Swing Kids

Name: Swing Kids
Genre: Drama, Music
Released: March 5, 1993
Duration: 112 min
Rating: 39
Cast: Christian Bale, Robert Sean Leonard

1993

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Generally unfavorable reviews based on 20 Critic Reviews

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Universal acclaim based on 21 Ratings

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8.3

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8.3	User Score Universal acclaim based on 21 Ratings

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Movie Details & Credits

Buena Vista Pictures | Release Date: March 5, 1993 | PG-13

Starring: Christian Bale, Robert Sean Leonard

Summary: In 1939, Nazi Germany declares war on freedom and demands conformity from its youth. But a group calling themselves Swing Kids rebel with their "swing music" from America. (Hollywood Pictures)

Director: Thomas Carter

Genre(s): Drama, Music

Rating: PG-13

Runtime: 112 min

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Critic Reviews

Jonathan Rosenbaum

A corny but sincere weeper written by Jonathan Marc Feldman, directed by Thomas Carter, and shot mainly in Prague. Read full review

Owen Gleiberman

The movie is a somber, smoothly crafted drama about a wily adolescent who senses there's something rotten going on in his country but can't quite put a finger on it. Read full review

Empire Jeff Dawson

For its historical detail and recognition that teenagers were around long before James Dean sparked up a Marlboro, this film deserves some credit. Read full review

Peter Stack

Yet for all its faults and limitations, Swing Kids is not necessarily easy to forget. [05 Mar 1993]

Stephen Hunter

Swing Kids really doesn't go anywhere. [05 Mar 1993]

Kevin Thomas

Except for that music and a bit of the acting, Swing Kids is unsatisfactory from just about every point of view. [05 Mar 1993]

Rita Kempley

It's a moralistic muddle with only one message: If Disney wants to make movies about Germans, it should restrict its efforts to German shepherds. Read full review

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User Reviews

weaverjared505

Mar 26, 2016

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. The movie Swing Kids was a great movie and is a perfect depiction of the Hitler youth. In the story there are three kids: Arvid, Thomas, and Peter. Peter is the main character. They are apart of a group of kids that love swing dancing and swing music, hints the name Swing Kids, but swing music is outlawed during the Holocaust. Arvid starts off the film as victim because he plays swing and when HJ's walk in he has to stop and play German music. Then Arvid becomes the Upstander because he refuses to play German music anymore when German officers try to pay him to play it. Thomas is an upstander at the beggining of the movie when he fights the HJ officers that are beating a Jew, but Thomas because a perpatrator when he joins the HJ and gets brainwashed by their ideas and ends up killing Jews too. Peter is a by stander at the begging of the movie because he watches a Jew get beat by an HJ, but then Peter becomes a victim when he is in a Swing club and gets taken by the HJ's and sent to a work camp at the end of the movie.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

Ysaheart

Mar 25, 2016

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I Enjoyed the Movie "Swing kids" The Character's attitudes were so explanitory that i could already see were the author was going with the story line. The main Character, Peter, Was a very well explained Family boy who wanted the best for his Mother and Brother, Knowing that in the story his father was taken by the Nazi and "Ruined" he played a strong role to take care of his family. He never wanted to disappoint his mother from what i can see and he tried to do what was best to be a good role model for his brother. Peter loved to dance, Before he joins the H.J (The Nazi school) He went to Many Swing dances with his friends (Thomas and Arvid). Peter never wanted to join the H.J, he always thought that they were "Pigs" (As he says in the bathroom scene with his mother) He later the joins because he had gotten himself in trouble after trying to steal a radio. Once he Joins the H.J his Loyal friend Thomas also joins with him, Thomas was the one to stick up for others that the H.J would take advantage of, becoming about of the H.J for Thomas started to consume him, he later become friends with other H.J students and became less of a friend to Peter and more apart of the H.J. Later in the story Peter and Thomas get in a huge fight at a swing club and Peter gets arrested and out into a Camp, Thomas later becomes a Nazi. In the Middle of the story when Thomas and Peter are still close friends their friend Arvid gets beat up by some H.J's and gets put into a Hospital because one of the H.J broke two of Arvid's fingers. Arvidd was a great musician before this and although the H/J's broke two of his fingers he still managed to play the guitar extremely well. Arvid became very angry through out the story, he later got into a huge fight and had to make a choice of joining the H.J or dying. " He'd rather kill himself then be a murder" said by Peter. Arvid unfortunately killed himself. Peter at the end of the story became very upset and disappointed with himself for joining the H.J because he new what he was doing was wrong. The story ends with Peter going to a camp and never returning.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

Lenzron

Mar 25, 2016

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Swing kids is a movie about three friends named Peter, Thomas, and Arvid. They are known as swing kids. Swing kids are group of jazz and swing lovers in Germany in the 1930s, mainly in Hamburg and Berlin. The movie starts off with the main characters doing swing dancing. In the beginning they are simply bystanders on what was happening to around them. The Nazis or The Hitler Youth were beating up and taking stuff from Jewish citizens. In one scene, Peter witnessed a Nazi steal a radio from a Jewish home. It was later revealed that he given the radio to a woman. Thomas and Peter decided that they showed steal the radio and give it to Arvid, who is a huge music fan. Everything goes wrong and Peter ends up getting caught. In order to not get sent to a Juvenile home or a work camp, Peter joins the Hitler youth group. In the next scene, It was shown that Thomas had also joined the group to be with Peter and that upsets Arvid. He dislikes them and the Nazis. He understands why Peter had joined, but not Thomas. Arvid slowly through out the film started to become more of upstander. Talking bad about them to his friends and even trying to convince people about their evil in front of them. Thomas, is slowly becoming more of perpetrator, threatens to have the Nazis come get him. In order for him not to get captured and taken away, Arvid kills himself in the bathtub, with a broken record. Peter, after Arvid's suicide, slowly starts getting angry at Thomas and hating the Nazis. Near the end of the film Peter starts acting more of a upstander while yelling Swing heil when he is getting taken away by the Nazis.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

Feddex19

Mar 25, 2016

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I really enjoyed Swing Kids, I believe it did a great job at portraying how the Hitler youth felt during the holocaust and it creates a great story were the characters seem to constantly change their role in the story. the beginning of the movie showed the three main characters (Peter,Thomas, and Arvid) started as just innocent bystanders and though they did not like the H.J, they would mostly just focus on swing dancing and just mess around but the movie builds up where the characters begin to change and by the middle, Thomas becomes the perpetrator as he is almost fully brainwashed by the H.J while Arvid speaks against the Nazi party and becomes an up stander but hes stuck alone as Peter is still a bystander as he is part of the H.J but he does not know what side to chose and finally, at the end, Arvid is the victim of the crime of dehumanization as he was treated like nothing throughout the movie while Thomas is now fully taken by the H.J , committing the crime, treating others like a piece of trash and by this point, Peter is no longer a bystander as he speaks against the H.J and Thomas to stop the crimes that is being committed, dehumanization.… Expand

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

Barry_Johnson

Mar 25, 2016

Swing Kids is a movie about three young adults and their rebellion against the Hitler Youth program in Nazi Germany. To give you an idea of what the story is like without giving important details away, think of it as three playground children trying to solve a Rubik's cube. At first, allSwing Kids is a movie about three young adults and their rebellion against the Hitler Youth program in Nazi Germany. To give you an idea of what the story is like without giving important details away, think of it as three playground children trying to solve a Rubik's cube. At first, all three of them are huddled around it and eagerly trying to solve it with each other for the sole purpose of bragging rights. They get a little disgruntled after a while and begin arguing with each other over what move to make next on the cube. A playground supervisor comes around and tries to take the cube away from the kids and succeeds, but one of the kids happens to have a miniature version in their backpack. They continue for a little while, but then one of the kids gets disgruntled by another's bickering and decides to quit. The two kids left are now arguing over why he left, disregarding the cube almost entirely. The other kid walks off in annoyance, leaving the one child to solve it on his own.

This, in essence, is the simplified story of Swing Kids. Seeing as how one of the movie's main themes is victimization, I'll go ahead and compare the playground kids to what's called a "victimization triangle". In a victimization triangle, you have four main groups involved(sometimes five, but that fifth one isn't really relevant here): Bystanders, Upstanders, Perpetrators, and Victims. In this situation, you have these three kids who are trying to solve this Rubik's cube. They aren't doing very well, but are trying their hardest to solve it. They classify as victims because they are under the spell of the confusing device, but also as upstanders for trying to solve its riddle and beat it once and for all. The perpetrator is none other than the cube itself for perpetuating such a confounding puzzle. The bystanders are, naturally, those who refuse to do anything to help solve the cube. This is, of course, in the beginning.

By the end, the roles of the triangle have changed significantly. The bystanders and perpetrator remain the same. The only remaining upstander is the child left behind by the other two. The victims remain the same, minus the child who pestered the first into leaving. At this time, the friend group remains a shattered fragment of what it once was.

Ultimately, I feel that Swing Kids is an accurate depiction of playground behavior in a 1940's Germany environment.… Expand

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

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