Nilda F. Andrews    

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is a film adaptation of a novel by the same name written by the Irish novelist John Boyne.  Under the direction of British director Mark Harmon, it is a very special work of art in bringing the holocaust to a very personal level.   The film focuses on Bruno's (Asa Butterfield) innocent viewpoint of the horrors surrounding him…not fully understanding their meaning or their impact on his own life.  

Two Sides Of A Fence

His father (David Thewlis) is a high-ranking officer of the Third Reich’s SS whose promotion takes him to do his “work” in the countryside.  He takes his family with him.  Far away from his friends and school, his son makes his way to the concentration camp where he meets another boy who is also only eight years old.  The crux of the story is how Bruno manages to maintain a friendship with the boy behind the electric wire.  Naively, he asks the boy why he is wearing pajamas.  In a poignant scene, Bruno comes home to find the boy in the dining room cleaning champagne glasses.  He offers him a pastry just as a one of his father’s henchman comes in.  Denying he had given the boy the pastry, the boy is dragged away.  In the next scene, we see Bruno visiting with the boy and asking for his forgiveness.  The two are remarkable in their childlike disavowal of the severity of the circumstances and become friends once again.

Horror and Defiance

When Bruno's mother (played impeccably by Vera Farmiga) learns the significance of the plumes of black smoke hovering over her home, she becomes hysterical yet defiant even while trying to maintain a sense of equilibrium for her family. Yet she can do little to counterpoint her husband’s ingrained conviction that “those people” are not human beings but vermin.

This movie touched me deeply. The director’s artistry in unfolding a fragment of unbelievable cruelty where the audience member feels he or she is experiencing the same event is a tribute to his understanding of human emotion without being manipulative.  I recommend this movie with the caveat that the twist of fate you will experience will leave its mark on you.

Cast

Vera Farmiga, David Thewlis, Asa Butterfield, Donomkos Nemeth

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