A World War II-movie for housewives

Rating: 5/10 (16 February 2009)

"The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas" is a romanticized version of a time in history that had nothing romantic about it. The title itself is an indication that this movie is going to depict the horrors of World War II through the innocent eyes of a little boy, an approach that I already despised in the similarly out of place "Life Is Beautiful". Personally, I don't believe in the natural goodness of children or in their naive innocence when it comes to befriending others, but that's not even the main problem I have with this movie.
From the beginning, "The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas" is only looking for ways to dramatize the story. The main characters are a family that consists of two children, a high-ranking Nazi-father, an apparently quixotic mother and a rebellious grandmother that questions Hitler's party in public. Sounds pretty realistic, right? I bet there were hundreds of families like this in Nazi Germany.
Anyway, when Nazi Dad gets a promotion the family is forced to move to Auschwitz, where they live just a few minutes away from the infamous concentration camp. Now, this is where we learn a couple of things about the family. At the age of 8 and 12 respectively, the kids apparently have never really been in contact with any kind of Nazi Propaghanda at all. Only now are they being told about "The Jew" and the "great ethnic cleansing" by a private tutor. Wouldn't you think that the children of a high ranking Nazi would have been brainwashed from the day they were born? What's even more unbelievable is that their mother apparently didn't know or care what her husband's beliefs where, either. Only now she starts to find out about what's being done to the Jews and, of course, she totally opposes to it. Of course! She's only been married to this guy for years. The man probably has lots of lovable character traits that totally overshadow the conformist, sadistic, mass murdering side of his personality.
Anyway, the family starts their life in Auschwitz and the son Bruno starts exploring the area. He soon gets to the concentration camp and strikes up a friendship with Shmuel, a little boy who is imprisoned there. Shmuel just happens to sit around at the fence most days relaxing. Apparently concentration camp was bit like a schoolyard, where everyone could just move freely without ever getting mobbed by guards or anything (actually, by that description schoolyard was even tougher).
So, that's pretty much the situation from which the whole drama arises. It's a totally constructed and unbelievable set up, a movie made to appeal to the Rosamunde Pilcher-loving housewife. The stage design, the kitschy cinematography and the score all add up to a Hollywood-version of the Holocaust that is far removed from reality. The Twilight Zone-esquire twist ending is almost offensive. It feels like an exploitation of real life tragedies for the purpose of a cheap shock moment, and that's just tasteless.
Good performances by the child actors and Vera Farmiga couldn't save this movie. I'm surprised that it received such a high rating on IMDb, and I expect my review to be deemed "not useful" by countless users soon. My judgement remains, though: "The Boy In The Stiped Pyjama" is an inappropriate fairy tale of horrific historic events that are still too recent to be distorted into a polished Hollywood tearjerker.