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6.9/10
Senior Film Conservator
A definitive 6.9/10 rating for a film that redefined the boundaries of cult cinema. Europa remains a cornerstone of transgressive art.
If you have twelve minutes and want to feel like your brain is being scrubbed with steel wool, yes, watch Europa. It’s a lost-and-found Polish short from the 1930s that hates fascism and loves photograms. 🎞️
People who collect weird vinyl records or read dusty poetry will love this. Anyone looking for a cozy movie night will absolutely turn it off in two minutes, which is totally fair.
Honestly, it plays more like a punk rock music video than an actual movie. The screen just shakes with these raw, black-and-white shapes that feel incredibly modern.
I kept thinking about how Stefan and Franciszka Themerson made this on a kitchen table. You can almost feel the sticky glue and scissors they used to piece it together.
There’s this one sequence where a man’s face is superimposed over some marching feet. It lingers just a bit too long, but it gets the point across. 🤷♂️
It’s not like watching Toonerville's Fire Brigade where everything is just silly gags. This one actually feels dangerous and heavy.
Some parts are just letters floating around in total darkness. I didn’t understand Polish, but the rhythm of the text tells you everything you need to know.
At one point, there is a shot of a hand holding a flower, and then it cuts immediately to a factory. Very subtle, guys. 🙄
But hey, for 1931, this was basically sci-fi. It’s way more interesting than standard stuff like Das Wolkenphänomen von Maloja, even if that one has pretty clouds.
My favorite bit is just the raw noise of the images. It makes you realize how much we rely on dialogue now to tell us how to feel.
I’m glad they found this in some archive in Berlin after all these years. It’s a miracle it survived at all, and it’s well worth the quick, stressful watch.