REVIEW
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 The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas
2008
Certificate: 12 | Runtime: 94 | Director: Mark Herman
Starring: Asa Butterfield, David Thewlis, Vera Farmiga
 
During WWII, Bruno (Butterfield) is a young boy living in Berlin. But his father Ralf (Thewlis) is an important SS officer, and the whole family has to relocate to the countryside as a result of his work. But what Bruno doesn't realise is that his father is now the Commandant of a concentration camp, located just a few miles from their new house. Unbeknownst to his family Bruno travels to the camp and befriends Shmuel (Jack Scanlon), a young Jewish boy who hides by the fence.
Something that The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas goes to show is that war films don't always need to focus on the detailed realities of warfare to be disconcerting. In some respects the film approaches the Holocaust with an almost fairytale-like ignorance, but that is why it works so effectively as a powerful story. Bruno's innocent ignorance and naivety is chilling because, while it might protect his youthful mind from the world around him, it makes him unaware of the dangers that world contains.
The film deserves praise for dealing with more than one character in a satisfactory fashion. Ralf is, in many ways, the most interesting of them all. An obviously strong believer in Nazi ideology he is, none the less, a kind, caring and playful father. He also seems to place his family over just about everything. In this respect the film skillfully demonstrates the idea that it's far more frightening for a person to do monstrous things than for a heartless creature to do as such. Thewlis's performance is pleasing, combining subtle charm with a certain degree of cold ruthlessness. Elsewhere, Farmiga also impresses as Bruno's mother. This character experiences a rather hurried passage of development which Farmiga handles well, though to go into much detail would spoil a very strong moment in the film. Completing the significant cast members are Rupert Friend, Amber Beattie and David Hayman, playing an SS officer, Bruno's sister, and a Jewish prisoner respectively. All are good - the latter is particularly impressive.
In fact, the only area where the acting isn't quite as strong is when it comes to Bruno and Shmuel. Neither Butterfield nor Scanlon are bad young actors, but they are not exemplary. They both seem to lack range and can appear stiff at times. This is unfortunate in one significant respect because it stops their friendship seeming as natural and as deep as it should be. They aren't helped by the rather fractured approach the film takes towards their meetings, but one gets the impression that the film's emotional finale would have been even better had their friendship seemed more real and not so scripted.
It is as a tale of corrupted innocence that the film hits its most striking notes. We watch Bruno's sister Gretel turn from a nice little girl into an enthusiastic member of the League of German Maidens. Admittedly this transition begins in a rather forced fashion - she throws her dolls away and puts posters of Hitler on her wall like he's the lead singer of a boy band. But the way her character changes her personality over time is effectively discomforting. And as for Bruno, we watch as the childhood innocence which protected him from the surrounding horrors turns into a dangerous and potentially harmful entity. On this level, the film is a powerful and effective piece.© David Mercier
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