The Boy in Striped Pajamas

James Horner’s haunting theme for the movie, “The Boy in Striped Pyjamas,” is a musical combination of innocence and dread. The music captivates all that transpires in this moving film. The critics will probably pan it for underplaying the intensity of the holocaust, but they are missing an innovative perspective that this movie brings: the innocence of children in the midst of a nightmarish and devastating time.

The story, written by John Boyne, is about two boys on either side of the electrified, barbed-wired fence of a Nazi concentration camp. Bruno, innocently played by young Asa Butterfield, is the eight year old child of the camp’s commandant. He befriends an equally young Jewish boy called Shmuel (Jack Scanlon). Their secret friendship makes them each ponder their circumstances, whilst comparing their fathers’ personalities. Each day, Bruno and Shmuel surreptitiously play games with each other, completely unaware of the horrors and atrocities that are taking place inside the camp.

Initially, Bruno is convinced that the camp is a farm and wonders why the workers wear striped pajamas all day long. And even when he meets Shmuel, he is convinced that the number on his jacket is all part of a silly game that the workers are playing.

Throughout the movie, the feeling of dread persists, but both boys retain their innocence until the last few stunning minutes in the movie, when both of them are caught up in a whirlwind of horrifying events, which they sadly cannot escape. Their innocence is brutally crushed, but their friendship is undying when Shmuel lovingly takes Bruno’s hand. It’s the tenderest and most loving part in a very sad movie.

The rest of the cast wonderfully underplay their characters in order to make the two boys shine. David Thewlis, who is more recently known for playing bungling Professor Lupin in the Harry Potter series, conveys evil in a matter-of-fact manner. The commandant is absolutely soulless, which makes him appallingly dangerous.

Vera Farmiga, who played alongside Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson and Leonardo DiCaprio in “The Departed,” plays Bruno’s mother, whose hopes and expectations for her family, as well as her pride for her husband, are shattered completely when she realizes the horrific truth about what is happening to the Jewish prisoners in the concentration camp.

Amongst the other actors, David Heyman plays a cameo role of a Jewish doctor, who is reduced to using his surgical skills to peel potatoes in the commandant’s kitchen. David Heyman is one of Britain’s finest actors, as well as being the founder of Heyday Productions, which produced this movie, as well as the successful Harry Potter series.

Perhaps the movie will not live up to people’s expectations of Holocaust-themed films, but it may eventually become a vehicle for educating young people about those horrific times. Overall, I would rate it with a B+.

Movie Homepage
http://www.boyinthestripedpajamas.com/

Discussion Study Guide: http://www.boyinthestripedpajamas.com/BOYDiscussionGuide_Heartland%5b3%5d.pdf

Podcast devotional on the Movie
http://media.libsyn.com/media/stushie/Striped_Pajamas.mp3

Youtube Trailer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5FU-yDC-uI