When I count to 10, you... All the work of Lars von Trier I divide for myself conditionally into two stages. The first is the early Trier and his three works, The Crime Element, The Epidemic and Europe.
The second is the mature Trier, starting with Breaking the Waves and ending today. Well, “Europe” is the best, smartest, exciting, and just interesting of Trier’s early works. In 1945, a young German, Leopold Kessler, thought the war was over and came from America to Allied-occupied Germany with the best of intentions. He got a job as a conductor in a railway company and thought that now life will go on tracks. But not fate.
If you can say so, then since “Europe” Trier’s work has become something more classical. If in the Element of Crime and the Epidemic there was some confusion of the narrative, understatement, and just some episodes did not lend themselves to logic, there was no sense of tact, but in Europe everything was made more clear, complete, logical, in general everything that was not in his first two works. If “Epidemic” and “Element of Crime” will be appreciated only by a certain circle of viewers, then “Europe” is capable of all. The first two works, the director, as I think, shot for himself, but “Europe” is already for the viewer.
One of the themes of the film is the unjustification of human expectations. Leopold came to the homeland of his ancestors in search of a better life, and found only a crumbling system that drags down the swamp and all the people in the city, and the city itself, too.
In such conditions, it is difficult to remain human. Cruel reality can break anyone, even the staunchest Leopold was. Everyone turns to him as a messiah in search of help, but what can he do, a little man in search of a new home, what the United States of America has long ceased to be for him?
The director shows both the good qualities of the German people and the bad ones. Some are trying to come to terms with a new life, others are still struggling, even after the war is over. This struggle is expressed in the Werwolf militia organization. Well, ordinary people who are no longer able to fight, or resign themselves to their fate, choose the easiest path and leave this world. Or is it just a burden of guilt?
For a better perception of the film, Trier enters a voiceover. I would say it was very good. He helps to better understand the picture, tries to explain certain actions of people, and just introduces into the atmosphere of that Germany. The visual side of the film also contributes to this. The picture is black and white, the color that the director wanted to say, I never understood, but the devastation of Germany of that era is shown simply wonderfully. In one episode, a family of German Jews stood alone among all the ruins. You can't think of anything better.
One of the best works of Lars Von Trier came in the early period of his work. Of course, he still continues to experiment, especially from the visual side, and from the camera point of view, but in the scenario plan already reigned complete harmony. The line of confrontation between the two principles of the human soul is clearly shown, and from a historical point of view, the film seems to me to be flawless. In general, I enjoyed watching it.
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