The movie Swing Kids takes place in Nazi Germany and revolves around the lives of 4
young men that are into swing music. In the movie, two of the boys, Peter and Thomas, try to steal a radio from a store, but Peter is caught by the police and forced to join the HJ. In attempts to try and stick with his friend, the other boy, Thomas, voluntarily joins the HJ with Peter. Thomas says that they will be HJ by day and Swing Kids by night, living the best of both worlds.
The boys do alright at HJ for a little while, but the turning point occurs soon after their friend Arvid is beat up by a fellow HJ Emille. Thomas, angry at Emille, volunteers to help Emille during the boxing lesson for the HJs. Thomas begins to punch Emille and just fight with him, but Emille overpowers him. Instead of giving up, Thomas keeps standing back up to fight. The boxing scene ends with Emille walking out of the room while a bloody Thomas is in the ring singing, “It don’t mean a thing, if you ain’t got that swing.” The next day, Emille thanks Thomas for his help in the boxing lesson. Emille says that there might be something he can learn from Thomas.
At this point in the movie, Thomas is beginning to feel accepted and important at the HJs. Thomas begins winning the competitions that the boys compete in. Thomas is becoming friends with Emille again. Thomas avidly watches the movies played by the HJ about how they are better than everyone. Thomas is given a knife and a motorbike from the HJ. Thomas spies on his family for the HJ, resulting in his father being questioned by the Gestapo. Thomas is being wooed by the HJ and being groomed for Nazi Germany. Thomas is beginning to lean away from the Swing Kids and who he was originally. Thomas is buying into the beliefs that the HJ is trying to instill in the German youth.
At the end of the movie, Thomas is seen dressed in his HJ uniform outside of a Swing music club. Thomas, and many other HJs, storm inside the theatre and begin to beat the people there. They also begin to load some of the people up on trucks to be sent away somewhere. Thomas sees Peter at the theatre and heads straight for him. The once best friends, are now on opposing sides. Thomas and Peter start fighting each other and end up outside on the street. Thomas is scared for Peter, and begs him to run away before someone sees him. He warns Peter that he will be sent to a work camp. Peter, however, refuses to run. Peter is seen by some other HJs and is taken onto a truck. Before getting on the truck, Peter stops and turns around to face Thomas one more time. His last words to Thomas are the same words Thomas says in the boxing ring: “It don’t mean a thing, if you ain’t got that swing.”
Peter and Thomas both went through the HJ training and wooing, but the two took very different paths. Throughout the course of the movie, Thomas can be seen changing from his original self as a swing kid to a full fledged HJ member. The HJs got to Thomas with their wooing and their promises. Thomas even repeatedly tells Peter to “play both sides” to see what happens. He also tries to convince Peter to just do what they want and the rewards will be great. Thomas believes that if you are HJ, you can do or have anything you want. On the other hand, Peter only joins the HJ because he had to. Peter hates everything about the HJ, but he plays along in order to protect himself and his family. There are times where it seems Peter may be changing like Thomas, but then a few minutes later it appears like he is still on the side of the swing kids. Peter strayed more towards the middle of the imaginary line between being an HJ and a Swing Kid. It isn’t until the end, when Peter sacrifices everything to listen to swing music at the theatre and doesn’t run away that we, the audience, know what side he chose.
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