Even Monsters Love Their Children

Rating: 9/10 (28 February 2011)

Having only recently viewed The Boy in the Striped Pajamas after putting it off several times due to an aversion to holocaust films, I found myself renting the DVD based on my enjoyment of the past works of the talented cast of actors. It is true that this movie is difficult to watch, and had it been made more realistic, would likely have been watched less. In a cultural environment where beautiful costumes, special effects, and happy endings yield big profits for film makers, and big trophies with notoriety for actors, making and acting in a film like The Boy in the Striped Pajamas requires a great deal of courage on the part of the cast and crew. I was surprised by the harsh review from the New York Times, and no longer view that reviewer as credible. For me, this movie succeeded in illustrating the quiet evil of the holocaust - the worst kind of horror possible - the quiet, calm, understated kind that incrementally pervades until it's accepted as the NORM, then gets close enough to JUMP OUT and suffocate the screams of the victims. In this movie, Innocence is personified by little Bruno (played brilliantly by Asa Butterfield, small and wide eyed, and Evil is personified by Bruno's father (played by a remote and expressionless David Thewlis), a German career officer who is committed to his military duty and Party loyalty demonstrated by doing bad things to innocent people. Berlin is beautiful, but ugly things are going on in the middle of Berlin's streets, as Jews are being loaded into army trucks amidst German children running and playing on a sunny afternoon. Bruno's mother, Elsa (played with restraint and dignity by Vera Farmiga) is a loving mother who wants to protect the innocence of her two children, yet, despite her nervousness, she is forced to ignore the brutal treatment of an elderly Jewish servant being bludgeoned in her own home during dinner with her children present. Lieutenant Kotler (played by the elegant Rupert Friend) is the release valve for the building tension in the movie, as a sadistic brute who is prone to change from being conversationally affable to psychotic in .5 seconds, striking like a snake. This film is full of extreme contrasts layered one on top of one another, giving the viewer hope, then no hope for each character, until the end when the viewer realizes there is no hope for anyone because those who are NOT innocent are as doomed as those who ARE innocent. This movie is mild compared to some movies about the Holocaust, yet equally grave in exploring the possibility of turning the tables. Here is this affluent German family, with servants and chauffeurs moving to their new country home, next to a "farm," inhabited by "farmers" wearing striped pajamas, where an unpleasant smell permeates the air now and again. And though the audience can see a flicker of realization in the eyes of each character, the audience will also witness the unmistakable danger of cognitive dissonance creeping around in the midst of this otherwise good German family, under the constant scrutiny of the "party," so that no character asks too many questions, but slips under the comforting blanket of denial while thousands of lives slip away silently over on the "farm" a hundred or so yards away. In this movie, those who believe they are fighting monsters realize they have become monsters, thus, this film illustrates the fundamental value of the Golden Rule as a cure for racism: treat others as you would like to be treated. Even monsters love their children.