The Boy in the Striped Pajamas Review

Destruction, violence, war, and death are a part of human history. Perhaps the most brutal and traumatic war ever was World War II. This war not only involved fighting between enemy countries but it also extended to millions and millions of harmless civilians who were murdered because of their race, religion, sexual orientation. A number of movies were made since the end of WWII to remind the following generations of the darkest years of our history. Perhaps the most impressive film is The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, which is based on the novel by John Boyne. It tells a haunting WWII story about a German boy's forbidden friendship with a Jewish child named Shmuel. The film's message is clear; nobody can hide from the war's destruction and there is no escape from violence and death. However the viewer should not expect to see a flood of graphic images. The story itself is simple but so shocking that it does not need to exaggerate the horrific facts with vivid images. There are only hints at violence, hatred and dreadful conditions and the rest is left to the viewer's limitless imagination.

The audience can see the events through Bruno's and Shmuel's simplistic perceptions, which is how the movie is able to expose the insane, irrational, and inexcusable madness of the Holocaust. How can what happened during the Holocaust ever be rationalized? The answer is that it cannot be rationalized at all.

The story begins with the introduction of young Bruno and his family. They are living a comfortable life in Berlin during WWII. His father Ralph is a prominent Nazi soldier, truly respected by the eight year old Bruno, by his older sister Gretel, and by their mother Elsa. The entire family considers the father a national hero who is fighting against the evil to protect the pure German way of life.

The trouble starts when the father's work is transferred out to the country side and the whole family needs to follow him and move into a new home. The house is surrounded by fences and guarded by an armed German soldier and his German shepherd. The house has such a cold, unwelcoming character that the audience feels that something really bad is going to happen at this place. Uniformed German soldiers appear in the house on and off, intruding the life of the family and creating a hostile and tense atmosphere. Since Bruno does not have friends he becomes bored with his new surroundings and wants to explore outside. However he is forbidden to do so and he doesn't understand why he can't wander around outside or play at a nearby "farm" that he can see from his bedroom's window. Bruno doesn't know that what seems to be a peaceful farm in the distance is a concentration camp where Jews are being mass executed. He feels so bored that he cannot resist the temptation of running out to see the "farm" and in-spite of all parental warnings he wanders away to explore the "farm" he is fascinated with. At the fences of the "farm" he meets Shmuel who is the same age as Bruno, and the two eventually become friends. Little by little Bruno finds out more about the "farm". He learns that there are soldiers there who take away people's clothes, dress them in striped "pajamas", shave their heads, force them to work, and treat them cruelly.

One day Shmuel is ordered to help out at Bruno's house where Bruno talks him into eating some food. However when a soldier angrily yells at Shmuel how he dares to steal food, Bruno denies that he gave Shmuel the food. Shmuel is immediately removed from the house and for a very long time he does not show up at the fence to play with Bruno. When he does it is clear that he was brutally beaten. Bruno's inaction to stand up for his friend symbolizes how the world turned a blind eye toward the horrors of war and tolerated the brutality they witnessed without objection.

In another occasion an old, sickly looking man, clothed in striped "pajamas" is helping out at Bruno's kitchen and when Bruno gets hurt falling off his swing, the old man helps him up and takes care of his wound. Bruno finds out that the old man is not only a nice and caring person, but he is also a doctor who is forced to peel potatoes. It was also typical that Germans did not respect educated Jews and humiliated them, perhaps even more as a punishment for not fitting into the picture which painted Jews as a worthless, evil race, which caused the collapse of morals and the economy.

One night there is a movie playing for the soldiers about the "farm" where Shmuel lives. The film shows a nice camp with happy people going about their every day business and the camp even has a cafeteria where people can eat and relax. However what the film showed was far from the truth. It was made for the general public to convince them about the humanity of the German army and to show them the attractive life the Jews have in concentration camps. The German people needed to be reassured that they are involved in a just war for noble reasons. Nobody needed to know that these camps are death camps where millions of people disappear in the cremating ovens forever. The use of propaganda, like this, was widely used during this time period to promote the war.

When Elsa, Bruno's mom, suspects the truth about her husband's murderous job she wants to move. She does not want to be a part of this horror and wants her children away from it as well. But, it is too late not to be involved. Minutes before their departure Bruno runs away and disappears forever behind the barb wired fences with Shmuel to help him find his friend's missing father. Bruno is eventually killed along with Shmuel in a gas filled chamber along with other Jews.

The movie's description of the events is historically correct. Indeed millions of Jews were crowded into concentration camps under unbearable conditions. Men, women, children, old and sick, educated or not, there was no exception. Those who were unable to work were sent to gas chambers to be gassed to death. Also, the general public was lied to about the function of the concentration camps. The audience is also faced with another historically accurate description in the movie when they can see that Gretel's bedroom walls were filled with Hitler Youth posters, another form of war propaganda. Also Gretel openly adores a young and cruel Nazi lieutenant especially when he aggressively screams at one of the prisoners. It is clear that Gretel was, as many other German youth, impressed by Hitler's war propaganda.

This film is deeply moving because it touches the viewer's consciousness through the naive view of a child who can see the war for what it is; a killing spree of innocents and a deception for power and wealth.

Bibliography
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. Prod. David Heyman. Dir. Mark Herman. Perf. Asa Butterfield, Jack Scanlon, David Thewlis and Vera Farmiga. DVD. Heyday Films, 2008.