Product Details

• Actors: Jean-Marc Barr, Eddie Constantine, János Herskó, Cæcilia Holbek Trier, Henning Jensen
• Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, NTSC
• Language: English, German
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Walt Disney Video
• VHS Release Date: September 11, 1996
• Run Time: 112 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (35 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6302722551
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #19,488 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

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  Video > Art House & International > European Cinema > Germany

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Von Trier's Weird Nightmare on the Zentropa Railway., October 25, 2008

By	G. Merritt (Boulder, CO) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Europa - Criterion Collection (DVD)

"You will now listen to my voice . . . On the count of ten you will be in Europa."

While perhaps best known for his Dogme 95 films Breaking the Waves (1996), The Idiots (Idioterne) (1998), and Dancer in the Dark (2000), Academy Award-nominated Danish film director, Lars von Trier, is also celebrated for his "Europe trilogy" of films: The Element of Crime (Forbrydelsens element) (1984), Epidemic (1987), and Europa (1991) (originally released as Zentropa in the U.S. to avoid marketing confusion with the film Europa Europa). Featuring an international ensemble cast including Jean-Marc Barr, Fassbinder protégés Barbara Sukowa (Berlin Alexanderplatz) and Udo Kier, expatriate American, Eddie Constantine, Max von Sydow and Ernst-Hugo Järegård, Europa tells the surreal story of an American pacifist, Leopold Kessler (Barr), determined to "show some kindness" to the German people after WWII. Kessler finds work as a sleeping car conductor for the Zentropa railway network in 1945 postwar Frankfurt, falls in love with the railway magnate's daughter, and soon becomes entangled in a pro-Nazi terrorist conspiracy. What makes Europa such a unique experience in film is von Trier's use of crisp black-and-white visuals combined with occasional uses of color, a technique later used in Schindler's List, and the actors' interactions with rear-projected footage. These techniques give Europa a truly weird, nightmare-like quality.

The Criterion edition of Europa features a newly restored high-definition digital transfer; audio commentary featuring director Lars von Trier and producer Peter Aalbæk Jensen (in Danish, with English subtitles); "The Making of Europa" (1991), a documentary following the film from storyboarding to production; "Trier's Element" (1991), a documentary featuring an interview with von Trier, and footage from the set and Europa's Cannes premiere and press conference; "Anecdotes from Europa" (2005), a short documentary featuring interviews with film historian Peter Schepelern, actor Jean-Marc Barr, producer Peter Aalbæk Jensen, assistant director Tómas Gislason, co-writer Niels Vørsel, and prop master Peter Grant; 2005 interviews with cinematographer Henning Bendtsen, composer Joachim Holbek, costume designer Manon Rasmussen, film-school teacher Mogens Rukov, editor/director Tómas Gislason, producer Peter Aalbæk Jensen, art director Peter Grant, actor Michael Simpson, production manager Per Arman, actor Ole Ernst; a conversation with Lars von Trier from 2005, in which the director speaks about the "Europa" trilogy; "Europa--The Faecal Location" (2005), a short film by Gislason; and a booklet featuring a new essay by critic Howard Hampton. Highly recommended.

G. Merritt

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hypnotic, July 29, 2004

By	M. DALTON (Brisbane, Queensland Australia) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Zentropa (DVD)

Surely one of the GREATEST directors of all time, this is his masterpiece. Armed with the most hypnotic narration I've ever heard & an extraordinarily abstract form, the story is constantly propelled forward by Max Von Sydow's unmistakable voice. Along with DANCER IN THE DARK, DOGVILLE & BREAKING THE WAVES, ZENTROPA is an unforgettable journey. Please plead with this film's distributor to give it the beautiful widescreen DVD release it deserves.....

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hypnotic and dream-like, a unique and haunting experience, November 27, 1998

By A Customer

Set in post-war Germany, an American consciencious objector, with German roots, returns to the land of his ancestory with nobel intentions. He soon finds that in a country of victors and the defeated, that the greatest sin of all is neutrality. told with stunning and original effects and cinematography, along with a reverent eye to early German cinema, this is an unforgettable tale that is a must for any fans of modern European cinema.