Certainly with the many movies made about the tragedy of the Holocaust–several which have been done brilliantly–it could be easy to steer clear of yet another bleak look at the horror of that time in history. Yet if there was any “little indie movie that could” out there in the cineplex right now, it has to be the gut-wrenching, amazing film “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas.” It is getting some buzz– especially from critics in religious circles–and it is even receiving some celebrity endorsements from folks like Amy Grant. So while the movie is in very limited release, I am optimistic that it will slowly begin to play wider in the coming weeks, and I encourage everyone to find it and see it.Just as the Oscar-winning “Life is Beautiful” found a unique, though perhaps improbable, premise to reexamine the Holocaust, so too does “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas.” The story is a narrow one, told solely through the eye of one boy, Bruno, who has been forced to leave his upscale life to move with his family to Auschwitz. The boy literally lives on one side of the fence of the prison camp and spends time daily watching the people on the other side of the fence–people who always wear striped pajamas.Bruno’s father works for Hitler and has moved his family to Auschwitz on direct orders, yet he and his wife manage to keep young Bruno from truly understanding anything about his surroundings or what is happening there. One day, however, Bruno befriends a Jewish boy who lives in the camp, and unbeknownst to his parents, a series of events unfold that lead to a devastating conclusion.What gives the film its eerie power is the way the movie paints such a picture of family normalcy against the backdrop of atrocity. Bruno’s family means well. They don’t seem like monsters. But because they think they can be near evil, or even participate in evil to a degree, without being impacted personally, their lives are ruined by the lie. This is the first movie in a liong time that examines the way we justify our actions and the price of innocence lost. Most of all it is a prophetic reminder that sometimes it is too late to decide to do the right thing.Check out the trailer below:
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posted November 14, 2008 at 12:12 pm
It’s an interesting premise. However, that story could never have happened because children that young generally were killed as “unfit to work”. Also, any person trying to get that close to the barbed wire would have been killed instantly.
Having said that, if the movie makes us think about the nature of evil and how easy it is to do wrong while believing ourselves right, then the movie has served its purpose.
posted November 14, 2008 at 4:51 pm
I don’t know if such young people would have been killed, but I recall reading that the Polish director Roman Polansky when he was very young, was held in a camp and escaped when someone raised the wire when the guards weren’t looking and he fled.
posted November 14, 2008 at 5:57 pm
More than 1.5 of those killed by Nazis during the Holocaust were children. As Joyce said, many of them were killed immediately on arrival at the camps. Other suffered hideous medical “experiments.”
I did not like the movie, not for the objections some have raised to making the focus the story of one German boy but because I found the ending manipulative and condescending. There are vastly better and more powerful documentaries and feature films about the Holocaust, including some suitable for older children like “The Devil’s Arithmetic” and “Paper Clips.”
posted November 15, 2008 at 6:51 am
The Holocaust never happened. It was all made up by the Jews.
posted November 15, 2008 at 7:32 am
Hamid never existed. Hamid was made up by ignorance.
posted November 15, 2008 at 10:56 am
How do you know that the Holocaust never happened? Where you there?
posted November 15, 2008 at 10:59 am
How do you know that the Holocaust never happened, were you there?
posted November 15, 2008 at 12:44 pm
Great comment, Bill, but I’d also say Hamid was made up by Hatred. Just ignorance gives him way too much credit.
posted November 15, 2008 at 3:38 pm
Hamid, just who are you ? Are you one of those that know something like this DID happen and by ignoring it, because you dont want to believe it because you are afraid to believe it, will denied that it ever happened? You show you ignorence by saying it did not happened. Who do you think you are fooling? Yourself mostly. What in the world would make you to believe it?…There are many proofs that it DID happen, even the German people believe they were capable of doing such a thing. So by your hatred of the Jews, you think that they thought up allll the horror, and misery, pictures, gas chambers, the stench of burning bodies that the German people were smelling, grave yards,etc, just to fool people? or what was their purpose? I really would like for you to explain your reasoning..Maybe there really is something there that the rest of the world, encluding that little runt in Iran, should know!!!__So, Hamid, I believe in you!!! I believe you know somthing that the rest of us do not!!!! So come forth and please do explain your reasoning for the Holocust not happening!!! I also believe in ONE GOD and He is a Christian GOD!! How about you, Hamid, you sound so intellegent, this could be a really informitive forum. Sincerely
posted November 16, 2008 at 9:26 am
There is a basic problem with this film. There were NO 9 year old boys in Auschwitz. Upon arrival, Dr Mengele made a selection, who would be killed imediately and who would be worked and starved to death before they were killed. If a Jew was under 14 or 15, over 60, or looked ill, they were immediately gassed and cremated.
posted November 16, 2008 at 9:29 am
There is a basic problem with this film. There were NO 9 year old boys in Auschwitz. Upon arrival, Dr Mengele made a selection, who would be killed imediately and who would be worked and starved to death before they were killed. If a Jew was under 14 or 15, over 60, or looked ill, they were immediately gassed and cremated.
posted November 16, 2008 at 10:58 am
To look at this movie literally in light of a few statistics is to miss the entire point of the movie. “Life is beautiful” was unrealisti to say the least. It was still making a point about human nature.
Nell, “Paper Clips” is a great movie with a completely different point. The ending of this movie had to be what it was. There was no other way .
posted January 25, 2009 at 4:50 am
I agree…the only 8 year olds in Auschwitz were either on their way to be gassed immediately upon arrival or in rare cases a twin used in cruel, sadistic and un-scientifically empirical experiments conducted by Mengele. It’s not a bad movie, a little bit simplified with some basic inaccuracies but nevertheless this movie does have an important message for people.