flawed fable

Rating: 6/10 (5 November 2016)

Bruno (Asa Butterfield) is a young boy living in wartime Germany. He is innocent of the world around him. His father Ralf (David Thewlis) gets promoted as the commander of a concentration camp. With mother Elsa (Vera Farmiga) and older sister Gretel (Amber Beattie), they move into a house off site from the camp. Bruno wonders why the farm workers are dressed in striped pyjamas. The kids get a tutor who teaches them propaganda. Their driver Lieutenant Kurt Kotler is a dedicated Nazi. Bruno sneaks out of the house and ends up at an isolated part of the camp's outer fence. He befriends Shmuel who is a boy prisoner inside the camp and visits him time after time. Their friendship grows as Bruno tries to understand the incomprehensible.
This is really a fable rather than a historical reenactment. The point of the kids not understanding the situation is compelling at times but at other times seem silly. It may be better for Bruno to say less. Sometimes, his misunderstanding is poignant. The fact that he thought Shmuel was angry at him embodies both. The important subject requires more careful writing.