Susan Granger’s review of “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas” (Miramax Films)
As seen through the eyes of an eight year-old German boy, the senseless tragedy of World War II and the haunting horror of the Holocaust take on an entirely different perspective. As Hitler’s armies march forth from Berlin, Father (David Thewlis) is promoted to a high-ranking SS commandant at a remote countryside post. His privileged wife (Vera Farmiga) and their adolescent daughter (Amber Beattie) quickly adjust to living near a “work camp” (i.e.: Auschwitz death camp), particularly when a viciously anti-Semitic lieutenant (Rupert Friend) brainwashes them into Fatherland fans. But young Bruno (Asa Butterfield) isn’t as enthusiastic. He’s leaving friends behind and their new Bauhaus-design home is less than inviting. But standing on tiptoe, he can see from his bedroom window what appears to be a farm in the distance, and the farmers are clad in striped pajamas. Curious, he sneaks out through the woods towards an electrified barbed-wire fence and befriends a scruffy, starving Jewish youngster about his age, Shmuel (Jack Scanlon), who’s trapped on the other side. “We’re not supposed to be friends,” Bruno notes. “We’re supposed to be enemies.” Adapted by Mark Herman from John Boyne’s allegorical children’s novel and directed by Herman, it’s distressingly effective, primarily due to the youngsters’ splendid performances. On the other hand, Bruno’s naiveté borders on implausible, the veddy British accents evidenced by many of the “Nazis” are undeniably disconcerting and the plot contrivances, including a selfish betrayal reminiscent of “The Kite Runner,” and the shockingly brutal conclusion, are over-the-top manipulative. It’s certainly no “Life Is Beautiful.” Yet, on the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas” is a poignant, devastatingly sad 7 with a cautionary message: Never forget that a holocaust consumes everything.
