Visuals that Stuck out to me:
- Leyna walking behind Lutz as he guides her home is very reminiscent of Orpheus guiding Eurydice out of Hell
- The imagery of Commandant looking from the children on the right to his son on the left realizing he is not only being robbed of his youth but he is luckily in this position because of his father where these children were far less lucky
- Lastly & unrelated to visuals, I think if you took this as a Nazi sympathizer movie I think you need to watch again. Is there a romantic aspect that involves Nazi’s? Yes, but I think what you’re missing here is Lutz grappling with being a soldier the entire time. The Hitler youth were sold such a fake idea of what they were signing up for. “You’re fighting for your country.” “You will be Germany’s Hero!” “You are on the right side of war.” I mean how many times have we seen in film & in real accounts of these young men signing up for a war they do not understand while being promised glory. They come back shell shocked or disfigured or they don’t even come back at all. We’re of course telling a romance but we’re also telling a fictional story with real ties to reality of 2 forgotten subgroups of this war. German people of color & the youth of Germany. Lastly & for clarification, the Nazi party is horrible & this war touched everyone from Jews, to civilians, to the disabled, to POC’s, to our friends overseas, & Americans alike. We can understand nuance in a film & still side with humanity.
Visuals that Stuck out to me:
- Leyna walking behind Lutz as he guides her home is very reminiscent of Orpheus guiding Eurydice out of Hell
- The imagery of Commandant looking from the children on the right to his son on the left realizing he is not only being robbed of his youth but he is luckily in this position because of his father where these children were far less lucky
- Lastly & unrelated to visuals, I think if you took this as a Nazi sympathizer movie I think you need to watch again. Is there a romantic aspect that involves Nazi’s? Yes, but I think what you’re missing here is Lutz grappling with being a soldier the entire time. The Hitler youth were sold such a fake idea of what they were signing up for. “You’re fighting for your country.” “You will be Germany’s Hero!” “You are on the right side of war.” I mean how many times have we seen in film & in real accounts of these young men signing up for a war they do not understand while being promised glory. They come back shell shocked or disfigured or they don’t even come back at all. We’re of course telling a romance but we’re also telling a fictional story with real ties to reality of 2 forgotten subgroups of this war. German people of color & the youth of Germany. Lastly & for clarification, the Nazi party is horrible & this war touched everyone from Jews, to civilians, to the disabled, to POC’s, to our friends overseas, & Americans alike. We can understand nuance in a film & still side with humanity.
