Mourning and Presentation - Which Side of the Fence are We on?
Added 11/5/2009
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is a movie that left me conflicted, to say the least. It involves a friendship that comes from the most unlikely of places, and ends with a tragedy that involves droves of Jews and one German boy. While I will not say exactly what happens, I will say that feeling bad for this one boy seems to be a bad thing in some ways because I felt sorry for him only because of the way he was presented. His father was the director of a camp that kills Jews, his family a beast filled with blind followers, and one boy looking into the Jewish camps and wondering why he wasn't allowed to play the game the Jews were allowed to play.
As far as movies go, the movie was done well and shows something about the youth of a country that killed at leisure. There is the confusion, the wonder, the want to help, and all of the ignorance that youth can breed. It accomplishes everything it sets out to do, too, making you feel sorrow when the curtain comes down. I hope that the movie was also meant to make a person examine this sorrow they felt, knowing that the word genocide is associated with the thing they just watched. The other people in the striped pajamas were not props but were instead reminders of people that were going to die a horrid death, and yet one boy on the wrong side of the fence was the thing that we were watching. His life, his actions, his family's sorrow; these things were the things we saw. What we did not see were the pieces that were missing from the puzzle; the families that could not cry because they were no longer anything save ash mistaken for snow on the breeze.
Do I recommend the movie? I'm not sure. I do know that I liked the movie, that it moved me, but I'm not sure it moved me in the way it was supposed to. It has a complexity to it, one that I hope people do not miss, but that several newspaper reviews seemed to lose in their interpretation of the movie. I suppose I'm saying that I recommend the movie but only to those that see the entire picture, and mourn for the entire picture as it is conceived.
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Awesome movie!!
Added 11/4/2009
This movie is a thoughtful portrayal of two little boys during the Nazi regiem. Very well acted with a punching ending. Recommend this movie highly!
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Unforgettable and filled with Hope
Added 11/4/2009
Boy In the Striped Pajamas is one of my all time favorite movies. Two unlikely boys become friends. For the son of a German officer who does not share the nature of his job or the camp in which he works, the boys new home near a concentration camp is an adventure. His inquisitive nature allows him to befriend a boy whom he believes lives on a farm. The boy whom he befriends who wears the funny striped pajamas is also protected by his father and friends concerning the true nature of the "farm". A heart wrenching film, the boyish nature of play above all adult concern, a must see!
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Excellent!
Added 11/2/2009
Essenstial perspective of the holocaust! The childs acting was top-notch! This is a must watch, must own!
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Far better than I ever expected
Added 10/7/2009
I did not read the book that inspired this movie--but I had heard about it and figured it was just another weepy story about the holocaust. Not to criticize that awful time, but there seems to be an overabundance of films and books on this subject as of late, and I just about wrote this one off. (I saw last year's THE READER and while I loved the book, I really soured at the movie. I thought it was proselytizing and unbearably pontificating on the obvious). So it was with much incredulity that I viewed this film.
First of all--the boys were so amazingly good--the acting and the true to life portrayals of boys at that age. I was also moved by the heft of the story--that the wife of the commander in charge was so powerfully moral. But what I was not expecting was this amazing story, and particularly, its summation--let me just put it that way. It had such a powerful effect on me that it resonated with me for days afterward.
Why did this movie not received the attention that THE READER (a lesser movie, for sure) did? (of course, there was the starring role of Kate Winslet, but still...it really was not that good of a film.) But THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PAJAMAS blew me away. And I totally recommend. This was not just a movie, it was an experience.
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