SWING KIDS
A film review by James Berardinelli
Copyright 1993 James Berardinelli
Date Released: 3/5/93 Running Length: 1:53 Rated: PG-13 (Mature themes, violence)
Starring: Robert Sean Leonard, Christian Bale, Frank Whaley, Barbara Hershey, Kenneth Branagh Director: Thomas Carter Producers: Mark Gordon and John Bard Manulis Screenplay: Jonathan Marc Feldman Music: James Horner Released by Hollywood Pictures
Hamburg. Nazi Germany. 1939. Peter (Robert Sean Leonard), Thomas (Christian Bale), and Arvid (Frank Whaley) are three "Swing Kids"--young rebel Germans who have fallen in love with the forbidden: "American movies, British fashion, and Swing music." When the evil specter of Nazism hovers over them in the form of a seemingly-benign member of the Gestapo (Kenneth Branagh), Peter and Thomas must begin to re-evaluate their priorities and values.
SWING KIDS is a movie with a multitude of problems, the biggest of which is its loose treatment of history and the Nazis. While it's undeniable that members of the Hitler Youth and the Gestapo were goons, SWING KIDS portrays them as such in a cartoonish manner. They are not chillingly menacing; simply nasty. Motivation is not a major concern. The kind of mentality that sent millions of Jews to their deaths is only weakly in evidence. In fact, the entire Holocaust is given only token screen time. The need to sanitize this film to make it palatable to mass audiences has robbed SWING KIDS of much of its power. Trivializing Nazism is never a smart move.
There's another, more subtle flaw in the script. Everyone in Germany who isn't a "Swing Kid" is regarded as a Nazi. This was simply not the case. Most Germans were not members of the National Socialist Party, and many citizens regarded Nazis with fear and distrust. The Luftwaffe was definitely not a "Nazi organization", yet SWING KIDS makes no distinction between Luftwaffe officers and the Gestapo.
Aside from the aforementioned problems, the plot is lacking when it comes to originality. That shouldn't be a surprise, however, coming from Hollywood Pictures, well-known for regurgitating formula movies. What is unusual is that some of the elements of this film do not allow it to fall into the "happily ever after" category. In that sense, it takes a little risk.
There are several scenes of high melodrama where the film comes close to parodying itself. While the two leads, Bale and Leonard, have been competent in previous roles, they are merely adequate here, and sometimes not even that. Barbara Hershey is completely wasted. Kenneth Branagh, in an uncredited role (it's more than just a cameo--he's in a number of scenes), is unsurprisingly one of the bright spots about this film. He manages to create a sympathetic Nazi without resorting to audience manipulation.
Undoubtedly, the best part of SWING KIDS is its musical numbers. The choreography and energy of these scenes is excellent. Unfortunately, they are too few and far between and by the second half of the movie, they've all but disappeared.
SWING KIDS will undoubtedly appeal to the masses--and especially the teen masses--who go to the movies simply to escape. In fact, some of those with little knowledge and less concern about the historical period portrayed may even find this movie "powerful." At its heart, however, SWING KIDS is seriously flawed, and, while it isn't a terrible movie, the best way to describe it may be "unfortunate."
Rating: 6.1 (C, **)
- James Berardinelli (blake7@cc.bellcore.com)
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