All in a Day's Work

On Der Rosegarten (The Rose Garden) NC16 and Hitlerjunge Salomon (Europa, Europa) M18 by Artur Brauner

Der Rosegarten starts by throwing the audience straight into the story: An old man (Aaron Reichenbach) recognises a man as being the concentration camp doctor, who tormented and murdered his sister, as well as 20 other Jewish children, after subjecting them to medical experiments (such as pumping the tubercolosis virus into their lungs) and beats him up, thereby bringing himself to court on charges of assault. A female lawyer tries to help him in his quest for justice, but Aaron, being a survivor of the Holocaust himself, appears frustratingly muted with his feelings and words. A worthy film that ponders into the channels of Justice in the Judicial system, Der Rosegarten is rated 70% by me. The NC16 rating is provided due to its graphic content: One scene shows children being forcibly hung by Nazi soldiers in a laboratory.

In Hitlerjunge Salomon, a young Jew, Salomon, and his family, are forced to flee Nazi Germany after kristallnacht. They end up in Poland, but war comes to them in no time. Salomon is educated in the Soviet Union as a young member of the Komsomol, forced into the ranks of the Wehrmacht after the invasion of the Soviet Union, and under being adopted by his Company Commander, a Captain, he is sent to a prestigous Hitler Youth Camp in Germany. As the war comes to a close, he defects once more to the Russians. An interesting film which captures the different viewpoints of the two sides during the war, a dash of humour here and there adds flavour to the overall production. In once scene, Hitler and Stalin are seen dancing together (The Nazi-Soviet Non-Agression Pact); In another, his company mate tries to ascertain his religious background by, yes... attempting to check if he has been circumcised. I guess that's why there's an M18 rating slapped onto it. Just like in Schindler's List, Hitlerjunge Salomon involves nudity and a hilarious 'sex' scene with Salomon's adopted mother (Yes, you have to watch it to find out how he got to such a stage!) A rather refreshing perspective to the war, it deserves a score of 90%!

By the way, the above two films (In German, with English Subtitles) were filmed at the Goethe Institut Auditorium on 10 May 2005 at 1800 and 2000 hrs respectively. There was no admission charge for the viewing of the films. Turnout was reasonably good, at 30 to 40 people per film.