The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

So far this holiday season The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is the only "must see" movie on my list.  I saw it last week with Vicki and my parents.  This is a heavy but extraordinary film. 

Here is a summary from Wikipedia; "Bruno is an eight year old German boy who leads a very comfortable life in Berlin during the Second World War. His father is a high ranking Nazi officer, and things change when the family has to move due to his father’s new post. In his innocence, Bruno sees the nearby concentration camp  as a ‘farm’ and wonders why its inhabitants are always wearing striped pajamas. Eventually Bruno becomes friends with a Jewish boy his own age who lives on the other side of the fence."

Seeing the atrocity of the holocaust through the eyes of eight year old boys is very unique.  It humanizes the ugly reality of what was happening in a way that brings it close.  In other words, sometimes the viewing of nasty people doing these atrocious things results in a kind of disbelief that these kinds of things could really happen in our world today.  This can leave us thinking "Those weren't human beings they were monsters."  Somehow this allows us to remain distant from these realities.  The Boy in the Striped Pajamas gives a glimpse into the human tragedy that allows us to realize this kind of thing not only could happen, it is happening.  There were points in this movie where I would realize that I had actually quit breathing, other times I would exclaim, "Oh, My God."  Here is the trailer.

Comments

[andy]

agreed, I saw this last week - very powerful and puts you through a range of emotions. great acting, great film.

[Mike]

Andy, You've got all the good movies out in your neighborhood at AMC 30. I guess they have it figured out where all the smart people who see smart movies live.