Posted on 11/13/2008 9:13:25 AM PST by End Times Sentinel
Certainly with the many movies made about the tragedy of the Holocaust--several which have been done brilliantly--it could be easy to steer clear of yet another bleak look at the horror of that time in history. Yet if there was any "little indie movie that could" out there in the cineplex right now, it has to be the gut-wrenching, amazing film "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas." It is getting some buzz-- especially from critics in religious circles--and it is even receiving some celebrity endorsements from folks like Amy Grant. So while the movie is in very limited release, I am optimistic that it will slowly begin to play wider in the coming week, and I encourage everyone to find it and see it.
Just as the Oscar-winning "Life is Beautiful" found a unique, though perhaps improbable, premise to reexamine the Holocaust, so too does "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas." The story is a narrow one, told solely through the eye of one boy, Bruno, who has been forced to leave his upscale life to move with his family to Auschwitz. The boy literally lives on one side of the fence of the prison camp and spends time daily watching the people on the other side of the fence--people who always wear striped pajamas.
Bruno's father works for Hitler and has moved his family to Auschwitz on direct orders, yet he and his wife manage to keep young Bruno from truly understanding anything about his surroundings or what is happening there. One day, however, Bruno befriends a Jewish boy who live in the camp, and unbeknownst to his parents, a series of events unfold that lead to a devastating conclusion.
What gives the film it's eerie power is the way the movie paints such a picture of family normalcy against the backdrop of atrocity. Bruno's family means well. They don't seem like monsters. But because they think they can be near evil, or even participate in evil to a degree, without being impacted personally, their live are ruined by the lie. It examines the way we justify our actions and the price of innocence lost. Most of all it is a prophetic reminder that sometimes it is too late to decide to do the right thing.
I ask because I have two children, ages 9 and 7, and I wonder if this would be a good movie for them?
Y'know, if I REALLY wanted to traumatize them.
I remember watxhing the series World at War when I was about 12 or so. I had previously only heard snippets of what had happened in the concentration camps. It was horrible stuff for a 12 year old to watch yet it changed me forever and in nothing but positive ways. A little Trauma as long as it is allied with truth will often lead younger people out of their lives of self interest and on the road to caring for others.
Nine and Seven is very young to be confronted with this though and obvioulsy would depend on the maturity of the youngster.
Mel
I heard that the movie may be too intense for children under 12.
WTF!! Who in their right mind would sit thru yet another concentration camp movie?? And with children yet!!
It's amusing that the article references "Life is Beautiful" whose star, writer, director Roberto Benigni is a committed Communist who masquerades as a comedian. The CPA picked it as its #1 movie that year and I'm sure they'll approve of another Nazi movie.
maybe we can counter the teaching of the gay life style which is encouraged by the NEA what has this teaching done to our youth they don’t have a conconscience
Owl -
I’m not sure, haven’t seen it, yet.
I have run across the Diary of Anne Frank: The Whole Story on YouBoob. It’s in many parts.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XH2HxdnUdWE&feature=related
Funny how the millions murdered and lives destroyed by the followers of Marx and Lenin never get their stories told in films with "A little Trauma...allied with truth".
I predict no one will see this film. It will be stacked on top of the thousands of others nobody went to and next year there will be two or three more. Be sure to watch for the Jeff Goldblum flick about the concentration camp survivor. No one will go that one either.
Our current economic policies are about as close to Fascism as any I've seen in my life.
Criticism of Hitler easily rolls off every American's tongue -- but we fail to see that we have met the enemy and he is us.
We say: Not me! I voted for McCain! or I'm a Reagan man! -- but there were lots of Germans who said that stuff too. People get swept up in national forces, and pretty soon we're shrugging and watching the neighbor send their children to the Youth Camp and we say "How did we get here?"
I’ll probably catch it on DVD myself. You are correct though that no-one seems to do a thorough film on the Soviets/Chinese and the heinous crimes they committed. You’ll see plenty that give the USA heaps though!
Cheers
Mel
Improbable? I thought it was based on a real guy's life.
When I was your children’s age I lived in a neighborhood with dozens of people recently out of the Nazi camps.
I heard their stories first hand. Was not traumatized, just learned the reality of the world and part of history.
Many children are sheltered from the real world and why many can’t cope or continue to hide from reality.
Try the book “Number the Stars” by Lois Lowry for a Holocaust story that is safer for kids that age. It shows the Danish Gentiles in a good light for their protection of their Jewish neighbors.
When I was in my mid-teens I read a couple of paragraphs that haunt me to this day. It was a dad explaining to his son how he should care for his pet mouse. He was to make sure it was fed and watered, that the cage was clean and that the mouse had time to run around outside the cage. He also should always be very careful not to hurt the mouse because it would be wrong to hurt something so helpless.
And then the father put on his SS uniform and went to work rounding up Jews and other undesirables.
The blindness of the father to the evil that he was doing shook me.
The death toll in Europe for W.W.II (1939 - 1945) was circa 35 million, of whom 7 million were Germans, 6 million were Jews, and 20 million (non-Jewish) Soviet citizens.
Among Germans, 20% of the dead were civilians, and among all the others, well over 50% of the dead were civilians.
However bad our situation today is, it doesn't even remotely resemble the suffering those poor folks endured!
It was my intention to contrast the death toll of the US abortion situation with the blatant rounding up of innocent Jewish citizens and coldly and remorselessly killing them in an organized and methodical manner.
Hitler: 6 million Jews.
US: 60 million babies.
My only real point is that both actions are utterly -- utterly -- indefensible.
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All this catching up makes me feel like I’m in a thyme warp, losing my scents of direction, and I’m getting some weird deja vu moments. Keep up the good work. :-)
I think the most devastating portrayal of the holocaust believe or not was in the made for TV series “War and Remembrance.” It’s amazing the scenes that were portrayed on there, and they still haunt me to this day, and I’ve seen a lot of other holocaust movies.
My suggestion for an unforgettable experience is to visit one of those camp sites. They have a museum, some of the ovens, etc. at Dachau.
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