environment and even color scheme of his movies differ drastically depending on the story he's trying to tell. "Europa" or "Zentropa" as it is commonly referred to, brings us to post world war 2 Germany. The film is shot mostly in black and white, with color dispersed intermittently within scenes to highlight important elements and during the few happy scenes that Europa has to offer. An American named Leopold Kessler moves to Germany just after the war and takes a job as a car conductor at the Zentropa railway network. Leopold falls in love with a woman tied to a pro Nazi group of extremist and finds himself entrenched in a conspiracy to blow up one of the Zentropa trains. Leopold's conflict stems from his desire to bring some good onto a darkened world. He believes that through kindness and charity, he can help lead the war torn country towards a brighter future. The conspiracy reflects Leopold's struggle to do what he feels is right and his desire to fix everyone's problems on his own. In the final scene, we see one of the Zentropa trains submerged under water as a result of the terrorist attack enacted by Leopold himself. We see Leopold trapped inside the sinking train unable to escape his fate. The problems of the world proved to much for him to take on alone and ultimately destroyed him making the world an even darker place. Europa shows us how fragile the line between good and evil is and how those determine to carry the weight of the world on their shoulders will inevitably be crushed

Claudio Carvalho On October of 1945, the American German descendant Leopold Kessler (Jean-Marc Barr) arrives in a post-war Frankfurt and his bitter Uncle Kessler (Ernst-Hugo Järegård) gets a job for him in the Zentropa train line as a sleeping car conductor. While traveling in the train learning his profession, he sees the destructed occupied Germany and meets Katharina Hartmann (Barbara Sukowa), the daughter of the former powerful entrepreneur of transport business and owner of Zentropa, Max Hartmann (Jørgen Reenberg). Leopold stays neutral between the allied forces and the Germans, and becomes aware that there is a terrorist group called "Werewolves" killing the sympathizers of the allied and conducting subversive actions against the allied forces. He falls in love for Katharina, and sooner she discloses that she was a "Werewolf". When Max commits suicide, Leopold is also pressed by the "Werewolves" and need to take a position and a decision."Europa" is an impressive and anguishing Kafkanian story of the great Danish director Lars von Trier. Using an expressionist style that recalls Fritz Lang and alternating a magnificent black & white cinematography with some colored details, this movie discloses a difficult period of Germany and some of the problems this great nation had to face after being defeated in the war. Very impressive the action of the occupation forces destroying resources that could permit a faster reconstruction of a destroyed country, and the corruption with the Jew that should identify Max. Jean-Marc Barr has an stunning performance in the role of man that wants to stay neutral but is manipulated everywhere by everybody. The hypnotic narration of Max Von Sydow is another touch of class in this awarded film. My vote is nine.Title (Brazil): "Europa"

Spuzzlightyear When people ask me if I have a favorite movie, I will look at them seriously and find out what kind of movie nut they are. If they seem a bit clueless, I will say 'Citizen Kane' (which is actually my 2nd favorite movie) but my all time favorite movie is "Zentropa" aka Europa. I saw this first at the Vancouver International Film Festival, and as soon as Max Van Sydow started his haunting narration, I was HOOKED! EVERYTHING about this film I love. From the mentioned narration to the bang on performance of Jean-Marc which he hasn't replicated before (The Big Blue is a big yawn) or since (but I DO love his tiny bit parts in other Von Trier movies) to the gonzo story (An American gets a job as a railway conductor in Germany immediately after the war and gets involved in post-war terrorism groups!) to the LOOK of the film. Black on white on color, phony but amazing process shots). Never boring, quite entertaining. When's this EVER going to be released on DVD?

Thad McIlroy Lars is a "difficult" director, yet all of his films are pure originals -- love 'em or hate 'em. Europe (Zentropa) conveys more about the situation of Germany during and after the Second World War than I could imagine from any other director. To me, it is brilliant.Where to start?As with all of Lars' film, the photography is brilliant. The photography conveys more meaning than most U.S. films can convey with a combination of script, photography, directing and acting.As with all Lars' film, the acting is spotty. God knows how he casts his films, but it often seems to be upon a whim.Nonetheless, the scripting and overall art direction -- the vision of the filmmaker -- is so brilliant that one is left breathless. (Thad McIlroy)