Director: Mark Herman
Release Date: 2008
Running Time: 1hr 34 minutes
Genre: Drama
Rating: 12
Seen On: Netflix
Synopsis:
Set during WW2, a story seen through innocent eyes of Bruno, the eight year old son of the Commandant at a German concentration camp, whose forbidden friendship with a Jewish boy on the other side of the camp fence has startling and unexpected consequences.
Based on the novel of the same name by John Boyne. Award winning director Mark Herman, delivers the bone-chilling story of a young boy who befriends a Jew at a German concentration camp during WW2. The story is primarily shown through the eyes of Bruno (Butterfield) to emphasise the innocence that we are being witnessed to. One day, Bruno gets news that his father SS Commandant (Thewlis) is being promoted and that they will be moving immediately to Poland. Little does Bruno and Gretal (Beattie) know that their father is in charge of a Jewish concentration camp, one would imagine is, Auschwitz?. Bruno, of course isn't happy about leaving his friends behind, building a new life in a new town, in a new home. Cut off from everybody except his own family.
Young Bruno dreams of becoming an explorer, forced to learn about Jews through a private tutor. One day he decides to explore beyond his back garden and into the camp, where he meets Shmuel (Scanlon), a boy of the same age who is forced into slavery at the camp. There is some speculation that this would not have been historically accurate. Jewish children were put into separate barracks and treated the same as adults, often starving to death, or even being subjected to gas chambers and experiments. Deeply unsettling it's hard to comprehend that Hitler demanded that Jews were treated in such a way. All of their belongings taken from them, glasses, shoes and even their hair removed.
Asa Butterfield's performance as Bruno is sensational, innocent and selfless, his character reminds us of the importance of not judging those by their religion. Thousands upon thousands of people were murdered because one person believed that Jews were the cause of all evil in the world. Even today, it's hard to comprehend that any of this really happened. It did however and it's important that we know what happened.Vera Farmiga delivers a very strong performance as Elsa, Bruno's mother. Farmiga always has a way of bringing a lot of realism to her role, wonderfully convincing, the emotion that she shows, particularly at the end of the film, is incredibly touching. Farmiga's performance, is nothing short of amazing.
David Thewlis performance as SS Commandant is magnificent, his character is based on Rudolf Hoss, who was executed for being head of the concentration camp. Throughout the course of the film you really see the strain that it takes on his marriage with his wife Elsa, sworn to secrecy, she had no idea what was really happening at the camp, nor that they were living so close to it. I'd imagine this was a common occurrence for anyone that was working at the camp as a Nazi? The relationships between characters are very intense. Jack Scanlon delivers an unforgettable performance as Shmuel, knowing that he is eight years old and has no understanding as to why he's being treated cruelly. Some scenes in particular are very emotional when you understand what is most likely happening to his character.
You can see a lot of research has gone into the film and that Mark Herman has done a magnificent job at following the book. It's important to understand that not only is this based on a book, in terms of the characters and the storyline but that the film also has a "12" rating. I'm sorry to tell you that it'd be wrong of you to go in expecting "Schindler's list", this is toned down for quite a few obvious reasons. The ending is not only haunting but incredibly powerful too. An excellent adaptation of the novel and one of which shouldn't be forgotten anytime soon. Educating, touching and emotional, with one of the most shocking endings in film history.
5/5
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