"Swing Kids" (1993)

I'm sorry it was sort of a stand still for a while, life happened.  Anyways, ON WARD WE GO!

I was introduced to "Swing Kids" by my roommate, and when I first watched it I went in not knowing anything about the film except it involved Christian Bale dancing. I came out loving the story and everything about it.

Peter (Robert Sean Leonard), Tom (Christian Bale) and Arvid (Frank Whaley) play a group of friends living in Germany during the Nazi reign. They are all huge fans of American Swing music and live by their own code for it. When Peter gets caught stealing he is sent to a school where they reeducate you with the "Nazi way". Feeling guilty, Tom joins him. As Germany pushes more and more into war, and becoming more hostile towards the Jews Peter and Tom are pushed into different directions. Both are forced to grow up, but how they chose to be will change their friendship.

Hershey plays Peter's mother Frau Muller, the wife of someone who was convicted of being a Communist. In order to keep her family and herself from being persecuted she does what she can to survive and protect her family. She forms a relationship with a man very close to Hitler (played by Kenneth Branagh), and before that it is suggested that she's done things she's not proud of.

The film itself is great to watch. It flows so well. There are moments where you laugh, cry and even make you think. If you haven't seen this then you really should go check it out!