The Boy In Striped Pyjamas Movie Review

Watching movies can be a fascinating form of leisure, especially if the film is intriguing. They serve various purposes beyond mere entertainment and moral lessons; movies are a form of relaxation, a stress buster and a way to provoke the imagination. Such a movie is “The boy in the striped pyjamas.” Based on the novel written by Irish author John Boyne, the movie transports us back to World War ll and allows us to witness the trauma of one particular family.

The director/ writer, Mark Herman, focuses on a naive 8-year-old boy, Bruno, who has an intense curiosity that influences him to explore. After his father's promotion to Commandant of the concentration camp by Hitler, they have to relocate to Poland, and what worries Bruno the most is losing his three best friends. Also, his elder sister, Gretel, is not thrilled about her father's plans of moving away. However, Bruno’s mother is bold in her efforts to make her entire household understand the intentions of the father.

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Arriving in Poland, they move into a spacious house not too far away from what Bruno thought was a farm. At first, Bruno finds it hard to settle in his new surroundings but eventually, he resigns himself to the situation. As his inquisitiveness increases, he ignores the restriction imposed by his mother not to venture too close to the “ farm”.

In his exploration of the woods, he comes across a barbed wire fence that surrounds a concentration camp. He then meets Shmuel, a Jewish boy, who wore what Bruno falsely interpreted as striped pyjamas.

They found out that they shared birthdays, which fosters their friendship. What they also have in common is the unawareness of the horrors happening around them. 

“ The boy in the striped pyjamas “ utilises its historical-fiction qualities to illustrate the atrocities committed during the war. The director objective was not to present a story of the Holocaust. Instead, he wanted to offer a heartbreaking story which he successfully achieves. The cleverness of the movie is that even without the use of any gore or shocking images used in similar films, it still reminds us of the brutality of the war. While in similar movies, we are used to seeing malnurished ghostly looking people in ragged prison uniforms being mistreated by Nazis, this time we are acquainted with these people in a different angle. For example, a young girl was once kindhearted and innocent before being shaped into the Nazi mindset and once this unfortunate Jewish prisoner was a well-respected doctor. By portraying the characters in this manner, the director gives the viewer at the beginning of the movie, the false hope that everything will turn up all right in the end. 

Another smart choice is the use of sound. Even though there is not much music accompanying the scenes, the use of silence accentuates the importance of particular moments in the movie. It creates a realistic ambience which allows the viewer to feel part of a scene. Adding to the atmosphere is the choice of light and camera angles which helps the viewer, even more, to feel immersed in the action. Aiding Mr Herman to create a strong moving story, credit can be attributed to the fantastic cast and crew which delivered a stellar performance. The protagonist Bruno (Asa Butterfield) and Shmuel (Jack Scanlon) morph in the role successfully, enabling us to accept an improbable friendship. Another exceptional and emotional performance that needs a mention is the one of Vera Farminga who played the role of Bruno’s mum.

To conclude I think that “The Boy in Striped Pyjamas,” does an excellent job in portraying an immensely heart-breaking story, lulling us in with innocent child characters activating our innate impulse to want to protect them and then… the tragedy strikes. It is simply a tear-jerker. Overall due, to the heavy topic that the movie is focused on, I would recommend it to twelve-year-olds (but even then they should have a fair degree of maturity) and above. I think all people in this age bracket will enjoy this movie as through its ability to be astronomically sad and educative it is equally as entertaining.          

Works cited

1. Boyne, J. (2006). The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas. David Fickling Books.
2. Ebert, R. (2008). The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas. RogerEbert.com. https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-boy-in-the-striped-pyjamas-2008
3. Friedman, S. (2010). Through the Lens of Literature: A Thematic Approach to Teaching “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas”. The English Journal, 100(4), 77-82.
4. Gadot, N. (2014). A Study of the Film Adaptation of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne. International Journal of Education & the Arts, 15(19).
5. Herman, M. (Director). (2008). The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas [Motion picture]. BBC Films.
6. Langer, J. (2016). The Holocaust and the Literary Imagination. In The Holocaust: Key Documents from The National Archives (pp. 115-128). Bloomsbury Publishing.
7. Levy, M. (2006). The Holocaust on Film. The Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, 26(3), 469-476.
8. Reiter, A. (2017). Education for the Holocaust in Germany: The case of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas. Education Sciences, 7(2), 39.
9. Reuter, C. (2016). Translating The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas: Holocaust Memory for Children? Forum for Modern Language Studies, 52(4), 382-394.
10. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. (n.d.). Concentration Camps. https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/concentration-camps
11. Yardley, J. (2006). The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2006/sep/30/featuresreviews.guardianreview37