Excellent

Rating: Null/10 (24 January 2010)

We already knew that war is not a good thing, that the Holocaust was not a good thing, and that the Nazi death camps were a particularly bad thing. But this film delivers that message in a fresh and engaging way, which makes the bleak ending all the more powerful when it arrives.
It isn't possible to duplicate the book's narrative style in which the reader sees depths which the child protagonist cannot, and the film opts for a straightforward dramatic adaptation. Even so, the viewer still clearly witnesses events from young Bruno's viewpoint, and understands why he acts as he does at the end.
The cast is uniformly excellent, and shows that Britain can indeed produce child actors of genuine depth (which is not to discount the adult performances).
A harrowing movie, but well worth seeing.