Emotionally Powerful!
Added 11/8/2009
What to say about this film? It was engaging. It was moving. It was powerfully emotional. Jack Scanlan as Schmuel was an excellent choice for the 'boy in the striped pajamas' and I had read somewhere that that young boy was able to pull at your emotions with just his facial expressions and he pulls even stronger when he does speak. Whoever wrote that was completely right. As does the innocence of the friendship that builds between the son of a German Nazi Commander, and a boy that lives in 'the farm' on the other side of an electrified barbed wire fence. I found myself rooting for their friendship, even though I knew that it would be short lived. I expected it to end when Bruno betrays his friendship to Schmuel when he lies about Schmuel taking food. But it didn't. The boys continue their friendship through the fence and in an attempt to apologize to Schmuel for lying, Bruno sneeks across (or under) the fence to help Schmuel find his father who has gone missing within 'the farm'. The Nazi Commander and his wife discover their son is missing and start a frantic search to find their son. The movie then takes an unexpected turn (although, somewhat expected if you know any history about concentration camps) and it's at that moment when your emotions are truly put to the test. For me, I had my emotions in check up until the two boys meet and from that point on, there was no holding them back. The tears flowed to the very end.
It's a powerful movie and I highly recommend it!
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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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