Food for thought

Rating: 8/10 (30 August 2011)

One reviewer has asked whether this would have been less tragic if we had only been aware of the deaths of the prisoners in the camp.
Movies have a trick of making you try to anticipate what is going to happen, and putting your own wishes into that conclusion. I realised after the end of this film that the tragedy lies in thinking that anyone's life is worth more than anyone else's life. In other words, who is more precious and whose death is more tragic? Surely in that situation, the final scene was terrible, no matter who was involved.
The challenge of this film is to see the holocaust from a different perspective and try to see it through a child's eyes. The film has a matter-of-fact approach, but that helped me to see events through the child's eyes and imagine how what happened would appear if you were a boy who doesn't know what is going on, who has a spirit of adventure and a open mind. If you could be like that, what would you think about war? Does it make any sense at all? Being able to challenge the dogma that is being forced upon you is the spirit of freedom.
I hope that some people seeing this excellent film will come away with some innocence restored and some faith in the power of friendship and love to overcome violence.