Review of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (2008) by Dawdlingpoet — 21 Nov 2021

I liked that this film came from the childs angle, or view, showing how parents shielded kids from the reality of war, or more specifically of course concentration camps. I remember being quite frustrated with how much we were taught about the camps, the holocaust and the tragedy that was World War II in general, while in secondary school. In it being shown from a German childs point of view, it certainly tackles a very disturbing time, in a slightly different way to which im used to watching, which is why it interested me, also (admittedly) knowing its a 12 rate I presumed it wouldn't be too graphic, as ive seen enough graphic footage from that time, or depictions of such, for my liking. I liked seeing the boys inquisitiveness and the awkward reactions from relatives when quizzed about what went on in 'the farm'. The plot moves pretty slowly I suppose but I liked how it unfolded, with him slowly realising that things aren't what they first appear, becoming more unsettled and curious, even openly challenging the biased nationalistic teachings he's given from a presumed private tutor.

On a basic level, I liked the innocence of the boy and the way he quickly and easily bonded with the Jewish boy, Schmuel - there's obviously a great sense of innocence and humanity conveyed. Of course this could come across as very sugary sweet and even over bearingly melodramatic but I felt it was handled well, with some hard hitting dialogue, Bruno being told the usual anti-Jewish propaganda, that 'the Jew' aka the entire race(!) are 'evil vermin', which he clearly knows is nonsense from his short but poignant conversations from the other side of the electrified camp fence - he even challenges this by asking/saying basically but there are nice Jews too, aren't there?. There is music used at key points but its quite subtle and not as over the top as it certainly could have been overall. It is, however, still very much an emotional movie, as you can probably imagine. At one point Bruno feels intimidated when confronted by a solider in his own home - one of his own people, who seems so authoritarian and cold to him, that he doesn't want to anger and so says what he believes is expected of him at that time, to 'toe the line' - I didn't feel such scenes were ruined by a ridiculous over use of musical score, although it does feature at times but as I say its quite subtle for the most part. The movie runs for approximately an hour and a half long, so its certainly pretty short, especially for a war based movie. There are some scenes that may make you flinch but there isn't the graphic violence that there could be, or that features in other war movies of course - thankfully so, as far as I'm concerned. I found it interesting the way the plot developed, there are some interesting twists, which would potentially spoil the movie to go into detail about but ill put it this way, some adults are more aware of the full truth than others. I found it interesting the difference between Bruno and his sister, she being more aware and accepting, or embracing, of the then political standpoint. Overall, I'd say the men came off worse than the women though, with Bruno being the exception.

I thought this was a very watchable movie, of course elements of it are grim but I found myself curious to see how events played out, to see Bruno's take on it and how others treated him and handled the situation. I liked that there did seem to be a sense of hope present, from the way that Bruno so basically and without qualms became friends with the prisoner and his drive to help him as the film continued, which I felt really gave a good sense of empathy, the fact that kids look at things and basically see people on such a basic, human level, if that makes sense?.