Swing Kids

Starring Robert Sean Leonard, Christian Bale, Barbara Hershey and Kenneth Branagh

In World War II Germany, propaganda and brainwashing of the young provide the Fatherland with an unending stream of baby Nazis. But some kids would rather dance a little jive spend their time goose-stepping. Peter (Leonard) and Thomas (Bale) are two such young men. Their time is spent listening to records and learning the newest dance steps and hep talk from across the sea. But when a prank lands Peter in the compulsory program Hitler's Youth. Thomas joins in a show of solidarity, and the two of them promise that they'll be Nazis by day, Swing Kids by night.

Nazi movies strike strong chords within me. I hate the idea that such an attitude gained such a momentum in our world and that it was able to cause so much destruction. What's worse, I'm not convinced that it won't happen again and that it might not even happen in America.

The acting in Swing Kids was superb. Swing Kids is a powerful story, but it was made even more powerful because of the believable acting. The only part of the movie that I didn't like was the "Oh Captain, My Captain" moment at the end when the little brother shouts, "Swing heil!" over and over again. That was a little too over the top.

So, because of kid acting that leaves a bad taste in your mouth and because there were Nazis, I can't give this four-star movie four stars.

This was THE movie of my senior year of high school. We probably rented it twenty times and wept every time. I found it FINALLY on DVD about three years ago and snapped it up. Considering how much I loved it, it's surprising that I hadn't watched it since I've owned it. But I was scared that it wouldn't be as great as I remembered it, and I didn't want to lose that part of my youth.

Fortunately, it stands up pretty well. There were a couple of cringe-inducing moments - one that Jonathan mentioned at the very end. But really, it held up surprisingly well to my memory of it.

The two main leads, Robert Sean Leonard and Christian Bale were unstoppable. Both of them were believable both in their naivete and in the loss of innocence. There was a transformation in both of them that was palpable, and makes me want to watch any movie with either of them.

Between the fantastic acting and the cringe inducing shots of what I assume is actual propaganda, this movie was a bona fide heart wrencher. I might not wait another eleven years to watch it again.