Mark Herman’s amazing Holocaust movie, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, is now in wide release. Drop whatever you are doing and go see it. This is a powerful, emotional film.
The story is introduced with boys playing in the streets, running as if they themselves are airplanes as boys often do. From these familiar beginnings we are taken, through the experiences of 8 year old Bruno, son of an SS guard turned Commandant of a death camp, to “the countryside.” The father, Ralf, has shielded his family from the deepest horrors of the Final Solution so that even his wife, Elsa, believes him to only be a soldier standing for “the Fatherland.”
After the family arrives in the country Bruno spies the camp from his bedroom window mistaking it for a farm. His observations relating to this “farm” are honest and completely believable as coming from an eight year old: “Why do the farmers wear pajamas?” as he mistakes the camp uniforms for sleepwear. “Why can’t I play with the children?” since he is bored. And to the prisoner helping in his own kitchen, “Why did you quit being a doctor to be a potato peeler?” Knowing what we know about the Holocaust, each of his questions has a raw power.
The focal point of the movie is the unlikely friendship between Bruno and an 8 year old Jewish boy, Shmuel, a prisoner in the camp. (The movie does not strive for absolute historical accuracy; most kids under 15 were killed upon their arrival.) While exploring one day, the young German boy happens upon the camp’s barbed, electrified fence finding the young Shmuel sitting forlornly behind a pile of concrete. Shmuel is not aware of all that goes on at the camp (for instance, he believes the ovens to be burning old clothes), but Bruno has absolutely no frame of reference for it anyway. He understands everything only from his own experiences. This friendship leads to several scenes of almost indescribable agony, one of which brought gasps from virtually all in the theater and the other brought tears to many including me. When you grasp what is about to happen at the end, it’s all you can do to stay and finish the movie. The scene between the two boys in which Bruno is informed by Shmuel that he cannot come to his house and play is as poignant as any ever filmed. Bruno simply does not comprehend that his friend is in a prison and asks him, “What did you do?” Shmuel replies, “I’m a Jew.” The silence that follows that exchange is punctuated by the looks of incomprehension on the face of the young German and resignation on the face of the young Jew. It is far more powerful than any additional lines of dialogue.
The final, gut wrenching scene features Elsa frantically searching for her son and weeping uncontrollably when she begins to realize what has happened. I could not help but think of all the Jewish mothers, grandmothers, wives and sisters who also wept for their lost loved ones. I also could not help but think that if one life was important, all lives were and if none were important, then neither was that of a cute German kid.
Do not go expecting a docu-drama or emphasis on the historical aspects of the Holocaust or Germany in the 1930’s. Very little is given. Knowledge of the historical events are assumed. This movie is an exploration of the emotional impact of what was famously called “the banality of evil” as witnessed through the eyes of a child.
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is rated PG-13 for thematic material concerning the Holocaust. There is some violence, but most is off screen. There are no swear words, nudity or sexuality, but this movie would be difficult for kids younger than middle school. The movie features British and American actors who speak English. It takes a little getting used to, but, IMO, is better than a bunch of faked German accents.
