Heartbreaking, devastating and stunning

Rating: 10/10 (30 July 2010)

SPOILERS ahead...........
I finally saw this movie, on a DVD. The first few minutes were a bit boring but then the movie picked up and i was glued to my seat (my sofa at home) till its heartbreaking end. I was so stunned, I did not move for several minutes after it ended.
This is an extraordinary film. I knew it would have a sad ending because it was about the holocaust, but I was totally unprepared for what happened in the end. The characters feel so real. The musical score is haunting. It is well acted. I never thought Vera Farmiga could do this kind of role- innocence turned into shock, bitterness, anger and the final devastation, from which she would probably never recover.
Through the tutor of the children we get an understanding of how people in Germany were brainwashed those days to hate the Jews. Bruno's 12 year old sister is a good example of how children were influenced. Bruno is a more adventurous child, and he cannot hate the Jews because he has met some good ones (Pavel, a former Jewish Doctor who puts bandage on his wound, and his 8 year old friend Schmuel). The short film shown to the soldiers, and one that makes Bruno believe that the 'camp'is actually a pretty nice place, with a cafe and entertainment. Obviously the world was fooled by this propaganda until the truth came out. The innocence of the children is heartbreaking. I cannot get out of mind the images of Bruno and Schmuel.
If the movie has a flaw, it's only a very small one. The children playing (hands like aeroplanes) at the start was a bit overdone. However, rest of the movie is so fluid and so intense that it can be easily forgiven.
I found this movie more powerful than 'Life is beautiful'. It's one of the best holocaust movies I have ever seen.
I am shocked that a beautiful movie like this got less than 8.0 on TMDB. I recommend this to anyone that cares for truly artistic films that are not just meant to entertain, and are not sci fi movies, but are meant to bare the souls of us humans.