A Story by People Who Know Nothing

Rating: 2/10 (2 February 2019)

One star for the cinematography, one star for Asa Butterfield's mature and understated performance. Everything else was complete nonsense. The actors consistenly react from historical knowledge they couldn't have. There is no sense of the stakes of war and how, for instance, a wife of a Nazi officer would dare behave.
The idea that a child in a concentration could sneak off daily to hang out at the unguarded fence and play chequers is insulting, and the entire ridiculous ending depends on people somehow understanding that Bruno entered the camp (there is no way that child could have dug that trench in the 30 minutes he had), dressed as a prisoner, and got caught up in the random gassing. When the father yells, "Bruno!" the mother somehow hears him and instantly understands all that has happened. That's just the worst example of writing and directing that understands nothing about history, nothing about the culture, nothing about human motivation.
One of the stupidest movies I've ever seen. But Asa Butterfield was an amazing actor even back then! Watch him in "X+Y" and "Sex Education."