THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PAJAMS
Miramax Films
Reviewed for CompuServe by Harvey Karten
Grade: B+
Directed by: Mark Herman
Written By: Mark Herman, from John Boyne’s novel for young adults
Cast: Asa Butterfield, Jack Scanlon, Amber Beattie, David Thewlis, Vera Farmiga, Rupert Friend, David Heyman
Screened at: Review 2, NYC, 10/13/08
Opens: November 7, 2008

One of the egregious lies being passed around during the 2008 American presidential campaign is that Barack Obama wants to teach sex education in kindergarten. While the thought is laughable, we wonder what is the appropriate teachable moment for other sensitive aspects of life. For example, when can the Holocaust be taught, particularly since the very young are likely to get nightmares of the last century’s most deplorable crime is discussed? John Boyne, whose fictional work “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas,” adapted for the screen by writer-director Mark Herman, has a way out of this dilemma. Before a nine-year-old would be ready for the most horrific facts, the novelist created an allegorical treatment with thinly-veiled names for the actual events: “Fury” instead of “Fuehrer,” for example.

But the film version adapted by director Mark Herman, is more realistic and heartbreaking. Nazi salutes are prominent, swastika flags abound. Our principal attention is directed to the eight-year-old as in the book, a lovely young boy named Bruno, who is played by Asa Butterfield—who allegedly got the role after hundreds of potential stars were interviewed. We come away from the film with its ironically melodramatic ending, easily believing in the principal parts of the drama, though we must suspend disbelief when we see Bruno’s Jewish friend Shmeul (Jack Scanlon) spending his days at the barbed wire fence chatting, playing checkers, and eating food smuggled to him by Bruno. We know that historically, children and the elderly did not survive long in the camps, often gassed within hours of their arrival—Roberto Benigni’s “Life is Beautiful” notwithstanding.

The story has its gripping moments, the plot furthered by crackerjack acting by a largely British cast, filmed by a crew of Hungarians in Budapest, its suburbs, and a set that is said to compete with the splendor of Prague’s. When Nazi officer (David Thewlis) is promoted, he is moved with his family consisting of his wife (Vera Farmiga), his son Bruno (Asa Butterfield), and his 12-year-old daughter, Gretel (Amber Beattie). Though the father has become the commandant of a concentration camp a mile away from the family’s countryside quarters, his wife and children are clueless, thinking at best that it’s a work camp where residents are given an assortment of fulfilling activities (as shown in a propaganda film that was captured after the war). Gretel is a true believer in her country’s ideology, even entertaining a crush on a Nazi lieutenant (Rupert Friend). Bruno becomes curious when he watches an inmate servant, Pavel (David Hayman) peel potatoes in his “pajamas.” Sneaking up to the outskirts of the camp, Bruno discovers a depressed boy his own age and, having no friends of his own, Bruno strikes up an unlikely affiliation with the lad—later sneaking sandwiches to him and even playing checkers across the barbed wire. When Bruno’s dad is again ordered to move to a new location, the film turns melodramatic, credibly so, speeding its way to an ironic conclusion.

“The Boy in the Striped Pajamas” is a striking entry into the subgenre of Holocaust films, bearing the originality of a friendship between two boys literally on opposite sides of a fence. Asa Butterfield, just ten at the time of the filming, has the expressiveness made famous by the wide-eyed, naïve Oskar (David Bennent) in Volker Schlondorff’s “The Tin Drum.” “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas” would make an idea pair with “The Diary of Anne Frank.”

As an example of the reading level of Boynton’s children’s novel, take a look at an example below of part of the first chapter.

“You’ll have to say goodbye to your friends for the time being,’ said Mother. ‘Although I’m sure you’ll see them again in time. And don’t interrupt your mother when she’s talking, please,’ she added, for although this was strange and unpleasant news, there was certainly no need for Bruno to break the rules of politeness which he had been taught.

“‘Say goodbye to them?’ he asked, staring at her in surprise. ‘Say goodbye to them?’ he repeated, spluttering out the words as if his mouth was full of biscuits that he’d munched into tiny pieces but not actually swallowed yet. ‘Say goodbye to Karl and Daniel and Martin?’ he continued, his voice coming dangerously close to shouting, which was not allowed indoors. ‘But they’re my three best friends for life!

“‘Oh, you’ll make other friends,’ said Mother, waving her hand in the air dismissively, as if the making of a boy’s three best friends for life was an easy thing.

“But we had plans,” he protested.

Rated PG--13. 96 minutes. © 2008 by Harvey Karten Member: NY Film Critics Online