The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is a movie about the Holocaust and is based on a book by the same name. The movie is set in the backdrop of the World War II, when Nazi Germany was on rampage in Europe and killing innocent Jews in the disguise of nationalism. This movie stands apart from the rest of the Holocaust films as it portrays a perspective of a son of a Nazi commander rather than narrating the gruesome discrimination and humiliation meted out to Jews, as other movies’ do.
The movie starts off with the Bruno, a happy go lucky 8 year old, being forced to shift from the Berlin to the country side as his father, a Nazi commander, has been posted take charge of a Jew extermination camp. Obviously Bruno’s father utters nothing related to the camp and successfully convinces him that the country side home will be as good the current one.
Bruno’s adventure seeking instincts get the better of him in his country side home. He discovers ways to kill time by playing in his favourite swing, the house servants and even exploring the backyard that leads him to the ‘farm’. It is in this ‘farm’ that he chances upon Shmuel, an 8 year old Jew inmate. The friendship between the two boys blooms over time but at no point does Bruno realize that the ‘farm’ is actually an invidious Nazi pogrom and that his own father is at the helm of things there.
As the film moves on, Bruno encounters several incidents during which reality is laid out thread bare. But Bruno, being an adventure seeking innocent 8 year old, refuses or probably is just too young to understand the gravity of the situation around him. His naive attitude tugs your heart. You get emotionally overwhelmed when he laments about ‘How adults cannot make up their mind’, an obvious reference to a Jewish servant whom he thinks gave up his medical profession to become a potato peeler! His enquiry about the same servant’s return after a lethal thrashing, doled out by his father’s Nazi underlings, buttresses his innocence and cements the idea that this boy has no idea whatsoever of what is going on around him.
I am going to leave out the climax, intentionally. Try to grab a DVD copy of this movie.
Disclaimer: Emotional disturbance guaranteed!
P.S. What are the other Holocaust movies which you liked?
1 comment:
The movie is simply amazing.... You know what is gonna happen in the end, but you still have your heart begging the kid not to do it... A very simple story... Brilliant acting all around :)
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