An intelligent and heart-felt family film.

Rating: Null/10 (4 October 2008)

Very rarely does a film take it upon itself to detail the horrific facts of the holocaust during World War II whilst simultaneously trying to maintain a child-friendly approach. The Boy in Striped Pyjamas is one of these few, and while it's insistence on at times painting the era in children's colours (for the sake of conveying how the main character sees his innocent life in the midst of all the evil that is going on around him) can distract from the real emotional and thematic core of the story, there's enough heart and intelligence present here to manage a story with integrity as one would expect. Detailing such themes as anti-Semitism, war, death and domestic abuse, Mark Herman certainly doesn't make a mockery of his audience and history here, despite the inconsistent tones that he uses to paint such a melancholic, bleak portrait. Stark in its message and touching in its emotional core, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is a powerful, albeit slightly unfocused criticism of one of the cruellest acts in the recent history of man; and it does so through the eyes of an eight year old boy.
This boy isn't the one mentioned in the title however, that would be an imprisoned Jew, living in a labour camp not far from our main character's new home. Bruno (Asa Butterfield), a boy of eight and son of an important Nazi soldier, has recently left his home in Berlin to live with his father, sister and mother in their new home which incidentally is near a concentration camp. Mistaking the imprisoned Jews for local farmers, what follows from this opening premise is a story of childhood bewilderment at how the adults of his world treat each other. Told through the eyes of Bruno, the movie can at times take on a light-hearted tone, throwing in small glints of humour and airy whimsy, and while these moments have their importance to contrasting the reality of Bruno's world and those around him with his own bright-eyed existence, their presence always seems perfunctory. Director Mark Herman shows that he knows how to contrast, but when the script demands that he try and blend the two natures of his world, problems arise.
Working far more effectively are the scenes in which Bruno is faced with the harsh reality of his situation, even though he never quite grasps what is going on. Confused and always questioning his superiors and elders, Bruno gives way to many criticisms of the holocaust, without relying on any deep, thought-out questioning. This child-like approach to such a heavy topic can at times wear thin when the script relies on it exclusively to grasp at the heart of what is going on, but there are plenty of moments which work far more effectively, despite the abundance in which they reside. What propels the story even further however isn't within Bruno's interactions with his family and tutors, but with his new friend; the boy in the striped pyjamas, Shmuel (Jack Scanlon). Through their friendship, the movie achieves its most poignant message of how pointless and absurd the holocaust actually was. Bruno and Shmuel may never have any real time to bond and become close friends, but through their mutual isolation they find solace in each other, regardless of the electric fencing between them and whatever race of people they may be descendant from.
Both child actors Butterfield and Scanlon do very well in their positions, and although they suffer from a distinct lack of true connection to the historical setting in which they find themselves, their inherent sense of ignorance brings the film a much needed air of innocence. As actors, both often avoid the usual awkwardness which usually afflicts thespians of their age and responsibility. The remainder of the cast hold their own just as well, with Vera Farmiga and David Thewlis providing some domestic dynamism as Bruno's mother and father adequately with enough resonance to further their son's personal story.
In the end however, it was indeed the film's final ten minutes which won me over. As I mentioned previously, this may be a 12A film, and it may have been made with younger audiences in mind, yet in addition to the film's heavy themes and less than flowery characterisation, the film also closes on an extremely ballsy note. There's no doubt that the director could have copped out and went for something a little more pleasing, and it's actually surprising that even the studio let it slide given it's wide-demographic, yet when an ending like this arises one has to sit back and admire such a move. In essence, there is no other way that the movie could come to a close without losing its thematic and emotional core's poignancy to the less than successful whimsy façade, so while such a closer feels surprising, it also feels completely welcome. Hard-hitting at its greatest moments and amusing in its lighter ones, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is an intelligent and heart-felt family film that is too often at odds with itself in terms of its tone, but in the end does enough good to achieve an air of significance amidst the bloated genre.

A review by Jamie Robert Ward (http://www.invocus.net)