Armed with only the information on the DVD case, I didn’t fully know what to expect when I sat down to watch The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (or Pyjamas, for everywhere but the USA). This movie is not for the weak. It’s not even really for someone who just wants to be entertained. I’d describe it as Life is Beautiful-esque without the redemption. No subtitles to contend with, all of the actors are English and speak with proper English accents, but that’s slightly off-putting because the story is set in Germany. Also negative is the at times contrived feeling of the film. It follows a very straight-forward formula that will feel familiar to any decently aware viewer. That said, there are enjoyable elements too, and it moves along well at only 94 minutes. The period set dressing and costumes are great, and there’s a reason that its formula is familiar–it works!
Comprised mostly of actors so unknown they don’t even have profile photos on IMDB, they do deliver convincing performances, especially the film’s protagonist, the young Bruno (Asa Butterfield). He is the bright spot in the film and provides the eyes through which we see the world of World War II-era Germany. Composer James Horner (Titanic, Braveheart, A Beautiful Mind) is the biggest name attached to this independent project. Vera Farmiga portrayed Bruno’s mother and gave an appropriately complex performance that earned her the Best Actress award from the British Independent Film Awards. “Mother” offers an adult perspective from the inside, as the wife of a Nazi officer who only discovers the truths about “work camps” halfway through the film. The movie also tied with eventual Oscar darling Slumdog Millionaire for the Audience Choice Award at the Chicago International Film Festival.
This film really puts a face on a different side of World War II than we’re used to seeing. I didn’t experience the War or anything close to its aftershocks, so I spent a lot of the movie thinking about the human capacity for justification, herd behavior, and other ideas from psychology. It’s an interesting look at the Holocaust through other eyes.
The film’s ending is shocking and somewhat abrupt, leaving the viewers to make sense of it on their own. Perhaps the closing chapter of the book on which the movie is based is better at drawing a conclusion for the reader; it seems that words might be more effective than images in this situation. The PG-13 rating applies only for thematic material, not for any of the usual PG-13-worthy stuff, which may actually pale in comparison, just because of the tragic nature of the film’s end. I imagine it could spawn some good conversations with adolescents mature enough to handle it, but parents, please, preview it first!
Special Features are straightforward, what you’d expect here–a featurette, deleted scenes and commentary with the film’s writer/director and the book’s writer.