Stripes are the New Solid
Taiz rating for plot: 4.5 out of 5
Taiz rating for cleanliness: 5 out of 5
Taiz rating for creativity: 5 out of 5
Taiz rating for a deeper message: 4.8 out of 5
Publicly rated: PG-13 (for some mature thematic material involving the Holocaust)
Bruno’s bright blue eyes sparkled with mischief as he scampered up and down the streets of Berlin with his friends, pretending to be airplanes, swooping and roaring. All of the adults sitting at the outdoor cafe’s smiled - something they simply couldn’t resist. “What charming children!” they seem to murmur. As they dash through the streets, grownups stop to smile at them, and the world seems bright and wonderful to the little 8-year-old with a passion for adventure and exploration. Then he arrives at home, and discovers that his family is planning to move to the country, because his father - a Nazi soldier - has been promoted. His parents seem excited enough about the prospect, so he reluctantly goes along with the plan, sad about leaving all of his city friends, but excited about the possibility of meeting new ones.
And so, the stage is set for us to explore the inner workings of the Holocaust, all through the innocent (and rather naive) eyes of 8 year-old Bruno. I’m not going to go into all of the details in this review, because there are a plethora of “reviews” out there, that will summarize the story-line if you really want to know it all before you even see it. I will say that, once they move to the country, Bruno sees a “farm” from his bedroom window with many strange people living on it - people who wear striped pajamas all day long. Of course, his yearning to explore gets the best of him, and he ends up sneaking off to visit the “farm” one day, and meeting a boy his own age - the boy in the striped pajamas.
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is quite a creative way to get a new perspective on the persecution of the Jews, which went on under Hitler, and to absorb some of the more intimate details of history. But it was more than that. This movie creatively touched on so much, and while many of the things were directly related to the time-period…they can easily be translated into lessons for today. It is better to learn from the mistakes made in history than to repeat them.
The power of propaganda is one big “theme” I picked out. This movie effectively shows how people can be made to believe almost anything if they have little or no discernment, and if you tell them the things that “tickle their ears”…so much so that even when they see the truth face-to-face, they don’t want to believe it. We watch Bruno’s older sister transform (into a little girl with a deeply rooted bitterness against the Jews, though she really has no good reason) under the teaching of their new “tutor”. At one point (after his tutor has them read a list of all the ways that Jews are “evil”) Bruno asks him, “There’s such a thing as a nice Jew though, isn’t there?” to which the tutor replies, “I think, Bruno, if you ever found a nice Jew, you would be the best explorer in the world.” Bruno then thinks about his little friend in the “striped pajamas” who had informed him that he was, in fact, a Jew. Not only does he not appear evil, but Bruno thinks that he would make a good friend. Bruno decides for himself that he will go on what he has seen of the Jews first-hand, rather than the empty words his tutor throws at him.
The utter foolish wickedness of persecuting any people group is (obviously) very evident in this movie. Bruno is the most aware of it, though he maybe doesn’t realize it. His mother also begins to soften, and by the end of the movie, she seems to be very aware of the truth, and the inhumanity of what went on at the “farm” (which, by the way, is a concentration camp of sorts). Unfortunately, it takes a huge disaster to soften his father’s heart. As pluggedinonline.com notes, this movie “demonstrates with breathtaking force how the consequences of evil behavior eventually affect all those involved, perpetrators included”.
The pace of the movie is pretty relaxed. In fact, I wondered how in the world it got a PG-13 rating at first, but many details of the Holocaust are revealed piece-by-piece, like a puzzle, throughout the movie…and it’s not a pretty picture. However, it is presented in such a way that a younger child could watch it without being totally freaked out, and yet take away the sobering facts of Hitler’s dictatorship, and Jewish persecution.
Probably the most sobering event occurs towards the end of the movie…and I was in tears by the time the credits rolled. We all just sort of sat there for a while, not saying anything. The white words rolling over the black background…and we all looked at it, but weren’t really seeing it. All we could see was the vivid picture of rows and rows of “striped pajamas” hanging on hooks - some tossed on the floor, owner-less.
Of course a bunch of thoughts went rushing through my head at this point. Two of which I’ll mention:
- “That could have been me.” This thought came along as I connected my recent discovery of my own Jewish roots with the extreme persecution and genocide the Jews went through. But this thought led to…
-”…but any of these characters could have been me. If something like the Holocaust were to happen again today, who would I most be like? Would I be the boy in the striped pajamas - the one persecuted and beaten? Would I be Bruno - the innocent one, who only wants peace? Would I be the Lieutenant, scared and yet in awe of the power of the Nazis at the same time - just trying to stay alive, and hide his own doubts? Would I be Bruno’s sister, Gretel, who believes every scrap of propaganda she sees/hears, and is led astray without even realizing it’s happening? Would I be Bruno’s mother, trying to ignore everything that’s going on around her, and live an undisturbed life, as normal? Would I be Bruno’s father - fighting against the truth and what’s right, but so blinded that reason is useless?”
Yes, the movie left me with some sobering thoughts, and a great deal of thankfulness to God that, so far, I have not had to go through something like that…although I can’t say that I never will.
There’s really not any language or sexual content, and any violence is mostly implied/offscreen.
I would highly recommend you see it at least once in your life if you haven’t already, and ponder each scene well. I think it would be an appropriate movie for the family to watch together, and the younger kids would be able to participate in any discussion quite easily - especially since the main character is only 8 himself…and he will only endear himself to older viewers, which adds to the effectiveness of the movie greatly.
So that, my friends, is all for now. And no, watching movies is not the only thing I do these days. Far from it. It just so happens that this gem was too good for me not to write about it.
Great review Tai! I consider whether or not I wanted to see this film but your review has decided me.
It is always sobering when we look at a time in history like WWII and think to ourselves, who would we have been? We, of course, want to think that we would be the fearless hero who quickly realized what was going on and worked to change it. This is what we should desire and be, but would we really have the discernment and courage to become the warrior for truth that God wants us to be? Even if we did do the right thing in time would we have the perception to realize what was going on and seek to stop it early in the process? Or would we be like the brave Martin Niemoller who penned these words:
“When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.
Then they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.
Then they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews,
I did not speak out;
I was not a Jew.
When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out for me.”
BTW, if you haven’t ever been there, the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington DC is a very insightful and VERY sobering detailed look at the holocaust.
Great review! I wanted to see this movie but I wasn’t sure if it would be any good. You’ve convinced me.
-peace-
P.S. Great blog too. Keep up the good work!
JUST AWESOME!!!!!!Gr888 Job…