The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas

Brief Synopsis: A young boy's father is appointed commandant of a work camp in
Nazi Germany. The boy befriends another boy, an internee in the camp, and
slowly comes to realise the gulf between what he believes to be true, and the
harsh reality, with tragic results.

We often hear that the story of the Holocaust must be retold, that we shouldn't
be allowed to forget. I completely agree with that, and for that reason alone,
this is a worthy film, which I would encourage people to see. The reality of
that stance, however, is that not every film on the subject is going to be a
masterpiece; The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas is no Schindler's List.

It does have an interesting angle; the Germans in the film have very English
accents, and are portrayed, by and large, as classic period English people. We
are being encouraged to think of the Germans as just like us, to not see it as
something *they* did, but as something we might all have been swept up in.

Likewise, everyone in the film is a victim of the Third Reich to some extent.
Clearly, the plight of the Jews is paramount, and certainly not downplayed, but
too, there is the suffering of a mother unable to interfere as her children are
indoctrinated; a young girl swept up in Nazi propaganda because she has a crush
on a young officer; the commandant himself is clearly a good man who has sold
his soul to ensure a future for his family.

The ending, which I shan't go into detail about seems like hyperbole, making a
bad thing worse to make a point, and adding a false note to a point in the film
where truth is most important.

As a film, it's a bit slow to get going, with the ending arriving in a big
rush. The performances are universally good, I think, but there's really not
enough meat there. The majority of the power of the film, I think, comes from
what you already know going in to the film.

I'd give the film 8/10, but also say that I think films on this subject need to
be judged to a higher standard, where 8/10 maybe isn't good enough.