A satire for the time

Rating: 9/10 (24 January 2020)

Waititi gives the audience a strong reflection on fascism and war through the innocence of a 10-year-old fanatic German boy living in the final year of World War II. The humor is a mask, under which a strong message accompanied with short but forceful dialogues, tender acting and feeling is hidden. The acting of all characters is amazing, specially Scarlett Johansson as a mother who resembles humanism in the middle of the atrocities of wars and the brainwashed mindset of the German culture of those days, a mother who tries to teach her boy what she can without disturbing the inner path he choose to walk. Even though her acting stands out, she does not opaque the children actors who personificate tender, struggle and suffering. The opening titles were one of the best I've seen in the last year and the final scene was simple and innocent, but yet full of significance. The humor was well managed, yes, Waititi makes fun on the extremism of the time; but is well used, not disrespectful nor overwhelming, it is precise, and does not disturbs the main message of the film. Perhaps, there were some elements that could have been used in a better way, like the German accent so well used in Inglorious Bastards, but overall Waititi presents a piece of art, a risky project that could divide the opinion of both, critic and audience, but which reminds us of the atrocities of the past, the history that should never be forgotten.