The Boy In Striped Pyjamas (DVD)

It's a brave man who takes on a Holocaust film after the powerful and moving Schindler's List set the standard so high. It's an even braver man who tries to tell the tale from the point of view of a child - and the child of a Nazi at that. Yet this is precisely what The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas sets out to do. It focuses on young Bruno, a seven year old, whose father is sent to run a concentration camp for Jews during World War II. Gradually, Bruno comes to befriend a young Jewish boy stuck on the other side of the camp wires. The film has the potential to be a very powerful film - e a child's version of Spielberg's classic. It could be a ...  Read the complete review

Focusing on one of the most famous historical events, The Boy In Striped Pyjamas takes a whimsical look at a family who move into a house near a concentration camp. Initially, its unclear to eight year old Bruno, his 12 year old sister or their mother that the camp is on their doorstep, until Bruno points out that he can see a "farm" just south of their back garden. Bruno is keen to explore, hoping to appease his unhappiness at the move by befriending some of the local farmer's children. He doesn't understand why he is forbidden from crossing the stream to the large barbed fence that "holds the animals in". Eventually, having defied his ...  Read the complete review

Out of the uncountable movies I have seen, only two movies have ever propelled me into such a deep sadness that I have actually been left sat paralysed to my chair in a state of numb shock. Until now. Mark Herman's gripping story is set in the time of the Holocaust where many people remained oblivious to the fatal atrocities committed. This film takes this notion of ignorance to the extreme as we look through the eyes of an innocent eight year old child. In a luxurious five story house full of servants galore, Bruno lived in an idylic middle class surrounding and having plenty of friends his imagination thrived from the wild escapades and explorations ...  Read the complete review

I recently reviewed the book of this film and after I read it I felt inclined to seek out the film version. The film was released in 2008 and was directed by Mark Herman. I have to say that I'm not sure if I prefer the book or film in this case due to the fact that the book is so short. There is a certain amount of artistic license going on in the film but then again I think it would be difficult to make a film from such a short text without doing so. The plot revolves around an eight year old German boy, Bruno, who is moved to live next door to a concentration camp due to his father's work as a Kommandant there. Bruno at first thinks that the camp is a farm ...  Read the complete review

For the first time ever, I have to say that that film is better than the book, shocking I know, but it's true. Synopsis The story centres on Bruno, the son of a German Commandant, whose father has just been relocated to a concentration camp, but not just any camp, he's the new commandant of Auschwitz. Bruno though is a very naive 8 year old, he believes the place he can see from his bedroom window is a farm, and that the people he sees there are farm workers. His parents do nothing to correct him on this matter, although is his mother any the wiser? She might know it's not a farm, but does she actually know what her husband is ...  Read the complete review