Terrific Satire

Rating: 9/10 (23 January 2020)

Taika Waititi's latest satirical take on the Nazi youth is heart wrenching, hilarious and beautiful.
Despite my fears that the film was going to go down the route of using the shocking subject matter to
compensate for poor writing or to get a cheap laugh through dark comedy, This film once again
showed the world that Taika Watiti is one of the most talented and comical directors of the modern
day. In the plot we follow our 10yr old main character JoJo Betzler (Roman Griffin Davis) as he
aspires towards becoming one of Adolf Hitler's Elite Guards, however his progress towards his goal
was quickly Hampered by a devastating injury and the discovery of what his mother (Scarlet
Johanson) has been hiding right under his nose... .
Roman Griffin Davis gave stellar performance as the title character, helping convey that the young
manipulated boy has a heart of gold outside of the diabolical brainwashing he has endured. Scarlet
Johanson gave it her all as JoJo's rebellious mother, portraying a kind and resilient parent. However, it
is undeniable that Taika Watiti as a 10yr old's perception of Hitler steals the show from start to finish,
as he makes arguably the worst man to walk the earth seem likeable. Other notable performances
would have to go to Thomasin McKenzie as Elsa Korr, a Jewish girl being housed in secret by jojo's
mother and Sam Rockwell as Captain Klenzendorf, a disgraced Nazi higher up put in charge of the
training of the Nazi youth.
The writing of the film is simply sublime, with funny quotables left and right, Watiti's dark comedic style
really shines through every inch of the film. A great example of this is when JoJo unwittingly blows
himself up with a grenade after being inspired by imaginary Hitler to be more courageous. Yet the film
is also great at showing that it has heart, mainly seem through Jojo and his mother's heartwarming
relationship and the sibling like love between Jojo and Elsa. The film portrays its subject manner
graciously, as it holds nothing back when poking fun at the Nazis, yet the true despicableness of them
is never shied away from
The streets of 1940s Germany are portrayed in a very colourful fashion mostly due to amazing set
design and beautiful cinematography. Extra care seemed to be given to make every set lit perfectly for
the scene and time period, as well as having every uniform as realistic as possible to add to this
believable setting. The film looks very crisp and refreshing, most likely because of the lack of terrible
CGI and great use of angles.
Overall JoJo Rabbit is a great satire that doesn't rely on cheap laughs and shock value to deliver its
anti-hate message in an amusing fashion, with terrific performances and great writing JoJo Rabbit may
be one of the best satires of the decade
9/10