The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas [12A]

I almost didn't go to this. I found the idea of two boys managing to meet over the horrific divide beyond belief. I imagined another Au Revoir Les Enfants. This film doesn't have as much searing gut hitting moments about the early vanishing of childhood as other films but it makes a very very simple point which is very powerful.

Can't say more since I know Daily Info is hot on plot spoilers. But the film says something profound about the deceit involved in things - the films shows us a propaganda film about the camps and of course we know that Ozwiecim had "Arbeit macht frei" at its gates. So maybe some people really thought it couldn't happen to them.

Asia (Unverified), 08/01/09

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As birthday treats go, seeing The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas may not be everyone’s glass of champagne. Celebrating your big day with the tale of a Nazi family’s move from their comfortable Berlin home to a concentration camp in the East where the gardener is a Polish Jewish slave could be considered an unlikely choice.

That said, I am glad I went! The story revolves around a German boy forced to move with his family when his father, a senior Nazi officer, is put in charge of a concentration camp, and his new friend who is a young Jew living in the camp.

You’d imagine this wouldn’t be a laugh a minute film and in that regard you’d be quite correct. Saying that though there are plenty of touching moments where the innocence of the child and his growing friendship with the prisoner he just doesn’t understand shine through. This is especially true with regard to his naive creation of structures to explain what he sees in this foreign world behind the electrified fence. His own world, of course, is that of a child and as such he has no real understanding of what he is seeing. This is betrayed by his questioning of his bald-headed, pyjama-clad friend.

As this friendship grows in secret, family pressures are building due to his mother’s slow but growing realization of what is going on at the camp her husband runs.

The father, unmoved, fully believes that what he is doing is right. Unbeknown to him the friendship between one of his prisoners and his own son is becoming one which will have important repercussions for him, his work, his marriage and his deep-seated trust in the righteousness of the Nazis' attempt to exterminate a whole people. The end of the film brings with it feelings that will well from deep within, with a personal realization that this was a chain of events we have been trying to get away from since the very start of the film, but not in a way you would have conceived.

It's beautifully acted throughout with a balanced and thoughtful cast, and I was lost in the simple but incredibly disturbing story, feeling emotionally drained when finally I exited the theatre. No it may not be everyone’s ideal birthday treat but trust me, whatever your reason for going, you definitely will not regret it.

Rodney Higgins (Unverified), 14/11/08

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'The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas', based on John Boyne's book of the same name, is a provocative film set in Nazi Germany in the second world war. Directed by Mark Sherman, this is a highly emotive piece of work - not overtly violent but constantly pervading an air of menace.

Bruno, brilliantly played by Asa Butterfield, is an innocent eight year old boy whose father is a high ranking Nazi officer. When the family are relocated to Auschwitz Concentration Camp, Bruno is oblivious to the atrocities taking place. He forms a secret friendship with a Jewish boy he meets on the other side of the 'fence'.

Bruno's father, played by David Thewliss, feels that the exterminaion of the Jews is the only answer to a perfect Germany. Yet his subordinate officer, played menacingly by Rupert Friend, exudes even more evil and sadism than the commandant.

The shock ending cannot be anticipated. Be warned, you will go away feeling devastated.

chjaha (Unverified), 24/09/08

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Powerful and unsettling, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is a near-perfect film. Based on a bestselling book, don’t be fooled by the Disney label and whimsical title. This is no cat-in-the-hat holiday movie - it’s a child’s eye Schindler’s List, an audaciously haunting film.

Eight year old Bruno is upset to leave Berlin when his father gets an important new job in the country. Friendless and perplexed by his new environment, Bruno’s delighted to meet Shmuel, a boy in striped pyjamas who appears to live on the nearby farm. Separated by wire, the boys meet in secret. But Bruno’s oblivious to the dangers dawning around him.

Sunny innocence and palpable dread blend together to create a beguiling, serpentine experience. Unnerving and engrossing in equal measure, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas aptly captures the attractiveness and perversion of the Nazi regime. Seen through Bruno’s unknowing eyes, the perversions seem even more monstrous.

Hypnotically filmed, and with performances of real power, director Mark Sherman’s adaptation of John Boyne’s novella is as shattering as Schindler’s List without any of the violence. A sense of menace pervades – all the more palpable for being set in a family home where it’s the father who’s the monster.

But top marks must go to young Asa Butterfield (Bruno) and Jack Scanlon (Shmuel) who sear the film with performances of tragic honesty. David Thewlis (as Bruno’s commandant father) is terrifically believable, countered by Vera Farmiga whose trust in her husband disintegrates as the family comes face to face with a terrible truth.

Rupert Friend almost exceeds Ralph Fiennes’ Amon Goeth in sinister malevolence. And here’s the power of Boyd’s story and Herman’s film: evil seen through innocent eyes is many-times magnified. Hard to know who’ll find the film most devastating – adults who know the history or kids who just follow the story. Either way, the inevitable ending will come as a big surprise.

Schindler’s List has found a more family friendly face and The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is likely to prove more useful in schools than Spielberg’s tooth-and-claw movie. And Mr. Spielberg could certainly learn a thing or two from this film’s brevity and lack of sentimentality.

Be warned, though: while it may be small and perfectly formed, it delivers a knock-out punch.

Glenn Watson (DI Reviewer), 08/09/08

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