An Unlikely Friendship. (The Boy In Striped Pyjamas (DVD))

Member Name: eelam_garek

Product:	The Boy In Striped Pyjamas (DVD)
Date:	24/03/09 (84 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good story, heart felt moments, educational.

Disadvantages: Bit too short, could have done with another 30 mins.

Originally written as a childrens book, "The Boy In Striped Pyjamas" has been remade by a very ambitous director into a neat little movie. The story sees a young German boy who finds himself in the middle of World War 2, as a German citizen. We see the story of a young boy being moved around Germany from home to home because his father, who is a soldier in the Nazi army, keeps getting shipped around from place to place. Whereever he goes on assignment, the family follows.

The story unfolds and stays with the perspective of Bruno, the young German boy. We pick up it up with his father's latest assignment. He has been tasked with running a Concentration Camp in a different area, so he and the family have to move in order to be closer to the camp. Bruno, having left all his friends in the previous city, starts exploring the nearby woods of his new house and stumbles across the camp in a clearing. It's here where he meets, "The Boy In Striped Pyjamas" - a young Jewish boy of equivalent age, being held at the Concentration Camp.

The two strike up a relationship, with Bruno asking lots of innocent questions, like why all of the people in the camp wear pyjamas all the time and where the canteens are! Throughtout the movie, we see them meet up at various points and trade chocolate/stories/play games, all the time seperated by the electrical fence of the camp. It's a story of childhood innocence in a time of very adult affairs. It aims to show us that we aren't that different afterall, and through the eyes of these children, we see that the bigger situation involving the war, and the prejudice against the Jewish people is unfounded and wrong. In these times of enlightenment, it makes you question just exactly how such attrocities came to be, if two children from opposing sides can be friends.

The book that the movie was made from was originally written as a childrens book, to remind children of the horrors of world war 2, but written in a way that wouldn't scare them or disturb them. Telling the story through two children, and not showing all the barbaric acts that went on directly, allows the story to be told in a cushioned way, so that young people can identify with it. The idea behind it was to keep the memories of world war 2 alive, so that no one (even children of the time) would forget the attrocities of the time - and learn from the mistakes of the past.

The movie is a pretty good remake of the book. As you would expect there are, however, certain details missing from the book. I won't go into these though, suffice to say if you watch the movie and like it then go out and read the book. Any film of this type is bound to draw criticism and I'm sure, "The Boy In Striped Pyjamas" has it's fair share. Afterall it isn't perfect, but no one can knock what the aim of the whole project was. Often, children are hidden from the harsh truths of war, but this story was originally aimed at showing them, in the best way possible, the reality of the situation. The film, then opens it up to a wider audience. Now, everyone can share in the story.

It's useful to say, this story isn't based on any fact, the story is ficitional. But, it is based upon true events. That is to say, there were Concentration Camps, Nazi officers, Jews held against their will, racism/discrimination. So, the film deals with alot of truths and it is definatly educational.

The movie does have a few downsides. I personally felt it was a little short, another 30 minutes would have been good (it's about 90 minutes as it stands). I felt the relationship blossom between Bruno and the Jewish boy, but wanted more of it. It also took me a while to gel to the English dialogue, coming from German officers. I can see exactly why they did this, to make it alot easier to understand for English viewers (Valkyrie employed the same tactic), but part of me would have preferred German language, with English subtitles.

These are minor gripes though, for what is otherwise a very good, and heart felt movie. "The Boy In Striped Pyjamas" is a good film, told in a very unique and charming way. For a subject as grim as the Holocaust, that is no mean feat. I applaud both the original writer, and current director for what they've achieved with this. It's definatly worth 90 minutes of your time.

Summary: A good movie, that accurately reflects the horrors of The Holocaust, but gently.