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Picture
A prominent Nazi's young son befriends a boy on the other side
​of a fence, unaware that he is a Jewish prisoner in a work camp.
DRAMA/WAR

The Boy in the
​Striped Pajamas
 
(2008)

Written and Directed by Mark Herman

Starring Asa Butterfield, Vera Farmiga, David Thewlis,
Rupert Friend, Amber Beattie, Jack Scanlon, Richard Johnson

​Based on the novel by John Boyne

Connor Eyzaguirre
May 18, 2020
8/10
Oooh, boy. Here we go. I had heard for years that The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is one of the most emotionally devastating films ever made. That the ending will annihilate your soul. After finally watching the film, I understand what they meant. This film is a brilliant depiction of the Holocaust through the eyes of two innocent children forced to be opposites. And that ending. Wow. It's a gutsy move to end a film like that, and there hasn't been a dry eye in the house since. Asa Butterfield and Jack Scanlon are fantastic as Bruno and Shmuel, the German boy and Jewish boy who became friends because they didn't know they weren't allowed to.

Bruno (Butterfield) is the young son of an SS Commander (Thewlis), who moves his family out to the country on orders of his superiors. Bruno is sad, has no one to play with, and doesn't understand why he's not allowed to play with "the children at the farm who wear pajamas." Bruno doesn't realize he's living next to a concentration camp, and his parents go out of their way to keep him in the dark. When Bruno goes exploring, he comes upon the fence of the camp. On the other side is Shmuel (Scanlon), a Jewish boy the same age as Bruno. The two become friends and meet in secret every day, while Bruno's mother (Farmiga) realizes what's going on at the camp and wants to move her kids away. It's a very emotional movie, especially during scenes where both Shmuel and Bruno have difficulty understanding the horrors of the Holocaust. They're children, too young to comprehend that people would ever do something so monstrous.

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is a difficult watch. Few films have depicted the innocence of wartime children better. It's almost like a serious Jojo Rabbit. The performances are all memorable, and the ending is unbelievably brutal. Just a pure gut-punch. I don't think this film has been seen that much, particularly because everyone who has seen it has said it was extremely sad. And they're right. But that's the important part. Movies like this remind us that nobody is born hating anyone. Hatred is taught. Never forget that.

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