The Boy In The Striped Pajamas

2.5 Stars (Out of four)

The Boy In The Striped Pajamas is a very good movie, but is the most twisted funhouse mirror of To Kill A Mockingbird.  It is always interesting to highlight great injustice by showing it through the eyes of children, to show the hypocrisies through a child's innocence.  This is not right, and it becomes personalized through their eyes and feelings.  The movie starts with a quote, " Childhood is measured out by sounds and smells and sights, before the dark hour of reason grows," by John Betjeman.  It focuses on Bruno, an eight-year-old boy in Nazi Germany.  While living in Berlin, his father is promoted to commandant of a concentration camp and they have to move to the country.  Bruno is bored in the new house with no friends and is confined to the grounds by guarded fences.  One day, from his window, he sees what he thinks is a farm with people wearing funny pajamas.  He goes out exploring, goes to the camp and meets Schmuel, a young Jewish boy his age and they strike up a friendship.  Over several weeks, Bruno begins to see clues of horrible events he doesn't understand.  Schmuel says his father disappeared from a new work crew and Bruno hatches a plan to sneak into the camp to help Schmuel find his father.  Once Bruno gets in, the guards begin to clear the camp and Bruno is accidentally gassed with the Jews.

Now, there have been many Holocaust movies from the truly great (Schindler's List), to dull (The Pianist), to insulting (Life Is Beautiful), to outright obscene and repellant (Salon Kitty or Ilsa, She-Wolf Of The SS).  This movie is quite a downer, and rightfully so, considering the subject matter.  But what really sets a great story like Schindler's List apart from spectacle like The Pianist, is the uplifting aspect of the perseverance and ultimate triumph of the survivors.  Maybe it is a uniquely American trait to want a happy ending, but when I see horror after horror, it only smothers me rather than uplift.  When I see this type of blackness, it doesn't impact me, just depresses me.  It leaves me with the feeling that evil triumphs over good, and I see enough horror in real life.  The biggest message the Holocaust gives to us is that hope and perseverance will eventually overcome evil.  Maybe I'm naïve to think that things should work out in the end.  Ultimately, the Holocaust serves two purposes.  The first and foremost is a warning to never let something like it happen again.  But the second is a message is to persevere, to rise above adversity no matter what the odds.  Movies like this one ultimately fall flat to me.  While I do like to see injustice portrayed through the innocence of children's eyes to highlight that this is not how things should be, there ultimately has to be a payoff.  In the end of To Kill A Mockingbird, Atticus Finch loses the case, but we know the outcome is wrong and will be remedied.  Schindler's List, we see that not only did all of the people he saved survived, but flourished after three generations.  On this movie, two cute kids get gassed and the Nazi dad gets his comeuppance.  Ultimately, all it is is death and pain.  It is well-told and worth a watch, but ultimately does not stand with its superior cousins.  Watch Schindler's List or the superior Polish In Darkness instead.