The Boy in Striped Pajamas: A Movie Review

Mark Herman’s ‘The Boy in Striped Pajamas’ is a heart-rending movie that would have a touching impact on anyone who chooses to watch it. Any humane person would be devastatingly shaken-up after watching it, because it is not easy either to absorb or to digest.

'The Boy in Striped Pajamas’ shows us what The Holocaust looked like from the eyes of a cute little eight-year-old explorer named Bruno, played by Asa Butterfield.

This story is set in Nazi Germany, where Bruno and his family are living comfortable and secure lives in Berlin, the capital of Germany. Bruno’s father Ralf (played by David Thewlis) is a German soldier, being promoted and transferred to the countryside – miles away in Poland. Bruno was not happy on hearing this news, yet there was nothing he could do about it because everyone in the family seemed very keen to move to Poland along with him the very next day. Consequently, he had to part with all his friends, too.

On shifting to the new house, he couldn’t help but notice a farm from his room’s window; but little did he know that it was actually a concentration camp where Jews were brutally tortured – it was like hell come alive, come alive!

However, it isn’t just brutal torture. The torture worsens, and the army officials are sworn to secrecy in order not to spill to anyone about what actually goes on there.

That particular scene in which Bruno’s mother (played by the gorgeous Verma Farmiga) comes to know of what’s actually going on in the camp could shatter anyone’s heart into a million little pieces. The film is truly devastating and heart-breaking, and it pains to know that certain Germans were so inhumane that their hearts contained such unnecessary and cruel hatred for a community that had done absolutely nothing to harm them.

Naïve little Bruno was clueless as to what was happening around him, while his father was busy commanding mass murders of Jews in that very concentration camp of Auschwitz.

The contrast shown between the differing views of a German father and son duo is impressive. Nothing but his nation matters to the officer, and he is living a lie blaming Jews for being the reason that the Fatherland was lagging behind. On the other hand, the son is too young to understand this kind of differentiation and discrimination, which explains why he didn’t hesitate in befriending the first Jewish boy he met on what he knew as “the farm.” The movie portrays this theme of innocence with the help of camera angles, the varied music and symbols provided. Shmuel (Jack Scanlon), a child from “the farm”, was Bruno’s friend from what was actually the concentration camp. One of the most emotional and sentimental components of this story is Bruno and Shmuel’s friendship – one that develops warmly when Bruno decides to explore the forbidden backyard of his huge, new house. He is one smart kid, I’m telling you. His parents had restricted him from going to the farm and making new friends; His father’s exact words about the Jews on “the farm” were, ” Well, they aren’t really people, you know.” But, as we know, Bruno’s curious nature couldn’t be repressed by anyone – and he really wanted some company in Poland, and Shmuel filled the emptiness that Bruno had been enduring. It is surprising how the eight-year-old feels so bored and lost despite having a sibling, but there was a valid reason for that. His elder sister, Gretel, was obsessively involved in supporting Hitler and his policies after coming under the influence of their private tutor - one whose job was to brainwash the children against the Jewish community, and turn them into two little Hitler slaves. And, mind you, the tutor was intensely successful when it came to transforming the way Gretel perceived her country and the world around her.

Also, the British accent of the actors was very noticeable – I kept dwelling on why the creators chose to hire actors with an elegantly perfect British accent instead of those with a German accent, it intrigued me. I’m actually a huge fan of the British accent, so I enjoyed listening it throughout the movie.

Even the stylish costumes had the British vibe, all well-designed by Natalie Warner.

After analyzing the movie and having discussions with myself as to what the movie meant to me, I couldn't help but think about this one observation I made. Yes, indeed, the film emphasizes on the wrongs done by Hitler, and the amount of extreme torment that the Jews endured, but another message that I could find myself picking up was one about influence and its power. After watching this masterpiece, I kept constantly wondering why the Germans despised the Jews, because I was truly traumatized and overwhelmed, tears couldn’t stop trickling down my hurting eyes. That is when I realized that the Germans were under the influence and control of a profusely idiotic man who was rising to power, spreading hateful ideas such as antisemitism. The German citizens were brainwashed into believing that Hitler was their one and only supreme ‘God’; they had lionized him. This ‘God’s’ influential power had risen so much that everyone had started to believe whatever rubbish he said, destroying the possibility of anyone having a mind of his/her own to think. If I were to explain this using an example of our own generation, I felt as if people treated Hitler how teenagers these days treat the ‘iconic kids’. If you look at it from this perspective and compare the two situations, you’d be able to see a lot of similarities. You see, in today’s generation, an adolescent trying to ‘fit in’ would lionize and worship certain other teenagers, trying to merge with their personalities. The kid would befriend all the people that ‘the popular kid’ likes, while trying to make fun of all those whom he/she hates. I am aware that the situation in Germany was obviously much worse and way more serious, but this is just one of the things that I observed and thought of sharing. In order to make a teenager understand who Hitler was and what he did, a softer and more subtle introductory example could be that of what a popular kid in high school is like – he/she has an immense amount of control over the others and the way they think, which leads us back to the power of influence. So, in this scenario, I don’t think that it would be weird to say that Hitler was ‘the popular kid of Germany’.