Succumbed to This Film's Charms

Rating: 8/10 (27 January 2020)

So I didn't even really want to see "Jojo Rabbit" that much based on the reviews, the kind of movie the reviews confirmed it to be, and my past experience with Taika Waititi's style. I thought it would be another Wes Anderson rip-off, and I wasn't in the mood for another "aren't Nazis goofy?" comedy that tries to make light of the Holocaust by making Nazis look like buffoons (no thank you, "Life Is Beautiful.")
But the movie buff in me hates not having an opinion about movies that strike a chord with the public, and the Academy Award completist in me wasn't sure I could live with myself if I didn't see every movie nominated for Best Picture this year. So I sucked it up and bought a ticket.
My 10 year old son is studying the Holocaust in school, and his class had recently gone to a Holocaust museum in the Chicago area, so I asked him if he wanted to see this movie with me. It was his first time attending a "grown up" movie ("Star Wars" films aside, if those are considered to be grown up movies). He was clearly very proud to be attending a PG-13 movie with his dad, and the experience was made sweeter for him by the fact that his younger brother had to stay home (I couldn't tell from the parental advisory whether or not it would be appropriate for an 8 year old). So there I am watching a movie about a 10 year old boy sitting next to my 10 year old boy, and man did I get the feels. Everything people have criticized this movie for is true. It paints a very sanitized picture of Nazi Germany and downplays how awful it would have been to live it. The Holocaust is a vague spectre somewhere in the background, never overtly shown and never feeling like a serious threat. The message is big and obvious, the emotional manipulation rampant.
But what the hell. I kind of fell in love with this movie because of who I was seeing it with, and I loved that it was about learning to differentiate between the world as certain people (relatives, the media, our government, you name it) want you to perceive it and the world as you actually experience it. Yes, I knew my heartstrings were being tugged, and me in a different mood would have had none of it. But me in the mood I was in was all "oh, let my heartstrings be tugged."
I also have never picked a worse time to go to the bathroom during a movie in my entire movie watching career. I can't go into details without throwing in a major spoiler, but let's just say my son had to tell me what happened when I got back and I had to wonder if my absence during that critical moment would traumatize my son forever. But he was fine.
Grade: A