Through the eyes of a child...

Rating: 10/10 (22 March 2009)

As I write this, it's ten minutes after shutting off the DVD. I'm still a bit shaky from this movie experience, but I'll just try to recapture it as good as I can. I'm afraid I'll have to include some spoilers, so if you haven't seen the movie yet, I recommend you see it as soon as possible before reading on.
The true theme in this movie are these two young boys who are unable to grasp the vast evil they are experiencing. The movie doesn't even start that dark at all. It's just children playing, having faith that the world can't ever harm them. And as Bruno befriends this Jewish boy Shmuel, they both can't grasp the seriousness of the situation. The key scene in this movie is where Bruno puts on prison clothes to help Shmuel find his father. If only they would have known, Bruno could have saved his friend.
This is World War II through the eyes of children. They really resemble our own thoughts when they think people can't possibly harm other people like that. They have unlimited faith in the grown ups who are supposed to keep them safe, and even if bad things happen to them, they think it just belongs that way.
When the end credits came, I just sat there... tears in my eyes. The boy in the striped pyjamas did something to me that no other movie has ever done before: it made me ashamed to be a grown-up.