MovieChat Forums > Swing Kids (1993) Discussion > Why such a low rating?

Why such a low rating?


We watched this in history (AP Euro) since we're done for the entire year...and there was still two and a half weeks of school left. So we were watching this movie and I honestly thoroughly loved it (minus the "Swing Heil!" at the end, which had me fighting back laughter). Then I look it up online and find out that critics don't agree with me, and this has mostly negative reviews. I don't understand... Why the hate? I thought it was wonderfully done myself, and it had me choked up at parts (mainly things from "The cripples and retards are next" and onward).

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Sometimes I believe in six impossible things before breakfast.
You are my way Jesus. †

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I don't understand it myself. It's a great movie. I saw it in the theaters when it came out. I loved it, but of course I never did understand the low rating either.


"Trolls are like boogers, you blow your nose and they still come back again!!"

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It's a great movie about a little known subject and historically accurate.

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You must've been one of the few who did, since it was not a big hit.

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The script and acting aren't so great, IMHO, but the message, music and dancing boost it to perhaps a 6.5.

I have seen enough to know I have seen too much. -- ALOTO

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I completely agree with you on not understanding why it's rated so low. Myself, I gave the movie a 10 (and those are extremely hard to come by). The acting is great, story is great, actors are great, music is great. If we held a vote here in this country do you think cripples and retards would be voted in or out? This is a movie that very much speaks to what is happening in the USA right now and needs to be seen now to understand how it happens, just a little bit at a time. "We did nothing", he said.

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Because it didn't show all Third Reich-era Germans as one-dimensional monsters, which is a big no-no.

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I think the problem with this film is that what it is trying to say is very minor. So these kids wanted to listen to music rather than enlist in the military. Look, civilization is crashing down around them, so what makes it noble that they want to do that?
The movie seems to make the point that Hitler was bad because he wouldn't let the kids swing, not that he orchestrated genocidal madness. What if he had encouraged the Swing Kids, would they still have had trouble with Hitler? NO.
These kids don't care about what is happening to the Jews-they want to look the other way. It isn't like with Schindler's List, where at least Oscar Schindler did something about it.

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Just finished watching it. Although it is predictable, I quite enjoyed it til the very end. But you said it yourself, "swing heil" end spoiled everything for me. I was ready to give it 7 stars, but ending up giving 6 after all.

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I think it is a very awesome concept and a very poor script. More so it was a film that could have been monumental and never closed the sale ... which leads to lower viewer scores.

The script of this film felt overdramatic (swing heil ending) and often too much about the music and not enough about the society.

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