From Miramax Films, the studio that brought you the Academy Award winning Life is Beautiful (Best Foreign Language Film, 1998) comes The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. Based on the best selling novel by John Boyne, it’s an unforgettable motion picture experience powerful and moving beyond words (Pete Hammond, Hollywood.com). Bored and restless in his new home, Bruno, an innocent and naive eight year old, ignores his mother and sets off on an adventure in the woods. Soon he meets a young boy, and a surprising friendship develops. Set during World War II, this remarkable and inspiring story about the power of the human spirit will capture your heart and engage your mind.
Bonus Features include Deleted Scenes With Optional Commentary by Writer, Director Mark Herman and Author John Boyne, Friendship Beyond the Fence Featurette, Feature Commentary by Writer, Director Mark Herman and Author John BoyneThe innocence of childhood savagely collides with the Holocaust in The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. Bruno (Asa Butterfield) knows that his father is a soldier and that they have to move to a new house in the country… a house near what he thinks is a farm. But his father isn’t just a soldier; he’s a high-ranking officer in Hitler’s elite SS troops who’s just been placed in command of Auschwitz. As Bruno explores the woods around the house, he discovers the concentration camp’s perimeter fence. On the other side sits a boy his own age, with whom Bruno strikes up a friendship–a friendship that will have tragic consequences. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is most powerful in the details: The casual brutality of a Nazi lieutenant; the uncomfortable juxtaposition of the family’s domestic life with glimpses of the treatment of the imprisoned Jews; a ghastly propaganda film suggesting that life at Auschwitz was like a holiday. But more than anything else, Butterfield’s performance makes this film compelling. The young actor perfectly conveys Bruno’s limited perspective even as the film carefully unveils the larger, darker reality. The movie’s ending will undoubtedly spark arguments, but only because of the emotional complexity of what happens–The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is made with great skill and compassion. Also featuring David Thewlis (Naked) and Vera Farmiga (The Departed) as Bruno’s parents. –Bret Fetzer
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February 2, 2006
#1
This is a fairly straight-forward propaganda film about the “holocaust”. It’s primary aim is to perpetuate the idea that Nazis used “gas” chambers to exterminate Jews during WWII.
Unfortunately, it is currently illegal in Germany to do the research which would be necessary in order to prove or disprove the idea that gas chambers were used to exterminate Jews. So we may never know for sure what really happened in those chambers. Most likely, the gas chambers were used for delousing clothing, as typhus was a serious problem in the camps. It is unlikely that these gas chambers were used to exterminate Jews.
One aspect of the “holocaust” which is not addressed in this movie is the fact that the “holocaust” was used to set up the state of Israel, creating a holocaust for Arab people. When will Hollywood (or the BBC) make a film about the countless Arabs who were killed in order to set up the state of Israel?
Also, why doesn’t Hollywood (or the BBC) care about the millions of Christians who died in the Soviet gulags? There aren’t many movies being made about the Soviet holocaust. Does Hollywood (and the BBC) feel that the Jewish holocaust is more important than the Soviet holocaust, or the Arab holocaust?
Although the acting in this movie is great, I do not approve of holocaust propaganda, so I can’t give more than 2 stars.
Note: There are a lot of people who want to suppress honest discussions about history, so this review will probably be removed quickly by Amazon.com.
February 2, 2006
#2
I never received this item, it was sent to the wrong address and then returned to you. I had to wait several weeks until my account was credited so that I could re-order it. I have finally received my re-ordered item today.
JKanary
February 2, 2006
#3
I rented this movie because I was deciding on whether to buy the book for my son who is 9 and 1/2 but needs books at higher grade levels to challenge his vocabulary. After being shocked by the ending, in my opinion, there is no way any child younger than high school needs to learn about history through “wishful payback emotional manipulation” of this tawdry kind. I just about threw up at the end because I related to the mother’s reaction in such a personal way – she was a fabulous actress even if the story line made her seem inconsistent – I naively had no idea where it was leading till late into the movie and kept watching because I couldn’t believe it would end there.
But yep -that’s exactly what happened. Even the friendship between the little boys (Aryan and Jew) I feel was sullied by this twisted ending which was not a voluntary act of love and friendship on either child’s part. Don’t support cheap tawdry emotionalism like this.
February 2, 2006
#4
My son read this book because it was on his summer reading list for school, and afterward we rented the movie. He told me the ending before we watched it. I explained to him that this would never happen. He knows the horrors of the death camps. But I felt it was my duty to remind him how far-fetched this particular story was.
The DVD extras were interesting. The book’s writer said “this is not a Holocaust movie” but said it was about the friendship of two boys, etc…is he insane! The setting is the whole point! It just doesn’t work.
Take the friendship angle and place it in any other setting, for example, boys from different social classes; or different races, etc and maybe it could work. But not here. This is simply holocaust revisionist writing.
The one star I gave was for the acting. I thought they all did a fine job, even though spoken with British accents….their performances were fine. I won’t fault the actors for an inaccurate storyline and poor direction (keeping the Brit accents.)
February 2, 2006
#5
Aweful film. Either of my suggested titles would have been more appropriate.
Sophie’s List is Beautiful: Overall the movie is sentinmental contrivance that looked like it was put together by amateurs doing their best to combine Sophie’s Choice and Life is Beautiful with a little bit of Schindler’s List and The Tin Drum thrown in for good measure. Unfortunately for them, the end product is an utter failure. It’s difficult to watch without laughing.
Curiousity Killed Little Adolf: The most/only intriguing thing in this waste of celluloid is the boy in the lead. He looks amazingly like a juvenile Hitler. So when he gets what gets in the end, it is somewhat uplifting.
The Holocaust was an outrage, the ugliest example of what man in his broken state is capable of. If you needed this silly movie to understand that, then that is really too sad.