Swing Kids
Swing Kids
1. Hamburg, Germany. 1939.
The main character, a young, German man named Peter Muller, was very traumatized by what the Nazi's and Gestapo (the terrorist political police of the Nazi regime founded by Hermann Göring, whose purpose was to persecute all political opponents of the Nazi regime) did to his father. Over the course of the movie, Peter went through a change; he saw his father in a new light, and realized what really mattered in the world around him. Peter's father was a violinist and professor at the university. He spoke out against the expulsion of the Jewish professors and the entire Nazi movement. Because of this, one night, in the middle of dinner, he was taken away by the Gestapo. He was brought back home four months later, a completely different man. Before, he was lively, brave, and strong; however, after they brought him back he was a weak man, and would not ever pick up his violin again. He died shortly after he returned home. That was six years before the present setting in the movie.
His son Peter was naïve about what his father had worked for; but what he did know was that in the time his father was away the Nazis did something to break his father down.
Peter and his friend Thomas, who was from a well-to-do family, decided one afternoon to "lift" a radio that one of the Nazis had taken from a "traitor" and had given to a "lady-friend." Peter was unable to escape the police, and as a result was told the only way to avoid punishment was to join the HJ (Hitler Jugend or Hitler's Youth, which prepared young boys for further advancement within the National Socialist party). Being a good friend, Thomas joined also; he said "We can't let them split us apart." However, over the course of their training, Thomas went through a change. He began to believe the Nazi propaganda about German superiority, and how everyone else "doesn't belong."
Peter, on the other hand, did not know what to...
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