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Swing Kids, based on a historical movement, is about a group of young men in Nazi Germany who defied the Third Reich to listen and dance to forbidden "swing" music from America. These "Swing Kids" make a moral choice to pursue their personal freedom at the risk of being sent to work camps.
Robert Sean Leonard (star of Dead Poets Society) is Peter, the leader of a rebellious group of Swing Kids. Every week, Peter and his friends openly defy the Gestapo by dancing the jitterbug at parties in Hamburg. But as the pressure to join the Hitler Youth takes its toll on the Swing Kids, one by one, each is faced with a brutal choice – loyalty to their cause or loyalty to Germany's.
1993, 114 mins.
While you watch, consider . . .
•How Peter’s family life leaves him more in conflict about joining the Hitler Youth than the other Swing Kids.
•How the crippled Swing Kid Arvid stands little chance of ever conforming to the doctrine of Nazi Germany.
•Whether the movie trivializes the plight of Jews by suggesting that the Swing Kids faced a great moral dilemma. Is it satisfying in its depiction of a minor symbol of rebellion? This title is distributed by Buena Vista (http://www.bvi.com).
Other films of interest:
The Great Dictator Charlie Chaplin’s hilarious attack on Hitler and the antisemitism of the Third Reich.
To Be or Not To Be The classic comedy of a Polish theater troupe including a Jewish actor who tricks Hitler and escapes to England.
Europa, Europa The incredible tale of a Jewish youth mistaken for an Aryan by the Nazis, who exalted him as a valued German asset.