| Overall Grade: |
A+ |
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| Story: |
N/A |
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| Acting: |
A+ |
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| Direction: |
A+ |
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| Visuals: |
A+ |
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An everyman tale set in the Holocaust.
by ANNETTE (movies profile)
Nov 22, 2008
14
of
15 people found this review helpful
Based on a book written by an Irish author for children about the Holocaust, I found this movie to be powerful and moving.
The premise of the story is simple: an 8 year old son of a Nazi commandant befriends an 8 year old boy in a concentration camp.
But the movie is not simple. I don't want to say too much about the content. Go see it, but here's a quick preview:
It opens with young boys running through the streets of Berlin, arms outstretched in flight, with soaring spirits, revelling in the goodness and joy of life. Not on their radar, but visible around them, the Nazi machine is making it's move.
Soon, the commandant's son is ripped from his happy world and relocated to an isolated house near the concentration camp where his father is in charge. He is bored and his curiosity soon causes him to secretly explore the "farm" where he sees people wearing striped pajamas.
His parents try to shield him from the evil that they are perpetrating. But evil is not so easily contained, and inexorably, it takes it's toll on his innocence and childhood.
The message of the movie is clear: Sow hatred (whether Jew, black, Arab, or whatever minority De jour) and you reap destruction, not only of the object of your hatred, but of innocence and ultimately of yourself, in the process. |
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