Original take and perspective of the holocaust

Rating: 7/10 (29 March 2016)

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas tries to re-imagine the tale of the holocaust though told from the viewpoint of an 8 year old son of a Nazi commandant. His growing friendship with a boy (in striped pyjamas) is a lens through which we see the horrible stereotypes and attitudes held at the time. This perspective gives us a fresh look at a subject covered many times before.
I have read the book and the friendship felt a little more natural in print, but nevertheless the film sucks you in mainly because of the great work of Asa Butterfield as Bruno and a strong supporting cast. The period is captured beautifully* and the disparity between the lives the the commandant's family and that of the camp inmates is stark and something that resonates (I have visited a concentration camp and this was the case there as well...).
* My main gripe are that I would have preferred the film to be played by German actors in German. It doesn't matter how much effort you put into period details and uniforms and re-creating Berlin with all the posters and Nazi insignia - if everyone is speaking like they just dropped out of a Downton Abbey set then it kind of destroys the illusion. Yes they acted well, but it felt so awkward to me that I really felt the film suffered as a result. I don't imagine this would have been released as a AAA blockbuster so releasing it as a German language film seems sensible. Tarantino managed to make a film with German, French and English spoken - why couldn't this be the same? Frustrating.