The Boy in the Striped Pajamas [DVD]

By Darrell Stoddard, [email protected] emotionally wrenching film deserves 10 Stars. Changed my life forever and a major part of my life was spent in motion pictures. The movie will change your life everlastingly too if you open your heart to a simple fictional story of a little German boy who befriends a Jewish boy through the barbed wire fence of a concentration camp.My heart was ripped out, but I will be a more loving, gracious, forgiving person for having seen this sensitive and also horrifying motion picture. YES, as the reviewers have said: It is "historically inaccurate to the extreme." "It is total fiction." It is "ridiculously contrived." It is "all too absurd." It is "hard to swallow." It is "forced and artificial," and "The actors have British accents instead of German."One critic posed the question, "Did Bruno's father in the end get what he deserved?" Such moralizing and such criticisms of the film make me wonder if those viewers of the film missed the unanswered questions of the Holocaust. How could it happen? How could so many good people allow it to happen?The most insightful reviewer said, "What is appalling to me is reading all of the one-star reviews. I now see how the holocaust (shoah) could have taken place. All that is necessary is for a nation to be composed of and ruled by people with no feelings, bereft of human compassion and sensitivity, just like several of the reviewers here."Great Art (even fiction) reveals to us "things as they really are". Through Bruno and his mother, we see through the eyes of Germans who were totally innocent until they came face to face with with the horrors of the "final solution." Most Europeans accepted the deportation of Jews, some not knowing what would be their fate and others even accepting the fate of Jews because it was so easy to blame Jewish Merchants and Jewish Bankers for World War 1 and for the collapse of the German economy. Savings were totally wiped out. It took 22 million German Marks to buy a loaf of bread. Though not the same, we can understand today how easy it would be to blame all Muslims for 9/11.Through Bruno's sister we see how easy it was to indoctrinate an entire nation of German youth. A notable exception was the 17 year old Mormon boy, Helmuth Hubener, that resisted the 3rd Reich and was sentenced by a German Court for treason and beheaded by guillotine on October 27, 1942 at Plötzensee Prison in Berlin. (See his true story on Wikipedia!)In this motion picture we see and learn how good men, good fathers, and good soldiers, putting military obedience ahead of even their mothers, wives and children, directed and became the executioners of millions of Jews. Even still photos of all the corpses, and eye witness accounts of the Holocaust do not give us that understanding.Last, by identifying and seeing through the eyes of an innocent child, we learn from the film what it was like to be ordered into the gas chambers. No other motion picture, book, or document has ever, or ever will, capture that experience or the depth of those feelings like the film "Boy in the Stripped Pajamas."Would that each viewer could become as a little child (Matthew 18:3), like Bruno, not judgmental, and not critical. The Holocaust (like the film) is hard to believe but the gas chambers to kill and the ovens to burn bodies were real. I've seen them with my own eyes. I've been in the house made sacred by Anne Frank. My next door neighbor was one of the first U.S. soldiers into the Dachau Prison Camp, and my neighbor across the street served in the Danish Underground.Let us resolve, NEVER AGAIN, not just in five languages, but in all the languages of the world. There were those in Germany that truly did not know what was happening to the Jews, but no other film answers for me how an entire nation could be led by one man to kill, or accept the killing, of so many. I will be forever haunted by the words, "If he had been your Fuehrer, you would have followed him too." Although it is fiction, "Boy In the Striped Pajamas" reveals not the historical truth, but the TRUTH of Nazi Germany as it was.FOOTNOTE: What follows regarding man's inhumanity to man is presented because HISTORY WILL REPEAT ITSELF IF WE DO NOT KNOW AND UNDERSTAND IT!People today need to know that Hitler did not invent anti-semitism. It began with the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and has never ceased. It is mind boggling to learn that throughout history there have been innumerable and hundreds of attempts in many countries to kill all of the Jews. (See "Pogroms" on Google, then read the Wikipedia account.)I was shocked beyond belief to read Martin Luther's anti Jewish sentiments published in 1543 (See "On the Jews and Their Lies - Wikipedia" Luther's feelings about the Jews and what should be done to them were as vile and reprehensible, as any words spoken in Nazi Germany. Indeed, Luther's document may have been the blueprint for the Nazi Holocaust.Seeing history repeat itself so many times makes us wonder if there is hope to save the Jews and the world from so much hate and killing. Pope John VI in 1965 issued his historic "Nostra Aetate" that expresses understanding, forgiveness and love for the Jews and for all religions. Pope John Paul VI states in this history changing document that the death of Christ, "cannot be charged against all the Jews, without distinction, then alive, nor against the Jews of today." The age old doctrine behind all of the Pogroms which stated that "all Jews, past, present, and future were collectively guilty of the Crucifixion of Jesus," was officially revoked by a Catholic Pope! EVERYONE should read entirely the "Nostra Aetate" which is one of the most important documents in the history of mankind (It takes just a few minutes to read and can be found on Google)! The current Pope Benedict XVI who was forced to join the Hitler Youth as a child in Nazi Germany (in two books) has made a sweeping exoneration of the Jewish people for the death of Jesus Christ. There is hope for the world! These are history changing actions by two Catholic Popes. It would be well for everyone who wants the world to be a better place to thank Catholics for Pope John VI and Pope Benedict XVI.We must be ever vigilant against condemning another. "Therefore thou art inexcusable, Oh man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself: for thou that judgest doest the same things." (Romans 2:1). Jews who migrated to Israel after World War 11, themselves committed a Holocaust of the Palestinian people. Tens of thousands of Palestinians were killed and nearly one million were forced into refugee camps. "This is my Land. God gave this Land to me," was not justification for killing the Palestinians!There is one notable voice in the Middle East that documents the atrocities by all three sides and seeks to reconcile Jews, Christians, and Muslims. Elias Chacour, a Palestinian Melkite Christian Priest has established a school in Ibillon near Galilee where Christians, Jews, Muslims, and Druze study side by side. More important than their secular studies, students learn to love their enemies. To bring peace to the Holy Land, Elias Chacour's book "BLOOD BROTHERS" SHOULD BE REQUIRED READING FOR EVERYONE.Two unsung and less known heroes of the Holocaust are Irena Sendler and Raoul Wallenberg. Their stories should be told along with the stories of Oskar Schindler, Corrie Ten Boom, and Anne Frank. Irena Sendler was a Polish Catholic Social worker who saved more than 2500 Jewish Children from the Warsaw Ghetto. If you have any interest in the Holocaust, YOU MUST READ the inspiring story "Life in A Jar - The Irena Sendler Story" on Google. In 2007 when Sendler was still alive, she was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. Al Gore received the prize that year instead.Raoul Wallenberg is credited with saving near 100,000 Hungarian Jews. At the peril of his life he defied the Nazis innumerable times. Read a summary of Wallenberg's unbelievable courage to save Hungarian Jews on Google: "Profile of a Leader: The Wallenberg Effect." See Wallenberg's complete story in the book "Righteous Gentile" available used from amazon.com from a number of book dealers for one cent plus $3.99 for shipping and handling. EVERY reviewer gave the book 5 stars! Unlike Schindler, Wallenberg had only his humanity and no ulterior motive in saving Jews; and he probably saved more Jews than Schindler.Few Motion pictures can compare to the book. The motion picture "Wallenberg A Hero's Story" is even equal to the book "Righteous Gentile"! Both the book and the movie will lift your very being to heaven. Man at his best is so good, so noble, so Christlike, that we would fain throw a cover over men and women when they are less. Mankind needs Hero's like Wallenberg to lift and redeem us. It will make anyone a better person to make the book or the motion picture a part of their life.See all of my Reviews. I write only about books, events, or motion pictures that have changed the course of history or unforgettable books or motion pictures that will totally change peoples lives.Darrell Stoddard, Founder - Pain Research Institute and saveusa.biz

very good movie very realistic compared to the actual holocaust. movie made me sympathetic for what the Jewish people had to go through. easily rating the movie 5 stars. for those first watching be prepared for the ending its very sad.

Quite liked it although pretty sad. The holocaust was a horrible time in history

Sad but Nice movie. Thank you 🤘😊

This movie was beautiful. The representation of this timeline was heart touching, and also sad. One of my favorite movies!

It is quite possible that more has been written and filmed about The Holocaust than any other historical event. Not just in regard to hard research, but many of the world's finest novelists have fictionalized the story, film makers have touched upon the subject, playwrights, composers, painters and poets. If there has been a way to express the shock- and shock is an understatement in this case- it has been attempted.John Boyne, a gifted and now internationally known Irish author, wrote the book "The Boy In The Striped Pajamas" in about two weeks time. As he said, in order to maintain "the voice," once he began he was afraid to stop. The same is true when reading it- we are compelled to continue and it is evident from early in the book that Boyne has disguised the terminal words so that it can apply to any and all of the other holocausts' that occurred prior to and after this one. In fact, only once does Boyne choose to use a "telling" word; on page 54 one of the officers says, "Heil Hitler" but then we are told that the boy assumed that this was like saying, "Well, goodbye for now and have a pleasant afternoon."Mark Herman, under the umbrella of both Miramax and BBC Films set forth to create this book effectively for film- a difficult task given that so much of the emotional swtruggle is internal and difficult to show on film, but he managed it and did so beautifully. Becauswe this film is in the smae catagoiry (in regard to quality) as "Sophie's Choice" I couldnt give it five stars- that doesn't mean that everyone shouldn't see this film. The small issues with the film are strongly outweighed by the genuis behind it- most of that genuis comes from the premise which leads us back to John Boyne.The boy, his name Bruno; his age eight and is able to say things with just his eyes that make the fiolm entiurely possible. Without Bruno (expeertly plkayed by Asa Butterfield) the filmn wouldnp;t work. His co -star, the nine yea old Schmuel on the other side of the fenvce ius played by Jack Scanlon who manages to exude sadnewss. The confussion that Bruno has regarding their situation is simply too complicated for Schmuel to explain. The finest performance in the film belongs to Vera Famiga, who plays Bruno's mother and wife to the Commandant at this camp. Like "Sophies Choice" and Meryl Streep's classic performance in that film, Farmiga builds and devlops over a period of ninety-three minutes until, at the apogee of the film we see her undderstanding reach fruition, just as the rain begins to fall. Her emotional breakdown at this point is raw, honest and something to which every parent can connect.The film score, composed and performed by James horner ("Titanic") is a character unto itselflThe entire score is based upon a simple piece he composed that sounds like a gentle folks song. It is diatonic and in three quarter time. He utilizes synthesiers as well as wind instruments to add omonious irony to his music (the synthesisisers were expertly prograqmmed by Ian Underwood and Aaron Martin; the music editor was Dick Bernstein. The score builds momentum and continues, often at battle with itself, disploaying conflict between the characters as well as the situation itself. The music reaches it end with the film on a perfect ubnison which echos, just as the movie does.The innocence and ignorance of this young boy is as critical to the brilliance of this work as the story of the Titanic. (I speak not just of Cameron's film, but Maury Yeston's musical, "a Night to Remember" and the three other films made between 1938 and 1984) Herin is a tool where the audience not only knows so much more than Bruno, but that we are anticipating the sadness that ends the film. So we are prepared to cry but when the end does come, it is so shockiung that we aren;t ablke to cry; it';s not possiblke, this ending, though we've taken every step with these two boys and, of courwe (nbecause of our knowledge of what really happened) we know all too well that the ending is quite feasible.This film is by no means a "Sophie's Choice" though the horror is just as shocking, but few situations in cinematic history have been able to achieve what "Sophie's Choice" did. Still, the two films use a similar foundation but are about very different things. Where the ending is horrifyingly shocking and, like "Sophie's Choice," completely unexpected (who in fact could have imagined an ending such as this one) the poignancy of "The Boy In Striped Pajamas" makes it impossible for this film- and the fame it will generate - to be satirized in any way. Because the innocence and ignorance, as a result of the way his parents have shielded Bruno, is a metaphor for the way in which the population who was aware of the death camps were inactive; complacent and how the same continues to occur day after day from the beginning of recorded time to the continued genocide in Darfur- the world's largest death camp- to which the UN has placed sanctions against while The full force of the American military tore apart Iraq in search of Weapons of Mass Destruction.The current political winds in the United States suggest that Gay Americans and Female Americans are just as vulnerable. All of these circumstances suggest that you could very well be next. John Boyne's book manages to suggest all of this is his two hundred page fable using a modicum of brilliantly chosen words. His ending:John Boyle has sub-titled his book, A Fable" and it is. His final words are like a double edged sword:"And that's the end of the story of Bruno and his family. Of course all of thishappened a long time ago and nothing like that could ever happen again.Not in this day and age."The irony of this ending reminds us that this is a fable, but more so, it makes us stop and think of the responsibility that we all owe to anyone who has been maltreated, either in the form of Bruno, Anne Frank, Sophie Zawotoski or Carol Stewart, Amy Fitzpatrick, Dave Pelzer and the millions of others.As a parent I would have watched this film with both of my daughters as early as sixth grade. Perhaps earlier. Those things that they d0o not understand will gloss over them; they will ask the right questions at the right times and it would be very wise to prepare a parental lesson plan for this because our children must learn of the Hollocaust and by far, this is the best way to introduce it to them I've seem to date. After this, they can read Anne Frank's diary and collefctively with the schools curriculum, they can see. but as we all learneed from Jonathan Demme's "silence of the Lambs" what the film doesn;t show and is left for our minds to create is often more horrific than a John Carpenter slaher film.The filmn is not able to end with the same impact as the book, but the ending is still remarkably powerful, filled with painful irony and one image that we watch for a few moments longer than we wish to as we see that there really was no other way this story could end.

Great product with super fast delivery. Thank you.

Very good movie, so sad in the end. Too bad it is true!