The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas

How do you tell a tale that's been told thousands of times before, orally passed down from survivors, researched and written about in hundreds of books, and put to film multiple times? You have to find another way in, to reach future generations and those right now, who are sadly forgetting the horrors that occurred, and many of whom can't even explain what the Holocaust was. Yes, the writer has "glossed over" the graphic impact of skeletal victims, cattle cars, mass graves, and firing squads, to tell a quiet, but no less devastating version of the story, as seen through the eyes of two 8 year old boys, One, with his family, the Father who has been "promoted" to run an unnamed "work camp", his sister, and mother who may not know as much as we assume, but slowly come to realize the full extent of the evil they are in the midst of. The other is on the camp side of the electrified wire, helping the older "farmers" as they build a hut, seen from afar by the Commandant's son from his second story window, and finally meeting face to face when the young boy goes exploring. Yes, it is a bit of a reach, but, it is the "In" to an examination of how people, before the era of 24/7 information inundation, could be told what to believe, even to the point of ignoring what they were seeing with their own eyes, especially when it involved loved ones and immediate acquaintances. Yes, it is heart wrenching to watch innocence manipulated and lost, just as it is to contemplate how such evil could be regarded as normal and acceptable. Even more so as the horror isn't as much graphic, as it is palpable when you see the terrible realization dawning in the eyes of 2 young boys, a mother, and yes, even the Father as he sees what his "solution" has wrought.

The lower ratings and a couple of the comments are obviously from dumbasses that know nothing about history. While this is FICTIONAL, the house was an actual concentration camp commandant's quarters in Poland. He did have his family there with him. The only thing unbelievable really is any Nazi child wouldn't have been fully brain washed by 8 years old. They were expected to turn in their own parents, which also is addressed in the movie.

But this takes it to a different level, at the core, that all our actions against each other will come to hear upon ourselves. it's poignant. It covers a range of the Nazi atrocities, against the Jews, the propaganda films, how Nazi children were quickly indoctrinated (the sister), how some Germans even though they did know (covered with the mother) did little to stop it, how the Nazis were expected to honor Hitler even in the death of their own family members, how it forced people to turn even on each other in order to not be or have family members exposed, etc etc etc. There's just so much added in without feeling rushed to the end. It's very well done.

There was one inconsistent point. The doors were never sealed by the prisoners. We know this was always done by Nazis, because that's how they made sure the camp prisoners never knew exactly what was going on. It was all grotesquely efficient that way.

9.9/10

Very touching and hard to watch. It is jewel. Very good.

Such a powerfull movie with great messages and one of the best ending scenes ever.You have to watch this 9.3/10

I didn't cry at all during most part of the movie, just the last 10-15 minutes are... ;_; most tearjerking.

Exceptionally dark and sad movie. The two boys in this movie are very impressive actors and break your heart by the end of it.

Watched this as a child during high school and can not recall it having as much of an impact as it did now. The small things in the film such as the smoke, that I now understand are just heartwrenching. The innocence of the children/women because they weren't trusted with information and the disgusting way that these people were actually treated is sickening. The film was a good movie, but what it depicted was horrendous. But I'm glad we have media like this to educate the new generations of our errors.