This certainly isn't a bedtime story.

Rating: 8/10 (11 October 2008)

If I were to have a problem with this otherwise stunning film it's the fact that, much like 'The Dark Knight' this is not a film you want to take your kids to. Its dark, disturbing and one of the best weepers of this fine year. Anybody above the ages of fifteen, you must see this movie. It might not beat 'The Dark Knight' with style or substance but this is without a doubt the most important film of the year. The imagery is so disturbing, you have to remind yourself, it's just a movie. But here's where there no escape, this isn't Last House on the Left. This is real, this is a film based on a novel of the same named based on historical events of a German family moving to a country house near a concentration camp and their son befriending one of the boys inside the camps.
And if your hearts not in your heart during that unbearably tense final act then something is painfully wrong with you. These final minutes are so disturbing i broke out inot a cold sweat, Even stranger is how I allowed this to slip under my radar for weeks. I remember reading the book that this is based on when I was young. I remember loving it. And now I find it just wonderful how much the makers of this film have done it justice.
During World War II, 8-year-old Bruno (Asa Butterfield) and his family leave Berlin to take up residence near the concentration camp where his father (David Thewlis) has just been made commandant. Bruno is unhappy and lonely, until one day, when he wanders out behind his house and finds Shmuel (Jack Scanlon), a Jewish boy his own age. Though the barbed-wire fence of the camp separates the boys, they enter into a forbidden friendship, oblivious to the true nature of their surroundings.
If i were to complain about this film, plausibility is where I would start. Its exaggerated for sure. The lack of authentic German accents, the seemingly absent guards and an overall sense that this wouldn't have gone in that direction. All however is quite easily redeemed with its tear jerker, heart stopping ending.
As difficult as it may be to watch, it should certainly be a film that everybody sees if only for the realisation that this horrific event occurred. If you're willing to forgive some implacability faults and a couple of odd accents then you'll walk out of this film feeling stunned with just how horrific the truth is.
Verdict: a painful yet fully accomplished journey, that will appeal solely to those who can withstand the disturbing imagery, erry settings and that holy mary mother of god ending that will have you clenching your jaw in hope they make a copout ending. To our dissatisfaction, they don't. And while it might have been more releasing it would have spoilt the realisation. For what its worth this is film of the year material.