A Masterpiece of a Mixed Genre; Jojo Rabbit cannot be missed

Rating: 9/10 (2 February 2020)

Thus begins the catching up on the Oscar bait films. I attended a Saturday night screening of Jojo Rabbit and I left having just gone through an emotional roller coaster that was not intended. From previous reviews, this movie just appeared to be a satire comedy, poking fun at the events of the second world war. However, I tell you, this movie is so much more than that. Sure the film ensures a few laughs and giggles, but this film really has heart and that's why I believe critics panned this movie, because the film does not know what genre or age group it is focused at.
The film opens to Jojo (Roman Griffin Davis), a German boy obsessed with Nazi Germany, pep-talking himself in the mirror of his bedroom as he prepares to be sent off to Hitler Youth Training Camp. He encounters Adolf Hitler (Taika Waititi), showcased as Jojo's imaginary friend and mentor. At the camp, Jojo is introduced to Captain Klenzendorf (Sam Rockwell) and Fräulein Rahm (Rebel Wilson), as they teach him and his male peers to do simple tasks, such as murder and false propaganda of anti-semitism. Jojo is penalized for being frightened to murder a little bunny and runs off into the woods. He has a pep-talk with hitler and runs back, interrupting Klenzendorf's grenade launching class. Jojo accidentally throws a grenade at a tree, which bounces right back to his side. Jojo suffers major injuries including a large scar down his face and a limp. Klenzendorf sends Jojo home to be under house arrest for a few months.
After making a bit of recovery, Rosie (Scarlett Johansson), Jojo's mother, drops Jojo off at Klenzendorf's office, who has been demoted to office camp because of Jojo's accident. Rahm orders Jojo to do rather simple tasks such as hang up nazi propaganda across the town. As Rosie takes him home, they notice a public hanging in the town square. The next day, home alone, Jojo hears creaks in his house, which he narrows down to his elder sisters bedroom. He discovers that his mother had been hiding a young jewish girl named Elsa (Thomasin McKenzie). Jojo threatens to call the gestapo, but Elsa reassures him, stating that if he were to note the authorities, then he and his mother would suffer for hiding her.
That night, Jojo looks in disgust at his mother, acknowledging the fact that she has put the whole family in grave danger by having a jew in the house. Rosie notices this and offends Jojo, using ashes from the fireplace to create a makeshift beard, poking fun at Jojo's sexist father and states that she is in charge. Later, Rosie brings her dinner plate to Elsa, unaware that her and Jojo have already met. Daily, Jojo interrogates Elsa while Rosie is at work. Elsa gives Jojo false information about jews appearances and history. She claims she is engaged to a boy named Nathan. Jojo creates a makeshift letter in order to assure that she is frightful of him. After realizing what he has done, Jojo creates another letter, stating that everything in the first letter was false. One day, while doing work for Rahm, Jojo encounters his old mate Yorkie, whom is now a Nazi soldier. He bluntly tells Yorkie that he is hiding a jew, but Yorkie is too busy to focus. Jojo also encounters his mother leaving a "free Germany" slip of paper in town.
A few days later, Jojo notices that Elsa is quite dirty and offers her his house's amenities, such as a bath and his mothers robe. The joy for Elsa is short-lived as the gestapo arrives at Jojo's door to investigate his house. Elsa runs upstairs but cannot find a way to re-enter the hiding place unheard by the gestapo. As they investigate, Klenzendorf arrives too. As the leading Gestapo officer (Stephen Merchant) notices that Jojo's safety pocketknife is missing from his uniform, Elsa appears holding the knife. Elsa tells the gestapo that he is Jojo's older sister Inge. Klenzendorf interrogates Elsa and sets her free. Once the policemen and Klenzendorf leave, Elsa breaks down, noticing that she gave the wrong birth date, but Klenzendorf let her go. As he is picking up scrap pieces of metal in the town square, Jojo sees Rosie's dead body having been hanged for her crimes.
Jojo arrives back home, devastated and attempts to murder Elsa, but cannot find the strength to do it due to his affection for her. Elsa showcases mutual affection and comforts him, showing him the glimmer of hope she still has that the war will soon be over. A few days later, Jojo is wandering about town where he encounters Yorkie once more, who states that Hitler has committed suicide due to the allies closing in on Germany. Jojo refused to acknowledge this fact, until he sees explosions coming from fighter jets. The two boys run to hide, where they run in to Rahm, falsely promoting the little boy soldiers and tells them to shoot anyone that doesn't look German. She puts a makeshift coat on Jojo, and enters the battlefield with a bazooka, before she and the rest of the soldiers, minus Yorkie, perish from an explosion.
The soviets find Jojo and pin him up against a wall, where he re-encounters Klenzendorf. Klenzendorf tells Jojo that his mother was good-hearted and he wanted to return the favour by saving Elsa. Klenzendorf does one final good deed and throws Jojo's coat off and calls him a jew. Jojo is put back onto the street as Klenzendorf is shot several times for his anti-Semitic behaviour. Jojo cannot seem to find the courage to tell Elsa that war is over, so she tells her that Germany won. Acknowledging her saddened outcome, Jojo recites another fake letter written from him in the perspective of Nathan. Elsa reveals that Nathan died a year prior from tuberculosis. Jojo finally confesses his love for Elsa, but Elsa states she only sees him as a younger brother. Hitler arrives one more time to confront Jojo, but Jojo throws him out of a window. Jojo tells Elsa the truth about the war outcome as the two head outside, as they dance together.
Jojo Rabbit is a very sweet movie at its core. The only thing keeping this movie from a perfect score is the beginning chunk of the film. It feels quite elongated and unneeded as well as I believe there could have been more character development with Klenzendorf and Rahm, for I was basically calling them Sam Rockwell and Rebel Wilson during the films duration. I do think that Roman Griffin Davis has a bright career ahead, but the one who truly stood out to me in this film was Thomasin McKenzie. Although she is supposed to play a scared Jewish girl hiding in a German household, McKenzie showcases this strength and other side to this character that was quite cool.
Overall, Jojo Rabbit gets a 9/10.