From the Mouths of Babes

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

A few weeks ago I wrote a review on Steven Spielberg’s masterpiece, Schindler’s List. Based on an incredible true story of humanity among a time of pure evil. Now I can spend hours, if not days, talking about the evil that the Nazi’s inflicted on the Jewish people. However, is it also right of me to lump every German person into that evil category? Isn’t it like saying that all Caucasians are rednecks? Now there have been a few movies that have told a more sympathetic story to some unknowing Germans during World War II, but in 2006 Irish author John Boyne wrote a novel that gives a voice to the most innocent in all things…children.

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas tells the story of 8 year old Bruno (Asa Butterfield Ender’s Game). Son of a Nazi officer (David Thewlis The Theory of Everything), Bruno learns that his father has been transferred to Poland for a new assignment. Upset at the idea of leaving all of his current friends, Bruno becomes curious at the chance of meeting new friends at the ‘farm’ behind his new house. Ignoring his mother’s (Vera Farmiga Bates Motel) instructions never to go to that farm, Bruno wanders over there anyway to find another small boy in ‘striped pajamas’ named Shmuel (Jack Scanlon). The two boys quickly become friends as Bruno tries to understand why Shmuel is labeled an enemy by the people around him.

I am going to say this without sounding like I am lecturing. This is a movie that everyone should see. For a story about something so devastating to be told from this point of view is brilliant. Filmmakers have made movies about adults, people that are aware fully of their surroundings, but we have never really looked at the subject from a child’s point of view. The acting and the direction are spot on and now I understand why Butterfield become an over-night wonder.

The burden that is laid on Butterfield at this age was incredible. This movie lies on the shoulders of a nine year old boy and Butterfield handles it like a pro. The purity within Bruno is play so perfectly. As amazed as I was with Butterfield’s performance, I was equally as impressed with Vera Farmiga’s take has his mother. Wife and mother of Nazi supporters, she is able to stay true to her husband until she learns what is really going on and how it is affecting her children. Though the turn is sudden, Farmiga is able to make her feelings so substantial.

Director Mark Herman (Hope Springs) is behind the camera for this period piece. Herman does an outstanding job telling this story from the eyes of Bruno. He is able to bring the audience down to Bruno’s level of understanding, yet not insult the audience’s intelligence. Nothing really new or exciting with the camerawork, it is just the way Herman told this story that impressed me.

Now I would like to take a moment and speak to all of the other critics out there that gave bad reviews to this film based on the historical accuracy. Shame on you. You gave a horrible review based on history and not the message of the movie. This was a fictional movie about two unlikely friends in a time of such hatred. The author and the director break down life into its simplest form and how children don’t care what race, sex, color, or religion you might be. They find the good in everyone and yet for some reason historically you were told that no children were present at Auschwitz, you gave this film a bad review? This movie was for you. The film never said it was based on actual events or produced as a teaching tool. This film is for that inner child inside you that needs to be reminded that deep down we shouldn’t care about trivial things and be happy sharing the world we live in with everyone around us.

Please see this film. Like many movies before it, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas tries to shine light on the darkness during that time period. Sometimes I think that we all need to stop and view the world from our children’s eyes and try to understand why should love more than we should hate.

The Verdict: Worth Your Time. (Now on Netflix)