The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

I like to go on Netflix once in a while and see a random movie that has just been out on it. This week, “The Boy in Striped Pajamas” came out and I had great curiosity in it. Now after I read the quick description from Netflix, I figured out this movie is about the Holocaust, more specifically the concentration camps. And because I have already seen “Schindler’s List” I was kind of in the mood to see another Holocaust movie. Not sure if it makes me a bad person to see a movie about the terrorizing and genocide of mankind, but this movie seemed real interesting. Read more after the jump.

I really like the story in this movie; it gives a different perspective than we are used to in a war/drama movie. The movie revolves around a young boy named Bruno (Asa Butterfield), who is the son of Ralf, a SS Officer. After Ralf is promoted to a commandant of a Nazi concentration camp the family moves to a home near camp. This is where Bruno starts to explore his new house and is told by his parents not to go in the backyard. But he deliberately disobeys them and as he travels past the thick forest behind their house, lays a concentration camp. At the concentration camp, he meets his friend Shmuel. Little does Bruno know of Shmuel’s situation and referes to Shmuel’s clothing as Pajamas. He also realizes that another ‘farmer’ at his house has the same pajamas. As Bruno’s sister is being brainwashed by Nazi propaganda, Bruno questions about Jews in which the sister spews out some more Nazi propaganda. Bruno thereafter makes friends with his new Jew friend and visits him frequently.

Bruno and his awesome tire swing.

It is interesting to see the innocence of a child view the world. He keeps referring the concentration camp clothing as pajamas and berates all of the slave workers for being a farmer. At one part of the movie, Bruno insists that the numbers on everybody’s pajamas must be part of a big game and is jealous of Shmuel’s ‘friends’ at the camp. Bruno’s bigger sister is fairly found of the Nazi’s final goal and even puts up posters of Nazi propaganda, she tries to explain to Bruno the situation in the world, but Bruno keeps questioning it. I really like the relationship between Bruno and the ‘farmer’ Pavel, who mends his wounds after Bruno, falls off the swing. After, Bruno accuses Pavel for not taking him to the hospital and not knowing anything. Pavel tells Bruno he used to be a doctor, Bruno says that Pavel must have been a bad doctor if he is now peeling potatoes. Later Bruno does connect with Pavel and feels bad for his situation.

Even though this movie was put together well, I really found the British accents of the actors a bit annoying. It really put them out of character, I rather this movie was all in German and had subtitles. Though I bet if I was British, the accent would have not bothered me. Another thing that bugged me a little bit was that after doing some quick research, I found out that Jewish boys that were younger than 15 and too young to work were killed immediately. Shmuel was the same age as Bruno (8), this kind of threw the movie off a bit, but I know they must of done this just for the movie.

Shmuel and Bruno

I found this movie to be extremely powerful; I was in shock at the sheer ignorance of Bruno. Not his fault of course, he was not told of anything but to see him interact with the slave workers was powerful. To add on, when Bruno said he "smelt a horrid smell from black smokes out of a chimney", I felt that to be extremely strong. And even his own mother didn’t knew that this was going on, and this leads to her and her husband fighting and you really see how the family is split. Where the father and daughter are strong supports of the Nazi movement and the mother extremely against the killing of the Jews.

Finally, I am not saying this movie is better than Schindler’s list; it is just a different view. I really liked this movie, it was strong and powerful. Just too bad at times the movie felt too manufactured for my likings. They had to bend a few facts to make the story feel complete. I won’t say how I felt about the ending because I am scared I might spoil it, but you need to see the ending! This movie is amazing and I would to see everyone see it.