A morality tale on the Nazi era

Rating: 7/10 (23 May 2009)

For most of this movie, you get the impression that it might have been based on a true story. It concerns a German family during the Nazi era. The father is an officer with the SS, I think, and has to relocate his family to run a 'work camp' for people, including Jews, when he receives a promotion.
The father (played by David Thewlis) has a young family...a young boy and a slightly older daughter (she is 12 years old in the story, the boy is 8 years old). The story is told from the perspective of the boy, Bruno, played by Asa Butterfield.
The period detail of the era seems very good, and the central family is human...just because the father is an important Nazi does not mean he is caricatured as an evil villain. Some of the Nazi propaganda/paraphernalia which the daughter becomes taken with seems genuine.
From the perspective of Bruno, the 'work camp' is a farm where the farmers wear strange attire (striped pyjamas). Exploring that farm's boundaries, he meets a young boy about his age, called "Shmuel", played by Jack Scanlon. Shmuel looks like an urchin from a Charles Dickens novel...grubby faced, and with rotten teeth. Bruno and Schmuel form an unlikely friendship, one which is unknown to his parents and sister.
Despite the grim setting of this movie, Bruno's naivete is charming and provides much of the humour which this movie possesses. However, despite being very naive, Bruno is faced with some serious moral dilemmas, and these provide some of the most dramatic moments of the movie.
Any thoughts I had of finding out if the movie was based on a kernel of truth went out the window towards the end of the movie. It's here that the movie obviously goes into 'morality tale' mode. The movie is intended to be manipulative here, which isn't a bad thing. It's just that I felt that manipulation was not successful, as it needed to be, given the turn of events. In fact, the strange turn the movie took distracted me from the intended manipulation...I was formulating hypotheses on where the movie was given...even wondering if there was another, hidden level to Shmuel. My working hypothesis went out the window, as the turn was in keeping with the preceding events.
Despite being an art-house movie, this movie has been in Australia's top 10 movies at the box-office, I think, for a few weeks, meaning that it has found a mainstream audience.
Overall, Bruno and Shmuel are captivating characters...ones you will be glad to have known. For me, it's a pity that the movie lacked more of an emotional punch...but others may feel it succeeded splendidly on that level. Perhaps the denouement was a little too sudden for me.