Review of Boy A (2008) by Stevenf — 22 Jun 2013

With a film like The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, there are countless and sometimes ignorant historical inaccuracies, however these can be easily looked past when there are issues being dealt with here that outline one simple thing, human error and judgement.

It's really down to the basic truth that those who committed the atrocities of the Holocaust during the second World War were indeed human beings, the SS, the unfortunate victims of the concentration camps were all human beings and not monsters or what not. This movie makes the atrocities very gritty as we see the son of an SS Commandant (David Thewlis) in charge of one of these camps befriend a young boy within the confinements, dressed in what the soldiers son Bruno (Asa Butterfield) believes to be striped pyjamas, completely oblivious as to what is really going on.

The more humanly and realistic tone comes from this soldier and his family, a very comfortable family with a wife and two children, a girl aged 12 who is simply doing what she is told and who falls even more deeply for the Third Reich as each day passes. There is also the Commandant's wife, who is unaware exactly what her husband's work consists of. She tries unsuccessfully for Bruno to enjoy their new home, but of course unbeknownst to her he is spending his time quite recklessly at the barbed wire fence of the camp and bringing food to this boy the same age as him, similar in curiosity, but these two have led very different lives, a pecking order if you will.

David Thewlis playing the SS Commandant is quite the predicament indeed in terms of explaining what he is like in the role. When we become aware of his job and what his intentions are, there is shock to be had because of his humanity, which is either shedding light on these soldiers simply following orders or a poorly placed character, because at the end of the day, these people are murderers.

This is exactly where the film is at its best, it never necessarily cares about the political motivation of any of the characters, but showing the point of view of these two innocent and caught in the middle children, they don't quite know why they are where they are, but they soon add up that not everything is right.

An historically questionable but ultimately powerful film of friendship and humanity, that never fails to break the heart.