The Boy In The Striped Pajamas (trailer) - YouTube The Boy In The Striped Pajamas (trailer) Want to watch this again later? Sign in to add this video to a playlist. Need to report the video? Sign in to report inappropriate content. The interactive transcript could not be loaded. Loading... Rating is available when the video has been rented. This feature is not available right now. Please try again later. Uploaded on Apr 17, 2009 The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (The Boy in the Striped Pajamas in the United States) is a BritishAmerican 2008 film directed by Mark Herman and produced by David Heyman, starring Asa Butterfield, Jack Scanlon,David Thewlis and Vera Farmiga. It is based on the book of the same name by Irish novelist John Boyne. Bruno is an eight-year-old German boy who leads a very comfortable life in Berlin during the Second World War. His father is a high ranking Nazi officer, and things change when the family has to move due to his fathers new post.

In his innocence, Bruno sees the nearby concentration camp as a farm and wonders why its inhabitants are always wearing striped pyjamas. Eventually Bruno becomes friends with a Jewish (Yehudi) boy his own age who lives on the other side of the fence. Asa Butterfield - (Bruno) ‎The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (2008) directed by Mark Herman • Reviews, film + cast • Letterboxd 11 I teach English in the Netherlands and one of the things that has always bothered me is the fact that this generation of kids here just doesn't read anymore. They don't read Dutch novels, let alone English ones. Each year there are maybe a handful of students in their exam year who actually enjoy reading and read novels other than the ones they have to read for school. One of the traits of modern education is a somewhat exaggerated focus on the stragglers, the ones that need that bit of extra help to reach the goals set for the completion of their career in education.

While I think that this is most certainly necessary, I do feel that this often… 2 One of the breakout pieces of literature from the last decade, John Boyne's The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas was always likely to become a movie and pretty fast, given the potentially award baiting subject matter combining childhood innocence with the pure evil of extreme Nazism, but Mark Herman's film ends up being a faithful if essentially toothless adaptation. It drew criticism in a fair few quarters for depicting a rose tinted view of the Holocaust, failing to be too unflinching in its view of the concentration camps and perhaps being too sympathetic to the Nazis who essentially make up our protagonists. You can see their point, Herman more interested in twanging the heart strings through Asa Butterfield's young main… He used to be a doctor once, but gave it all up to peel potatoes. -Bruno Based on John Boyne 's 2006 novel of the same name we follow Bruno, an eight year old child of a concentration camp commandant, as he makes his own assumptions of what the camp and it's prisoners are as no one is prepared to explain it to him.

He makes friends with an 8 year old Jewish boy as he wonders why the farmers on the other side of the fence work in their pajamas. Bruno makes assumptions on what the camp is because even though it is now walking distance from their new home, no one seems willing to tell him what's going on.… 2 When I first saw this movie, it got to me. It made me feel like shit. At the time, I interpreted that as meaning this was an emotionally powerful movie. Upon further reflection, I've realized what it really means: this movie is a morally bankrupt, absolutely reprehensible piece of shit. What is the single best ways to toy with an audience's emotions? Kill a kid. This movie does it twice. Ooh, how bold. How daring. This movie is really impressive because it doesn't shy away from the harsh realities of war, right? Oh, wait, wrong. Because the movie isn't saying anything. Really, what is it saying? World War 2 was bad? Innocence fucks people over? Okay. We get it. What… Review by Daniel Vital Ainda estou a pensar neste filme.

A inúmera produção de filmes passados no Holocausto é em si também um holocausto: São tantos que acabam por se atropelar uns aos outros para ter de comer e acabam todos mortos numa câmara de gás qualquer. (perdoem-me este momento mais negro, era só uma brincadeira.) Mas este é diferente. Realizar com crianças é uma tarefa complicada. Fazer com que eles passem a mensagem que o realizador pretende pode ser, por vezes, uma tarefa complicada e este não difere disso. No entanto, duas crianças, especialmente uma delas é a personagem principal incontornável e encara o papel melhor que muitos adultos. O poder natural desta criança para representar é de louvar. Em termos de cenários,… Review by schiapu ★★★★ "He's making the country great again" tiene que ser una de las frases mas poéticas que he escuchado en una película, sobre todo considerando los tiempos en los que vivimos. Vera Farmiga merecía premios por su rol, como es que no fue nominada a un Oscar por su rol?

La cinematografía en general es buena, igual que el guion. Un film para dar algo de sobriedad a quienes creen que el 2016 fue el peor año de la historia por un par de celebridades muertas. Tiene unos pocos defectos sin embargo, se siente un poco larga y hay algunas escenas que parecen mas de un film amateur que de una producción de talla, y las escenas crudas no se sienten… The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas - bethinking.org Advanced Search The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas One of the most moving films of 2008, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is a powerful, haunting story about the horrors of the Holocaust. Unlike the vast majority of such stories, however, it doesn’t allow the audience to view events through the eyes of a Jewish character. Instead, we see things from a German perspective. But this is not a revisionist telling of the story, let alone a justification of the Final Solution, but a fresh look at it through the innocent eyes of eight-year-old Bruno (Asa Butterfield).

Looking Beyond the Fences I asked John Boyne, who wrote the novel on which the film is based, why he had taken this route since it ran the risk of making us feel more sorry for the oppressors than the oppressed. He replied that he felt compelled to write about this subject, keeping the memory of it alive for a new generation, yet could not presume to tell the story through the eyes of a Jewish inmate. Instead, by looking in through the fence from outside, he could ask the important questions. He says: For me, a 34-year-old Irish writer, it seemed that the only respectful way to approach the subject was through innocence, with a fable told from the point of view of a rather naive child who couldn’t possibly understand the horrors of what he was caught up in. I believe that this naiveté is as close as someone of my generation can get to the dreadfulness of that period. The film opens in Berlin with Bruno and his friends pretending to be fighter planes as they run home to his house. This is a simple, but effective device for drawing us into Bruno’s world.

He is a young boy playing as all young boys do, when they have the chance, during wartime: they imagine themselves as heroes fighting the enemy. At the same time as British boys were imitating Spitfires during the Second World War, German boys were pretending to be Messerschmitt 109s – and both were possessed of the simple, unwavering conviction common to all children that their side was right. It’s entirely natural that Bruno worships his officer father Ralph (David Thewlis). As viewers we immediately see him within the framework of what we know of World War II. But to his son, he is a hero and a good man, and certainly the film suggests that he has been a loving husband and father as well as a good soldier. He is portrayed as someone who does what he thinks is right for his country and a party is being held to celebrate his promotion. We don’t know what this entails for some time, though we see from his uniform that he is an Obersturmbannführer (equivalent to a Lieutenant-Colonel) in the SS, the part of the German forces that were unswervingly loyal to Hitler, earning him the disapproval of his mother.

Ralph’s new posting is in Poland – as commandant of a death camp. From his bedroom window in their new, and imposingly severe, house, Bruno sees what he assumes is a farm. At first he thinks there will be new friends for him there, but he’s puzzled by how strange they look, all wearing striped pyjamas. As the days pass, he becomes increasingly bored, but he is banned from exploring the garden at the back of the house. One day, he asks his father’s driver, Obersturmführer Kotler (Rupert Friend), for a tyre to make a swing. Kotler shouts at Pavel (David Hayman), a prisoner who works at the house, to take the boy to find one. When Pavel takes him to the shed in the back garden, Bruno spots a route through the window into the woods beyond the house. It’s not long before he grabs a chance to sneak through and he goes exploring. Inevitably he reaches the camp fence where he first meets Schmuel (Jack Scanlon), a Jewish boy of the same age. It is in their encounters that we see Bruno’s naiveté most clearly, because we know all too well what is going on inside.

He’s envious at first – an emotion that is touchingly amusing as well as startling to the viewer because it is so inappropriate: Bruno: It’s not fair, me being stuck over here all on my own while you’re in there playing with friends all day. Schmuel: Play? Bruno: Well, isn’t it part of a game – with your number? Schmuel: It’s just my number On another occasion, Bruno suggests that Schmuel could come for supper. He’s surprised that the wire prevents this; surely farm fences are to stop animals getting out. And he’s troubled when Schmuel tells him that it’s to stop the people getting out. ‘Why, what have you done?’ he asks. ‘I’m a Jew,’ is the simple answer. Bruno has been brought up to believe Jews are evil, but now he begins to struggle with the disparity between what he has learnt and what he is now experiencing first hand.

He asks his tutor, ‘There is such a thing as a nice Jew, isn’t there?’ ‘If you ever found such a thing as a nice Jew,’ he’s told, ‘you would be the greatest explorer in the world.’ This is the problem at the heart of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas. How could such an enormous evil take place in a supposedly civilised society? How could ordinary people become swept up in it, to the extent of hating Jews (and Gypsies along with other ‘deviant’ groups), condoning their extermination and even participating in it? And how are we to think about such people? Part of the answer, as this film makes clear, is that most people were ignorant of the full extent of what was happening. Young Bruno is naturally protected from knowing much of what the war entails. But it’s not only Bruno who is ignorant. Some time after the family has moved, we discover that Bruno’s mother, Elsa (Vera Farmiga), does not know what happens in her husband’s camp. One day she returns from a trip into town and comments to Kotler about the foul smell from the camp chimney.

When he replies that ‘they smell even worse when they burn,’ the realisation finally dawns. She confronts Ralph who insists that he was sworn to secrecy, but he is clearly not going to be dissuaded from his task. From that moment, Elsa’s trust, respect and love for her husband evaporate. This is entirely true to history. Officers were banned from telling even their immediate family about the gas chambers; they were to be seen as ‘normal’ concentration camps, where the primary objective was forced labour, not extermination. Even Hedwig Höss, the wife of Rudolf Höss the commandant of Auschwitz, didn’t realise for around two years what was happening, and she lived close to the crematorium with her four children. She only discovered after overhearing a conversation at a party. Another part of the answer to how such a thing could happen was famously expressed by Hannah Arendt as ‘the banality of evil’. By this she meant that evil is not something radical, but arises out of the tendency of ordinary people to follow orders, to accept what they’re told by authorities, to conform to the prevailing opinion.

Just how easily this happens, even in a liberal democracy like America, was demonstrated in an infamous experiment carried out in a Californian high school by a teacher there. When his class were thoroughly apathetic about fascism, he persuaded the students to order themselves in a fascist way and was shocked by how quickly they conformed and how fast it spread through the school. It forms the basis for the German film The Wave (Dennis Gansel, 2008). The worrying reality – and one reason why it’s vital to keep the memory of the Holocaust alive – is that people easily fall into line without ever stopping to reflect critically on what they are doing, the underlying values or the results of their actions. Or their inaction. This is where Elsa herself is implicated, because she failed to face up to what she did know was happening. The Final Solution of mass killings may have been kept from her, but like all ordinary Germans, she was very well aware of the round-ups, the mass deportations to the labour camps. It is likely that she would be aware of executions in the streets. And as for the camp run by her husband, she knew full well that prisoners were treated in an inhuman way because it happened in her own house.

She never questioned the idea that these people were evil, the cause of all Germany’s problems and a danger to all good people. She was prepared to accept her husband telling Bruno that ‘they’re not real people.’ Vera Farmiga says of her character: Elsa doesn’t think. She doesn’t think for herself, she doesn’t think deeply. She chooses to be oblivious, concerning herself only with the safety of her family and her position in society – everything else is beyond her periphery. She’s a sort of accomplice and assistant to her husband’s ideals, his desires, his morals and his ambitions. But as she starts to open her eyes to what is unfolding, as she starts to explore for herself, there is a gradual decline of tenderness, trust and respect for her husband. And eventually she stands up and says No! Eventually, she condemns what’s going on. She even tries to get her husband to see the evil that he’s responsible for. But it’s too late ... She has intuitions; she knows that people are being horribly mistreated. But she doesn’t look; she doesn’t want to see it because seeing it would implicate her husband, and it would implicate herself.

As Bruno’s understanding of the camp begins to grow, he is naturally increasingly troubled by the conflict within him, because he still loves his father. He questions his sister Gretel (Amber Beattie) about the place he longs to believe is just an odd farm. Gretel insists that the Jews are ‘in there because they’re evil. Evil, dangerous vermin.’ ‘Papa’s not horrible is he?’ asks Bruno. Gretel assures him that their father is a good man. ‘But he’s in charge of a horrible place,’ Bruno replies. This disjunction between family man and camp commandant is very troubling for the viewer. It’s easy to think of such people as sadistic monsters like Amon Goeth (Ralph Fiennes in Schindler’s List). But for the first part of the film, it’s hard not to like Bruno’s father. This is partly because David Thewlis plays him so warmly, emphasising this true-to-life complexity. He says: The challenge is not to play a clichéd, two-dimensional evil Nazi. In my research, I came to learn that my character was very much based on fact....

I don’t think I’ve researched a film as much as this for years because I felt a great duty to do that. Usually, I take someone from my own life, someone I’ve met at some point and think, that person could have been like this person. How can I apply those characteristics? Whereas I’ve never met anyone who at all resembles the character I’m playing here because it’s quite unimaginable to understand how one could be a loving father – I’m sure he is a loving father – and at the same time, leave your children at breakfast, go next door – literally – and spend your day amidst these terrible, terrible, terrible atrocities. How do you get your mind set into that? I was given a letter that Rudolf Höss [commandant of Auschwitz] wrote to his children just before his execution. It was lying around at home, on my kitchen table, and I had some neighbours over. I hadn’t told them what I was working on. They saw this letter lying around and started reading and when they’d finished it, they turned to me and said, ‘Oh, what a beautiful, heart-rending letter this man has written to his children! Who was he? Why was he dying?

Was he sick?’ To which I replied, ‘Yeah, he was VERY sick!’ But the letter is clearly written by a man with an intense love for his children; it’s very articulate, very touching, almost poetic. Try and understand a human being – a sensitive human being – but one who’s capable of this! No way can I find it in myself to justify or forgive, obviously. But my job was to somehow find the humanity in him, and not to see all these people – as the cliché goes – just as monsters. They were human beings. And there are people out there today that are just like him. This is why films like this are so important. We must never forget what horrendous evil Hitler unleashed. Neither must we forget that it was ordinary people who became caught up in his genocide machine. The power of his rhetoric and personality, coming at just the opportune time in German history, won the nation to his cause. Ordinary people became mass murderers. Ordinary people looked the other way while it happened. It was easier to believe the propaganda, to go with the flow and keep quiet than to stand up and face the consequences.

It is, of course, easy to understand why people were afraid to voice opposition when to do so could lead to a labour camp. Dachau was, after all, established as early as 1933 for political prisoners. We do not know how we would have acted if we had been there. Nevertheless, we must say that fear does not excuse inaction. ‘Following orders’ does not excuse evil. These things happen in our own generation: Cambodia, Rwanda, Srebrenica, Darfur, East Timor. Ordinary people still allow themselves to be swept along by evil men, not thinking, not questioning and not challenging what is happening. Given the easy-come, easy-go morality of contemporary western society, this is terrifying. While it is traumatic, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is also a story of hope. Bruno’s innocent acceptance of Schmuel as a human being, just like him, who deserves his friendship, compassion and help, is absolutely right. While everyone else fails to looks beyond their prejudices, Bruno reaches out to the boy he is told should be his enemy. He identifies with Schmuel, recognising that they are no different.

He comes to understand that Pavel is a good man, not potato-peeling vermin. This refusal to accept distinctions between human beings as equal is vital. It is fundamental to civil society. It is fundamental to how we are created by God. The moral relativism of contemporary society has no basis on which to establish this equality. Yes, it makes the right kind of noises, saying that everyone is entitled to their own beliefs and values, which should be respected. But why? There’s nothing objective about it; it is too vulnerable to the whims of the few, who are able to carry others along with them. The only answer is the deeply held, thought-through principles of an objective morality. Ultimately, any objective morality must come from beyond mere human beings; it must come from God. It is not enough that society should be based on Christian values. That had been true of Germany, after all. Rather, the individuals within society need to become convinced of them and committed to their outworking personally. The values of Jesus Christ – his concern for truth and righteousness, his compassion for the weak and lost, his acceptance of every kind of person (among others) – need to permeate our own lives before they can permeate society.

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, with its anguishing loss of innocence and its touching affirmation of the value of all people, has the power to engage us, overwhelm us and change us.

Film title: The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas Keywords: Equality, prejudice, racism, evil, good, innocence, morality, conscience, action, Holocaust Tagline(s): A timeless story of innocence lost and humanity found / Lines may divide us but hope will unite us Director: Mark Herman Screenplay: Mark Herman, based on the novel by John Boyne Starring: Asa Butterfield, Jack Scanlon, David Thewlis, Vera Farmiga, Rupert Friend, Sheila Hancock, Richard Johnson, David Heyman, Amber Beattie Distributor: Walt Disney Pictures (UK); Miramax Films (USA) Cinema Release Date: 12 September 2008 (UK); 7 November 2008 (USA) Certificate: 12 (UK); PG-13 (USA) Book title: The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas Author: John Boyne Publisher (h/b): 2006, David Fickling Books (UK) Publisher (p/b): Black Swan (UK); David Fickling Books (USA) Pub.

date (p/b): 1 February 2007 (UK); 23 October 2007 (USA) Buy The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas from Amazon.co.uk or from Amazon.com © 2008 Tony Watkins © 1997-2004 Damaris Trust This article is reproduced from Damaris' Culturewatch website (now sadly defunct) by the kind permission of the Damaris Trust. Opinions expressed in Culturewatch articles are those of the author, and are not necessarily representative of the views of Damaris Trust. The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas Tony Watkins About the Author Tony Watkins is a speaker and writer on media, culture and Christian faith. He works both independently and in partnership with a number of organisations. For 18 years he was part of the core team of Damaris UK. He has written several books including Focus: The Art and Soul of Cinema (2007) and Dark Matter: A Thinking Fan’s Guide to Philip Pullman (2004). The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (2008) - IMDb IMDb There was an error trying to load your rating for this title.

Some parts of this page won't work property. Please reload or try later. X Beta I'm Watching This! Keep track of everything you watch; tell your friends. Error The Boy in the Striped Pajamas ( 2008 ) The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (original title) PG-13 | | Drama , War | 26 November 2008 (USA) Set during WWII, a story seen through the innocent eyes of Bruno, the eight-year-old son of the commandant at a German concentration camp, whose forbidden friendship with a Jewish boy on the other side of the camp fence has startling and unexpected consequences. Director: From $2.99 (SD) on Amazon Video ON DISC Famous Directors: From Sundance to Prominence From Christopher Nolan to Quentin Tarantino and every Coen brother in between, many of today's most popular directors got their start at the Sundance Film Festival . Here's a list of some of the biggest names to go from Sundance to Hollywood prominence.

a list of 33 titles created 01 May 2014 a list of 24 titles created 09 Jul 2014 a list of 49 titles created 15 Oct 2015 a list of 30 titles created 04 Dec 2015 a list of 42 titles created 15 Dec 2015 Title: The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (2008) 7.8/10 Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Use the HTML below. You must be a registered user to use the IMDb rating plugin. 7 wins & 7 nominations. See more awards » Videos Edit Storyline Young Bruno lives a wealthy lifestyle in prewar Germany along with his mother, elder sister, and SS Commandant father. The family relocates to the countryside where his father is assigned to take command a prison camp. A few days later, Bruno befriends another youth, strangely dressed in striped pajamas, named Shmuel who lives behind an electrified fence.

Bruno will soon find out that he is not permitted to befriend his new friend as he is a Jew, and that the neighboring yard is actually a prison camp for Jews awaiting extermination. Written by rAjOo (gunwanti@hotmail.com) A story of innocence in a world of ignorance See more » Genres: Rated PG-13 for some mature thematic material involving the Holocaust | See all certifications » Parents Guide: 26 November 2008 (USA) See more » Also Known As: The Boy in the Striped Pajamas See more » Filming Locations: £513,653 (UK) (12 September 2008) Gross: Did You Know? Trivia The character name "Meinberg" translates into English as "My Hill" or "My Mountain." Director Mark Herman is a Hull City supporter, and at the time, the Hull goalkeeper was Boaz Myhill. See more » Goofs The "hero" sandwich that Bruno attempts to smuggle out for Schmuel appears to be about six inches long. When it is later discovered on the ground after having fallen out of Bruno's pocket it is several inches longer.

See more » Quotes Mother : Mm, your father's been given a promotion. Gretel : That means a better job. Bruno : I know what promotion is. Mother : So we're having a little party to celebrate. Bruno : He's still going to be a soldier though, isn't he? [...] See more » Crazy Credits Quotation displayed before the opening titles: "Childhood is measured out by sounds and smells and sights, before the dark hour of reason grows - John Betjeman" See more » Connections Referenced in Backfire! (2016) See more » Soundtracks (Rochford, Essex) – See all my reviews There have been more than a few films on the subject of the Holocaust, possibly the daddy of them all being Steven Spielberg's "Schindler's List" based on the book "Schindler's Ark" by Thomas Keneally. Much better, however, in my mind is Costa-Gavras' "Amen" based on Rolf Hochhuth's play "Le Vicaire". Now Mark Herman's "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas", itself based on John Boyne's novel, is fit to mentioned alongside these two great films.

I was initially doubtful at the premise of this film since my knowledge of Holocaust history suggested that 8 year old boys would have been sent straight to the gas chambers on arrival rather than set to work in a camp (obviously I am happy to be set straight on this point if I am wrong). And having seen the film, I also doubt that the boy in the camp (Shmuel, well played by Jack Scanlon) would be able to sit at the camp fence undetected long enough to meet and talk to Bruno, the camp Commandant's son (an astonishingly assured performance by newcomer Asa Butterfield). There has also been some criticism of the fact that all the actors speak in Received Pronounciation English accents (even American actress Vera Farmiga, whose English accent is completely faultless). This is true, although to be completely accurate, all the actors would have to speak in German and the film would have had to be subtitled as a result. In truth, however, none of these criticisms actually matters a damn. For even though all of the above is undeniably true, the film still works. And my, how it works.

When it finished, I sat in my seat stunned (I had the same reaction after watching "Disaster Movie" last week, but most definitely not for the same reason, I assure you). The Holocaust as seen through the prism of 8 year old German boy is a novel approach and although we all know what is happening at the camp nearby, at the beginning, he does not. And every step he takes, he gets closer to discovering the truth, losing his childhood innocence in the process. What I liked about this film is the sophisticated and multi-layered portrayal of the German characters. None of them are one dimensional wholly evil characters but nor are they wholly good either (not even Bruno who tells lies on several occasions, one occasion which results in brutal punishment for one of the prisoners as a consequence).

With good performances from Asa Butterfield as Bruno, Amber Beattie as his sister, David Thewlis as his father, Vera Farmiga as his mother and Jack Scanlon as Shmuel, this may not be the first film about the loss of childhood innocence in the Holocaust (Roberto Benigni beat Herman to it with "Life is Beautiful" and whilst Benigni's film has a powerful end of its own, even that does not compare to the powerful shattering ending which this film possesses) but it is the best and most effective to date. With restrained direction by Mark Herman and a similarly restrained score from James Horner, if this film does not win the hat full of Oscars next year that it surely deserves, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will have shown itself to be completely irrelevant. 206 of 259 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you?

Yes The Independent Critic - "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" Review The Independent Critic David Thewlis, Vera Farmiga, Asa Butterfield, Jack Scanlon, Rupert Friend WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY Mark Herman (based upon book by John Boyne) MPAA RATING It is several hours after I have attended a press screening for "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas," the opening night film for the 2008 Heartland Film Festival in Indianapolis, Indiana. I cannot shake the images from my mind. Based upon a novel by John Boyne that was primarily directed at children, "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" is the story of a most extraordinary friendship between two 8-year-old boys, Bruno (Asa Butterfield, "Son of Rambow") and Shmuel (Jack Scanlon).

Bruno, you see, is the son of a fierce, dutiful concentration camp commandant (David Thewlis, of the "Harry Potter" films) during the holocaust...Shmuel is a young boy that Bruno meets one day while exploring the forbidden areas behind the new family home that curiously overlooks a mysterious "farm" and people who appear to dress in pajamas. I have long professed my love for British family films. British family films are far more intelligent, far less "busy" and they simply don't condescend to children or families. Is it possible to make a family film about the holocaust? If "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" was an American film, it would undoubtedly become a sentimental, weepy film or would simply dissolve into a sea of manipulation. "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" avoids these manipulations of the story and, rather courageously, presents the story of this friendship with great realism and stark truth. "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" is a mesmerizing film that has left me pondering its images, its words and its actions long after I have left the theatre.

Seldom have I seen such truth and such innocence embraced by such harrowing imagery. Given that Disney owns Miramax, some have expressed concern about the "Disneyification" of this story...rest assured, the studio's release of this film "as is" is a bold, courageous and I dare say not so market friendly gesture. "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas," as directed by Mark Herman ("Little Voice"), avoids Hollywood stylings and glossings over. While the film does simplify the holocaust, much to the dismay of some historians, it does so solely by seeing the holocaust through the eyes of 8-year-olds who seem almost impossibly naive. We are introduced to young Bruno as he and his young friends are mock "flying" around the sidewalks of Berlin. It becomes obviously right away that something is amiss...while the young boys innocently play, Jews in the background are being carted away. Bruno is oblivious to the world around him, protected as he is by being the son of a rising German soldier. Even when the family relocates to the countryside estate that overlooks the concentration camp, Bruno remains ignorant to the true devastation that surrounds him.

His innocent inquiries about the farmers, the pajamas, the heavily smoking chimneys, the horrid smells and the unusual stories of those who surround him are typically met with minimal, if any, explanation. When he meets Shmuel, who is sitting alone on the other side of a barbed wire fence, he believes the young boy to be playing some kind of game in his pajamas with a number on them. I am heartbroken, even now, simply remembering the words exchanged between the two boys. "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" is undoubtedly not a film that every child should view, and I would strongly recommend that children view it in the company of a parent or adult who can help process the often intense words and imagery contained within this PG-13 rated film. Some might say this film is far TOO heavy for children...I disagree. Children who have been able to view the cartoon violence of "The Dark Knight" or "Iron Man" would do well to see the real impact of hatred, violence and prejudice contained within this film. Is it devastating? Absolutely. It is also the truth.

As the two young boys, Asa Butterfield and Jack Scanlon are stellar in their ability to evoke complete and utter innocence despite the world that surrounds them. As the film winds down, this blend of innocence with stark reality is astounding to watch unfold. Blind to a full understanding of what surrounds them, the two children enter their friendship seemingly unaware of what it all means and where it's all headed. Nearly as harrowing as watching the friendship of these two young boys unfold is observing Bruno and his family as it becomes more and more obvious the full spectrum of what is going on around them. While Herman wisely avoids the "Disneyification" of this film, so too he avoids painting anyone with broad strokes of evil or good. As Bruno's father, David Thewlis is astounding as a man who does, it seems, truly love his family and yet is completely blinded by duty and nationalism. Initially, his wife (Vera Farmiga, "The Departed") is fiercely loyal and speaks disparaging of the Jews...yet, over time, the entire plot unfolds and she begans to see an evil within her husband she never new existed. Farmiga's transformation from dutiful wife to destroyed mother and spouse, especially towards the end, is devastating.

Finally, Amber Beattie is spot-on perfect as Bruno's older sister, a young girl who is both easily influenced towards supporting Hitler while remaining tenderly protective of her brother. The supporting cast shines, as well, including Rupert Friend as an up-and-coming lieutenant with a secret of his own, Cara Horgan as a house maid/caregiver, and David Hayman's portrayal of an older, ill-fated Jew. James Horner's original score is exemplary, and the production design of Martin Childs perfectly blends elements of innocence within the stark surroundings. After receiving its North American premiere as the opening night film of Indianapolis's Heartland Film Festival, "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" is scheduled for a limited nationwide release on November 7, 2008. By no means an easy film to view, "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" may very well be 2008's most important family film. Simply, yet with integrity, Mark Herman has created what is easily one of 2008's best family films and a film that will evoke a wide array of thoughts, emotions and conversations from audience members of all ages.

by Richard Propes The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas (2008) trailer - YouTube The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas (2008) trailer Want to watch this again later? Sign in to add this video to a playlist. Need to report the video? Sign in to report inappropriate content. The interactive transcript could not be loaded. Loading... Rating is available when the video has been rented. This feature is not available right now. Please try again later. Uploaded on Dec 30, 2009 Don't forget to turn HD on! Written and Directed by Mark Herman based on the novel by John Boyne Starring Asa Butterfield, Jack Scanlon, Vera Farmiga, David Thewlis, Rupert Friend,... Berlin, 1940s. Eight year-old Bruno returns from playing with his school friends to find his home bustling with preparations: his father, a Nazi officer, has just been promoted and his mother is planning a party. Bruno sees no cause for celebration; his father's new job is outside Berlin and the whole family will be moving to the countryside, forcing him to leave the home and friends he loves.

His fears of loneliness are confirmed when the family arrives at their dreary, isolated new house. Bruno finds it difficult to settle into his new life and quickly grows bored. There are no other children to play with and his mother forbids him from exploring behind the house. His older sister Gretel never bothers to talk to him anymore: she is too busy organizing her dolls, or talking to one of her father's men, the handsome, menacing young Lieutenant Kotler. Bruno is intrigued by the existence of an odd sort of farm he can see from his bedroom window, where all the residents seem to be wearing striped pyjamas. When he tries to find out more about the 'farm‚' he is told not to concern himself with it and certainly not to go near it. We know what Bruno does not, that the farm is an extermination camp. His mother is also in ignorance - she believes that they are living next to an internment or labour camp; her husband has sworn under oath never to reveal its real purpose as a killing factory designed to implement the Final Solution, the systematic eradication of the Jewish people.

Bruno befriends a kitchen worker called Pavel, a sorrowful, shuffling man who wears striped pyjamas under his apron. When Bruno falls from a garden swing and cuts his knee while his mother is out, it is Pavel who takes care of him and dresses the wound. Pavel tells Bruno that he once practiced as a doctor and manages a smile when the boy replies that he couldn't have been very good at it if he needed to practice. After weeks of hanging around the house, Bruno finally defies his mother and sneaks out through the back garden in search of adventure. Wandering through the woods, he arrives at a barbed wire fence. On the opposite side, a small boy in striped pyjamas is emptying rubble from a wheelbarrow. Thrilled that he has finally found someone his own age to play with, Bruno starts making daily visits to his new friend Shmuel, all the while keeping their meeting secret from his parents and sister. Over the coming weeks, Bruno becomes increasingly troubled by what he sees and hears at home and what he learns from his secret life at the fence with Shmuel. While his tutor tells him all Jews are evil, his bond with Shmuel becomes stronger.

He witnesses the brutal beating of Pavel the kitchen helper at the hands of the volatile Lt Kotler. Moreover, his mother has started to unravel after a repulsive joke made by the young lieutenant reveals the true source of the foul smoke from the camps chimneys. Bruno is also unnerved by the changes in his sister who, indoctrinated by their tutor's lessons and her crush on Lt Kotler, has taken to papering the walls of her room with Nazi propaganda. The deteriorating atmosphere of his family home coupled with the stories Shmuel tells him make Bruno question whether something sinister is happening on the other side of the fence and whether his father really is the good man he always thought him to be. Bruno is surprised to find Shmuel cleaning glassware at his house and gives him a cake but they are caught together by Lt Kotler who accuses Shmuel of stealing food. Instead of defending his little friend against the bullying soldier, Bruno tells Lt Kotler that he has never seen Shmuel before. Later, sickened with remorse, Bruno makes repeated trips to the fence to apologize to his friend but the boy in the striped pyjamas does not appear.

When Shmuel returns at last, his face bears a nasty wound from Lt Kotlers fist and Bruno's shame is profound. Shmuel forgives him, however, and their friendship resumes. Meanwhile, the relationship between Bruno's mother and father has become so strained that his father decides to send his family away to an aunt in Heidelberg. The move, something Bruno desperately wanted when he first arrived, comes as a huge blow when he realizes he will be separated from his new best friend... Visit The Movie Planet:

Question: What was the setting for "The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas", a 2008 film directed by Mark Herman starring Asa Butterfield, Jack Scanlon, David Thewlis, and Vera Farmiga, based on the book by John Boyne?
Answer: Concentration camp