Moving and Disturbing

Rating: 10/10 (18 August 2013)

This is one of the most moving stories I've seen in quite some time. This film demonstrates the innocence of people at a time when monstrosities were being committed against other human beings. Beginning with the Commandant's wife and children.
Elsa (Vera Farmiga) doesn't fully understand her husband's position in the Nazi party. It isn't until they move to their new home at the Auschwitz Concentration Camp. It is at their new home when she realizes what is going on; the stench of the burning bodies and when Lt. Kotler, confirms her suspicions by saying "They smell worse when they burn, don't they?". She becomes very upset. As time goes on she wants to take the children and leave.
Meanwhile, Bruno, their only son meets Shmuel, a Jewish child prisoner. Bruno cannot understand the position Schmuel is in, he only knows he made a new friend with a funny name and wearing pajamas unaware his own father is in charge of Schmuel's fate.
Bruno: "Why do you wear pajamas all day?" Shmuel: "The soldiers. They took all our clothes away." Bruno: "My dads a soldier, but not the sort that takes peoples clothes away."
Little by little Bruno begins to wonder what his father's intentions as a soldier really are. His sister encourages him to be more anti-Semitic with her propaganda as does their tutor who tries to convince the confused and questioning Bruno Jews are not good.
Bruno: "There is such thing as a nice Jew, though, isn't there?" Herr Liszt: "I think, Bruno, if you ever found a nice Jew, you would be the best explorer in the world."
He witnesses the attack of Pavel who is the Butler of the house that had been placed there because he is Jewish. He helped Bruno patch up his knee once he fell from the swing and was kind to Bruno. Pavel died from the beating even though his mother begged his father to stop it; he did not. He finds his basement is full of dolls (taken from Jewish girls) and is prohibited from going outside the house gates (restricted perimeter). These things make him wonder about his father's work.
I don't want to go through every detail of the movie, so I'll just say the ending was heartbreaking to watch. Two innocent children who'd made friends and yet lived completely different lives die together. Schmeul's death was inevitable and Bruno's was sort of Karma for his father's bad behavior. Very sad story, but I highly recommend it.