Great Holocaust film, even if implausible

Rating: 7/10 (2 May 2017)

I didn't know all that much about this film going in, so it was a nice surprise to see actors I recognized such as Vera Farmiga who played Lorraine Warren in The Conjuring, and Madolyn in The Departed, and also David Thewlis who played Professor Lupin in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. The film didn't give any specific date or year that the story took place in, which was interesting because I would have liked to place the exact year and what events were going on in Germany at that point in time. Initially I expected a formulaic Holocaust movie that was significantly watered down to make it more watchable for audiences and teenagers considering this was given a PG-13 rating, but that was definitely not the case, especially with ending.
The opening shot was great and really caught my eye. It gave the film a very innocent full of life feel. The colors and cinematography as a whole was another thing I loved. Benoît Delhomme (the director of photography) did a great job of using such vivid colors which made this seem like the audience was watching a story through the eyes of a child, and also reminded the audience that the story is being told from a Nazi perspective. As Bruno starts to realize what is happening, his clothes become darker and more faded. Additionally, when Bruno gets into the camp, the colors become washed-out which gives the film a depressing tone. Another thing I noticed is that both Bruno and his father had blue eyes, but only Bruno's were light and full of life, while his fathers were darkened. This could be a contrast of a child's innocence and an adult corrupted by power.
I additionally had a few problems with the film. If this is about Nazi Germany and set in the countryside of Berlin, why do all the characters speak English with British accents? It would have been much more realistic and effective if the entire movie was in German. There were also many references to airplanes when the kids were playing throughout the film, but this was never explained. Why did this happen in the first place? Another problem I had was how large the holes in the fence were in the camp. Couldn't Shmuel have easily crawled through one of them? Weren't there any guards watching the fence? It didn't look like it. The characters additionally kept referring to Germany as the 'Fatherland', whereas Hitler always referred to it as the 'Motherland'. Shouldn't the characters mimic this to be more historically accurate? The biggest issue I had with the plot line was that the entire story was implausible. There were no 9-year-olds in the camps. If someone was not old enough to worked, they were immediately put to death.
As a whole, apart from these criticisms, I really enjoyed this film. The soundtrack was absolutely lovely and joyous, which was also a great contrast to the dark setting of the Holocaust. The entire cast did amazingly, but the most notable performances were from Farmiga and Butterfield. Also a nice touch that was added was the vans in the background every so often when Bruno was playing on the swing, so that the audience wouldn't get lost in the story of a kid, and are reminded of what this movie was really about. I also appreciated the themes of adults and their relationships with children. Not only does the teacher in the film completely brainwash the two kids, but any time they have a chance, the parents shelter and lie to the kids about what is really going on in the country. The ending had such a great climax and an upsetting, yet effective, conclusion. I knew there wouldn't be a happy ending, considering the subject matter, but the way this ended was extremely unexpected.