The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas
A child’s-eye view of World War II that raises hard questions about complicity and responsibility.
Date: March 10, 2024
Film: The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (2008)
This film carries a heavy subject on its shoulders. The atmosphere is often oppressive and the pace is slow, yet the story more than compensates for it—and the ending is a gut punch that is almost unbearable.
In the classic sense this is not a “Holocaust film.” It shows the horrors of World War II from a completely different angle. Instead of the usual images of destitution we experience everything through a wealthy German family. The focus is on Bruno, an eight-year-old boy trying to grasp what is happening around him with all the innocence of childhood. Like any adventure-seeking kid, at first he is hardly interested. Because of the humane way he has been raised, he simply cannot understand why a boy his own age is terrified of the place on the other side of the fence—the place Bruno thinks of as a “fun camp.” Choosing this child’s lens to depict the era’s darkness is brilliant: naivety lasts only until it is too late.
The film captures the mindset of the period and the mechanics of propaganda frighteningly well. The logic feels disturbingly familiar: there always has to be an enemy, and once “they” are gone, life will be better for “us.” Bruno’s ignorance and lack of common sense irritated me at times—his childish blindness is sometimes dialled up a little too far—but I understand that the contrast depends on it.
The friendship between the two boys is the most powerful thread: that unbelievable childlike innocence that tries to imagine some good behind every horror, in the hope that it will make the world survivable. The worst tragedy remains when a parent outlives their child. After the credits I could not stop wondering what happened to the father—did his ideology shatter or harden?
Morally I was torn the entire time. Under the weight of the subject I kept feeling anger: anyone who actively upholds such a system should face the consequences. Then I remembered the victims of indoctrination—the family members who are both suffering under the lies and complicit in maintaining them.
The performances are convincing, especially the children. Beyond the two leads, Pavel, the elderly Jewish servant, stood out most for me; he carries the film’s moral weight quietly and with restraint.
All in all I loved it. It is a deeply moving, thought-provoking film that, I believe, has something to say to everyone—and it lingers long after the credits roll.