While imperfect, Jojo Rabbit does what too few modern comedies do

Rating: 7/10 (8 November 2019)

I've recently read that Disney were disquited that a black comedy satirizing Nazi Germany would alienate modern audiences. I can imagine it, I suppose. One side might be offended by the mere sight of Nazi iconography - regardless of context or intent - while the other side (let's face it) has a few factions which feel attacked when a film portrays overtly Nazi or Nazi-inspired figures as evil. Disney sure has come a long way since The Führer's Face.
I seem to recall, also, that people foresaw a success from Jojo Rabbit, directed by Taika Waititi, who returns to the land of quirky comedy after peppering the superhero genre with it in Thor: Ragnarok. It seems, however, that its impact was pretty lukewarm. To me, it is a shame.
Jojo Rabbit does what too few modern comedies do, letting its visuals create almost as much of the humour as the satirical dialogue and performances - through editing, framing, strange title cards, and what-have-you. Almost every YouTube video essayist will cite The Cornetto Trilogy as the prime example, but Waititi also gets that a truly striking comedy will also be fun to look at. We need more than just comedians being themselves in front of a camera, lest we see more insipid Schumer vehicles à la last year's I Feel Pretty.
Waititi himself plays Adolf Hitler, or at least how he appears to a young 1940's Hitler Youth lad named Johannes (Roman Griffin Davis), who just doesn't know any better. This Adolf is a childish imaginary friend, because how bad could Hitler really be if most of the nation admires him?
The supporting cast provides more flare than they might have done in a more mainstream film, even if we mostly know them as the modern greats, including Sam Rockwell and Scarlett Johansson, the latter playing Jojo's single mother (the father, we're told, is serving in Italy but is rumored to be a deserter and disgrace). Stephen Merchant is an amusing choice as the leader of a Gestapo group, Rebel Wilson made me chuckle more than usual as a Hitler Youth counselor, and Thomasin McKenzie (get this) plays a Jewish girl whom Jojo eventually has to hide in his house.
As I said at the top, this film might also irritate both sides of the aisle for different reasons. Someone might whine that laughing at a Holocaust comedy means you would also laugh if said historical event were to repeat itself. Someone like Armond White might wonder why the movie didn't make fun of fans of the Obama administration instead.
More legitimate complaints involve the film being "declawed" as far as black comedy goes, and that it doesn't necessarily confront the ideology behind the Third Reich with much depth or vitriol, nor are they satisfied with its parallels to present-day political idolatry and xenophobia. Many critics feel that the comedy largely comes down to "Hey, look, it's Hitler but he's acting all goofy".
Fortunately for Waititi, some might be offended either way (see above). And a lot of us will no doubt laugh. He's a particular type of weirdo, that Taika, successfully turning something awful and serious into something outstandingly wacky. He is funny enough in the role, too. Alas, the next Chaplin he is not. Yet.