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Mark Herman's "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" depends for its powerful impact on why, and when, it transfers the film's point of view. For almost all of the way, we see events through the eyes of a bright, plucky 8-year-old. Then we begin to look out through the eyes of his parents. Why and when that transfer takes place gathers all of the film's tightly wound tensions and savagely uncoils them. It is not what happens to the boy, which I will not tell you. It is -- all that happens. All of it, before and after.

Bruno ( Asa Butterfield ) is a boy growing up in a comfy household in Berlin, circa 1940. His dad ( David Thewlis ) goes off to the office every day. He's a Nazi official. Bruno doesn't think about that much, but he's impressed by his ground-level view of his father's stature. One day Bruno gets the unwelcome news that his dad has a new job, and they will all be moving to the country.

It'll be a farm, his parents reassure him. Lots of fun. Bruno doesn't want to leave his playmates and his much-loved home. His grandma ( Sheila Hancock ) doesn't approve of the move either. There seems to be a lot she doesn't approve of, but children are made uneasy by family tension and try to evade it.

There's a big house in the country, surrounded by high walls. It looks stark and modern to be a farmhouse. Army officials come and go. They fill rooms with smoke as they debate policy and procedures. Bruno can see the farm fields from his bedroom window. He asks his parents why the farmers are wearing striped pajamas. They give him one of those evasive answers that only drives a smart kid to find out for himself.

At the farm, behind barbed wire, he meets a boy about his age. They make friends. They visit as often as they can. The other boy doesn't understand what's going on any more than Bruno does. Their stories were told in a 2007 young adult's novel of the same name by John Boyne, which became a best seller. I learn the novel tells more about what the child thinks he hears and knows, but the film is implacable in showing where his curiosity leads him.

Other than what "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" is about, it almost seems to be an orderly story of those British who always know how to speak and behave. Those British? Yes, the actors speak with crisp British accents, which I think is actually more effective than having them speaking with German accents, or in subtitles. It dramatizes the way the German professional class internalized Hitler's rule and treated it as business as usual. Charts, graphs, titles, positions, uniforms, promotions, performance evaluations.

How can ordinary professional people proceed in this orderly routine when their business is evil? Easier than we think, I believe. I still obsess about those few Enron executives who knew the entire company was a Ponzi scheme. I can't forget the Oregon railroader who had his pension stolen. The laughter of Enron soldiers who joked about killing grandmothers with their phony California "energy crisis." Whenever loyalty to the enterprise becomes more important than simple morality, you will find evil functioning smoothly.

There has not again been evil on the scale of 1939-1945. But there has been smaller-scale genocide. Mass murder. Wars generated by lies and propaganda. The Wall Street crash stripped people of their savings, their pensions, their homes, their jobs, their hopes of providing for their families. It happened because a bureaucracy and its status symbols became more important than what it was allegedly doing.

Have I left my subject? I don't think so. "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" is not only about Germany during the war, although the story it tells is heartbreaking in more than one way. It is about a value system that survives like a virus. Do I think the people responsible for our economic crisis were Nazis? Certainly not. But instead of collecting hundreds of millions of dollars in rewards for denying to themselves what they were doing, I wish they had been forced to flee to Paraguay in submarines.

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

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Film credits.

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas movie poster

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (2008)

Rated PG-13 for some mature thematic material involving the Holocaust

Asa Butterfield as Bruno

David Thewlis as Father

Vera Farmiga as Mother

Rupert Friend as Lt. Kotler

David Hayman as Pavel

Jack Scanlon as Shmuel

Amber Beattie as Gretel

Sheila Hancock as Grandma

Richard Johnson as Grandpa

Jim Norton as Herr Liszt

Cara Horgan as Maria

Written and directed by

Mark Herman

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The Boy in the Striped Pajamas Reviews

[The film] touches on important questions about the costs of human life and the dangers of hatred in a stirring, heart-wrenching tale.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Mar 7, 2024

A child’s-eye view of the Holocaust, this family film is likely to trigger big questions from younger viewers.

Full Review | Nov 4, 2022

“The Boy in the Striped Pajamas” asks several powerful questions about war, family, and morality. It also gives us a glimpse into a part of our world’s history that is still hard to look at but should be reckoned with.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 19, 2022

A valiant attempt to tell a small scale story about an unimaginably huge period in our history, and while it may drag in places, it has its heart in the right place and a devastating ending that will take your breath away.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Jan 31, 2021

At once painful, tear-jerking, and deeply emotional, this is a film that cannot be easily forgotten.

Full Review | Original Score: 8/10 | Nov 28, 2020

British director Mark Herman's film... is moving and thought provoking, and handles its subject matter with great sensitivity. It deserves to be seen by young and old.

Full Review | Nov 12, 2020

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas may very well be 2008's most important family film.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4.0 | Sep 4, 2020

Despite the film's various weaknesses, however, it's hard not to be moved by its ending.

Full Review | Sep 2, 2020

A superb adaptation of John Boyne's novel bears witness to the unyielding horror of the Holocaust through the eyes of a child.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | May 4, 2020

This intelligent film offers a fresh perspective on an oft-portrayed period, asking the viewer to question his own assumptions about what he expects and wants from such a telling.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Dec 12, 2018

Not without its qualities, the movie ultimately does a disservice to the very people it purports to represent.

Full Review | Original Score: 69/100 | Jul 12, 2012

[Director] Mark Herman knows how to milk the melodrama from every scene, but viewers may feel a little icky about the experience.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Nov 17, 2011

A film dealing with the Holocaust really should be a little less clumsily executed, manipulative and contrived than this.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Jul 14, 2011

Built upon a powerful but gimmicky end, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas would make a fine short. As a full-length feature, though, the pajamas wear thin quickly.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Aug 14, 2009

The result isn't a deep film, but rather a profound one.

Full Review | Original Score: 5/5 | May 13, 2009

We are left in no doubt about the brutality of what's going on there but it's almost entirely off-screen. Still, the film is terribly confronting.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | May 1, 2009

This writer can't remember witnessing a harder-hitting kids' movie denouement than the one that closes this microcosm of middle-class German family life in WWII.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/6 | Apr 24, 2009

Much of the film depends on our ability to suspend disbelief and see the world as Bruno sees it. It has a finale designed to shock.

Full Review | Apr 24, 2009

You may get halfway through and wonder why it's getting so heavily recommended here. Once you've experienced it in its entirety, you'll know why.

For me, the pluses far outweighed any misgivings I had with this ultimately very moving film.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 24, 2009

Cast & crew
User reviews

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

Through the innocent eyes of Bruno, the eight-year-old son of the commandant at a German concentration camp, a forbidden friendship with a Jewish boy on the other side of the camp fence has ... Read all Through the innocent eyes of Bruno, the eight-year-old son of the commandant at a German concentration camp, a forbidden friendship with a Jewish boy on the other side of the camp fence has startling and unexpected consequences. Through the innocent eyes of Bruno, the eight-year-old son of the commandant at a German concentration camp, a forbidden friendship with a Jewish boy on the other side of the camp fence has startling and unexpected consequences.

Mark Herman
Asa Butterfield
David Thewlis
Rupert Friend
594 User reviews
147 Critic reviews
55 Metascore
7 wins & 7 nominations

Lieutenant Kotler
(as Zac Mattoon-O'Brien)

Berlin Cook

Palm Court Singer

All cast & crew
Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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Trivia Bruno's parents are named Ralf and Elsa, but in the credits of the film they are listed as "Father" and "Mother." This is a tribute to the novel, in which the narrative focuses solely on Bruno's point of view.
Goofs At Auschwitz, (and other camps) there were double fences, 3 meters apart, around the compound. Too much distance for an outsider to touch an insider.

Shmuel : I wish you'd remembered the chocolate.

Bruno : Yes, I'm sorry. I know! Perhaps you can come and have supper with us sometime.

Shmuel : I can't, can I? Because of this.

[points the electric fence]

Bruno : But that's to stop the animals getting out, isn't it?

Shmuel : Animals? No, it's to stop people getting out.

Bruno : Are you not allowed out? Why? What have you done?

Shmuel : I'm a Jew.

Crazy credits Quotation displayed before the opening titles: "Childhood is measured out by sounds and smells and sights, before the dark hour of reason grows - John Betjeman"
Connections Featured in Siskel & Ebert: Quantum of Solace/Madagascar 2/Soul Men/Repo! The Genetic Opera/The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (2008)
Soundtracks Rhythm For You Written by Eddy Christiani and Frans Poptie Courtesy of APM Music

User reviews 594

clare_phoebe
Sep 18, 2008
How long is The Boy in the Striped Pajamas? Powered by Alexa
Is "The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas" based on a book?
How do Bruno and Shmuel meet?
If the movie is set in Germany, why do they have English accents?
November 26, 2008 (United States)
United Kingdom
United States
arabuloku.com
Official Facebook
Chú bé mang pyjama sọc
Kerepesi Cemetery, Budapest, Hungary
Heyday Films
See more company credits at IMDbPro
$12,500,000 (estimated)
Nov 9, 2008
$40,416,563

Technical specs

Runtime 1 hour 34 minutes
Dolby Digital

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Horror Through a Child’s Eyes

By Manohla Dargis

Nov. 6, 2008

See Bruno (Asa Butterfield). See Bruno run. See Bruno see a farm. See Bruno see “farmers” in “striped pajamas.” See Shmuel (Jack Scanlon). See Shmuel at the farm. See Shmuel run because men are yelling. See Bruno run to his new house. Come home, Bruno, said Mother (Vera Farmiga), in a British accent. Come, Bruno, come. See Bruno and Shmuel meet across an unguarded barbed wire fence. See Bruno and Shmuel laugh, perhaps because there are no soldiers guarding this fence, even though, in John Boyne’s allegorical children’s novel on which this film is based, the farm is Auschwitz. See Bruno, whose blue eyes and dark hair tend to make him look like a Nazi moppet, eat the food he said he would give to Shmuel. See Shmuel look even sadder than usual. See Bruno learn that the farmers are Jews.

See Bruno ponder the kind of false paradoxes that only an authorial contrivance, like the artificial naïf, would face: Jews are supposed to be bad, and yet Shmuel is nice. See Bruno tunnel, with astonishing rapidity, into the camp. See the film’s director, Mark Herman, take his camera into a gas chamber where naked men and children huddle, and two little hands clasp before the film cuts to black. Do not see the blood and excrement on the walls or the dead piled on the floor. See Mother howling outside the camp in the rain as the camera hovers over her. See Father (David Thewlis), realizing that his son has been swept away by the Nazi death machine he himself helps run, look horror-stricken. See the Holocaust trivialized, glossed over, kitsched up, commercially exploited and hijacked for a tragedy about a Nazi family. Better yet and in all sincerity: don’t.

“The Boy in the Striped Pajamas” is rated PG-13 (Parents strongly cautioned) for some mild violence.

THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PAJAMAS

Opens on Friday in Manhattan.

Written and directed by Mark Herman, based on the novel by John Boyne; director of photography, Benoit Delhomme; edited by Michael Ellis; music by James Horner; production designer, Martin Childs; produced by David Heyman; released by Miramax Films. At the Cinema 1, 2, 3, Third Avenue at 60th Street, Manhattan. Running time: 1 hour 33 minutes.

WITH: Asa Butterfield (Bruno), Jack Scanlon (Shmuel), Amber Beattie (Gretel), David Thewlis (Father), Vera Farmiga (Mother), Richard Johnson (Grandpa), Sheila Hancock (Grandma), Rupert Friend (Lieutenant Kotler), David Hayman (Pavel), Jim Norton (Herr Liszt) and Cara Horgan (Maria).

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The boy in the striped pajamas.

The home life of the Nazi commandant of a World War II concentration camp appears bizarrely serene in Mark Herman's grave and powerful drama "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas," but the innocent are bound to suffer when humanity is abandoned.

By Ray Bennett , The Associated Press September 10, 2008 9:00pm

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Opens: Friday, Sept. 12 (U.K.) (Disney)

LONDON — The home life of the Nazi commandant of a World War II concentration camp appears bizarrely serene in Mark Herman’s grave and powerful drama “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas,” but the innocent are bound to suffer when humanity is abandoned.

The Bottom Line Empty

A fine adaptation of John Boyne’s novel, which was aimed at children, the film is more adult in its approach, though its stern message remains important for youngsters. Set for a Miramax release Nov. 7 in the U.S., it’s a tough-minded lesson for those who would perpetrate genocide, and it should register strongly with a long afterlife on DVD.

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What it's about.

You've probably watched and heard about enough Holocaust films to expect a formula, but you might want to put all that aside going into The Boy in Striped Pajamas. Bruno, the son of a WWII Nazi commandant forms an unlikely friendship with a Jewish kid his age in his father's concentration camp. The film is World War II told through Bruno's eyes, and while you might not get why this movie is so highly praised in its first scenes, the twisting and profound second half will have you recommending it to everyone in need of a moving story well executed, or quite simply a good cry.

It’s a heartwarming story of two children on opposite sides of the fences in a Nazi concentration camp. Just be prepared to cry. I’ve warned you.

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Review: 'The Boy in the Striped Pajamas'

A young German boy befriends a Jewish boy in a nearby concentration camp, unaware of the enormity of the horror going on behind the fence.

By Peter Rainer

November 8, 2008

In " The Boy in the Striped Pajamas ," the unspeakable atrocities of the Holocaust are glimpsed through the eyes of a 9-year-old boy, and somehow this makes them seem even more unspeakable. Bruno (the marvelous young actor Asa Butterfield ) is the son of a high-ranking Nazi officer, Ralf ( David Thewlis ), who moves his family from Berlin to a remote countryside home that is walled off from a "farm" in the far distance. In fact, what is being walled out is a concentration camp, with Ralf acting as its commandant.

Bruno's mother Elsa ( Vera Farmiga ) is kept in the dark for a long time about her husband's murderous duties. When she learns, she snaps. Not so scrupulous is Bruno's elder sister Gretel ( Amber Beattie ), who is enamored of a sadistic young Nazi lieutenant ( Rupert Friend ) and adorns her bedroom walls with Hitler Youth posters. Isolated and uncomprehending, without pals to play with, Bruno is bored stiff. One day, although forbidden to do so, he ventures beyond the wall. Running up against the barbed-wired camp enclosure, he befriends a Jewish boy his own age, Shmuel ( Jack Scanlon ).

Bruno's innocence, like Shmuel's, prevents him from perceiving the enormity of the horror. He wonders why Shmuel can't leave the "farm" and play. Scruffy and starving, Shmuel replies matter-of-factly that he can't because he's a Jew.

It took me a while to adjust to the mostly British-sounding cast standing in for Germans, but at least it's a time-worn convention. Writer-director Mark Herman, adapting the novel by John Boyne , is careful to stage the film almost entirely from Bruno's point of view. This makes for a far creepier experience than if the story had been told straight. It's as if we are watching the ritualistic sacrifice of an innocent.

Bruno is the darling of his family and his father is quite tender with him. The audacity of "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" lies precisely in Herman 's decision to portray Ralf as a loving father. Thewlis's performance is so layered that we can believe this man is capable of a monstrousness equal to his familial devotion. And yet the great conundrum of the Holocaust is that it was perpetrated by human beings, not monsters. Few movies have rendered this puzzle so powerfully. Grade: A (Rated PG-13 for some mature thematic material involving the Holocaust.)

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DVD & Streaming

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

Drama , War

Content Caution

In Theaters

Asa Butterfield as Bruno; Jack Scanlon as Shmuel; Vera Farmiga as Elsa; David Thewlis as Ralf; Amber Beattie as Gretel; Rupert Friend as Lieutenant Kotler; Jim Norton as Herr Liszt; Richard Johnson as Grandpa; Sheila Hancock as Grandma; David Hayman as Pavel

Home Release Date

Mark Herman

Distributor

Miramax Films

Movie Review

Ah, little boys. They’re impish, curious, messy and daring. Most mothers of boys have at least a few gray hairs because of their sons’ escapades. Sometimes boys really can stop fidgeting at the table and squirming during church. Sometimes they can even resist the temptation to torment their sisters. Rarely, though, can they ignore the all-consuming urge to explore—and this thirst for excitement can get them into trouble.

Enter 8-year-old Bruno, an inventive young German who loves to read adventure books and investigate whatever is outside. When we meet him in the early 1940s, his father, Ralf, a high-ranking military officer, has just accepted an important position within the Nazi war effort. The family packs up their city home in Berlin and moves to a country house located near what Bruno thinks is a strange farm.

Naive Bruno doesn’t fully understand what’s happening in his new world, including why his 12-year-old sister, Gretel, suddenly spurns a treasured doll collection and decorates her bedroom with Nazi youth posters. He can’t comprehend why old Pavel, a “farmer” who works in the kitchen, gave up being a doctor so he could peel potatoes. Nor can he fathom why Pavel and all the other “farmers” wear striped pajamas.

Bruno especially struggles with his mother’s order to stay inside their very uninspiring, walled-in front yard. After all, he thinks the “farm” just beyond the woods out back must be full of fun, food, animals and potential playmates.

So, when his tedious tutor, Herr Liszt, and the lackluster life indoors become too much for him to tolerate, he begins to sneak off. He runs through the trees to the “farm,” where he meets Shmuel, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas who lives behind a huge electrified fence.

[ Note: The following sections contain plot spoilers. ]

Positive Elements

Bruno’s mother is reasonably patient with his disappointment when they move, but she isn’t silent, either. She tells Bruno that sitting around being miserable won’t make things any happier. In response, for a while he tries his best to be content.

Despite the adults around him who demean Jews, Bruno ultimately learns to see Shmuel and Pavel through the lens of his own positive, firsthand experience with them. While his friendship with Shmuel wouldn’t necessarily be called courageous (Bruno is bored and unaware, and Shmuel is the only friend available), it does reveal the beauty of innocence, which underscores the wickedness of the adults’ cruelty. And while Bruno is at first intimidated into siding with his father’s and the surrounding soldiers’ hateful opinions of his Jewish friends, he realizes that something is very wrong, and he questions his dad’s moral goodness.

One day Shmuel’s father goes missing at the “farm.” Bruno offers to help his friend search for him, saying, “It will be like an adventure!” Shmuel gets a pair of spare “pajamas” for Bruno so he won’t draw attention, and Bruno digs a (precise and impossibly large) trench under the fence. Until he comes face to face with the horror inside the wire, Bruno seems to just be having fun. But when he sees enough to become frightened, he gathers himself and makes a clear decision to face his fear in order to help his friend.

This act is redemptive, in a way, since Bruno turned his back on Shmuel a few days (weeks?) earlier. In that circumstance, he lied in such a way that Shmuel is thought to be a thief and is subsequently beaten by soldiers (offscreen).

Elsa’s ignorance about what’s going on in war-torn Germany is much less excusable than her son’s, and it seems she chooses to remain oblivious regarding what occurs at the “farm.” But when she finally realizes how grave the situation is—that her husband is in charge of mass exterminations—she begins to justly rail against him, demanding that he immediately quit. She’s also alarmed by Gretel’s growing vehemence against Jews.

While raising questions about where duty to one’s country ends and conscience and morality begin, the film winds these themes together to teach a powerful lesson about human equality. Prejudice is rightfully shown to be based on lies and hatred. And it’s reinforced that every one of us has a responsibility to choose rightness and truth, even when the tide of a society is utterly against us.

Spiritual Elements

Bruno says a bedtime prayer with his father, thanking God (in Jesus’ name) for His protection. It’s a sweet children’s rhyme that seems real to the boy, and its candid trust feels oddly situated against Nazi hatred. A preacher says another prayer at Ralf’s mother’s funeral service.

Sexual Content

Precocious Gretel holds twentysomething Lt. Kotler’s forearm in an adoring way and is embarrassed when Bruno publicly reminds her that she is only 12.

Violent Content

Oblivious to the real-life awfulness they’re mimicking, Bruno and his young friends in Berlin act like fighter planes and pretend to shoot machine guns. In a different play scene, Bruno runs through the woods flailing a stick and shouting, “Die! Die!” A little blood shows up when he falls out of a tire swing and skins his knee.

Nazis shove Jews onto wagons while dogs nip and bark. When inky black smoke rises from the furnace at the “farm,” Lt. Kotler quips, “They smell even worse when they burn, don’t they?” Later he and Ralf yell at Pavel, and Kotler beats the old man to death. We see the lieutenant grab Pavel’s head and hit him, and we hear yelling and more powerful blows after Kotler drags him into another room. The next morning, Maria scrubs the blood from the wood floor where Pavel lay.

Kotler also yells at Shmuel and Bruno. We don’t see the officer hurt Shmuel, but it’s clear that he does when the boy disappears for days and finally returns with a badly beaten face.

Ralf calmly announces his mother’s death. We’re told she died in a bombing, but circumstances could be viewed as suspicious because she’d stridently opposed the Nazi party line even when Ralf warned her not to. Similarly, Lt. Kotler talks himself into a corner one night by casually mentioning that his father emigrated to Switzerland before the war. Ralf reminds the lieutenant that he must report his father as a defector, and Kotler is disciplined for his oversight by being moved to the war’s front line.

And then we arrive at the final minutes of The Boy in the Striped Pajamas : Nazi soldiers herd men and boys into a gas chamber. We see their terrified expressions as they’re jammed against one other in the dim room. A soldier wearing a gas mask rains down poison through a rooftop opening. And prisoners howl until there is silence.

Crude or Profane Language

In making its righteous points about prejudice and racism, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas resists the temptation to brandish epithets, but does include anti-Semitic remarks. Ralf claims that Jews “aren’t really people at all.” Gretel calls them “evil, dangerous vermin.” Liszt teaches his pupils that Jews are a destructive enemy of culture that cost Germany the first world war. He also tells Bruno that if he finds a “nice Jew” he “would be the best explorer in all the world.”

Bruno calls his mother “stupid.”

Drug and Alcohol Content

The adults have champagne at a going-away party and later drink wine with dinner. Ralf smokes cigarettes, sometimes in front of his kids.

Other Negative Elements

Bruno and truthfulness share a strained relationship. He frequently lies to his mother about his whereabouts, disobeying her rules. He fibs about the contents of his book bag. And when he lies to Lt. Kotler, saying Shmuel stole food, his selfishness costs Shmuel dearly.

Elsa and Ralf argue loudly about his role in the war, causing Gretel and Bruno to huddle together for comfort. Elsa calls Ralf a monster whose own mother couldn’t love him.

Crowds of Jewish men and boys are forced to strip naked. Huddled together, and with the camera looking on mostly from above, only their upper torsos are seen.

Set against the horror of the Holocaust, Bruno’s naiveté and investigative spirit look that much more innocent. The boy’s inability to comprehend prejudice and killing, and his instinctive, uncomplicated ability to see Jews as real human beings starkly contrast Nazi cruelty, brightly illuminating the viciousness and irrationality of the bloodshed.

A significant plot twist—which is one spoiler I’ve tried very hard to keep out of this review—demonstrates with breathtaking force how the consequences of evil behavior eventually affect all those involved, perpetrators included.

Beyond this, Elsa’s role may serve as sobering testament against complacency. After she blindly follows Ralf to his new post, she struggles with her own attitude toward Jews but does nothing significant to help them, even as she begins to recognize their unjust fate. Her conformity should remind us of our own apathy in other situations, and it challenges us to question situations until we fully understand them, fight for what we believe in and stand up for those who cannot defend themselves.

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas , which is based on a book by John Boyne, also illustrates how powerful words and images are. Bruno, who likely represents thousands of his contemporaries, doesn’t always know what to make of his father’s job. That is, until a propaganda film he sees calls the death camp—the “farm”—a wonderful place with “hearty, nutritious meals,” and the camera shows seemingly happy Jews smiling and waving. After the film, Bruno proudly hugs his father.

It’s often said that if history is forgotten, it’s likely to be repeated. So perhaps the most profitable thing about the film is the fact that—without including any of the gore and explicit violence seen in similar films—it reminds us about our global history of brutality. We must recall and keep recalling the Holocaust and other atrocities like it. And never overlook the millions who have needlessly died at the hand of hatred and greed.

Heartbreaking and soul-rending, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is, then, one more piece of the puzzle that ultimately forms the picture of who we were, who we are and who we don’t want to become.

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The boy in the striped pajamas.

Parents say (62)
Kids say (222)

Based on 62 parent reviews

Beautiful but extremely emotional and distressing

Report this review, very sad film.

This title has:

Educational value

A good conversation starter for one of the most difficult of topics

Great messages

Empty, artless and gratuitously morbid

Too much violence

Good if you can stomach it— not for kids

Quite disturbing for younger kids, very sad but my kids loved.

Too much swearing

REVIEW: “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas”

Obviously there have been several powerful films that have dealt directly with the Holocaust. “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas” is a unique look at this murderous and genocidal scar on world history. It’s based on John Boyne’s 2006 novel of the same name and looks at the subject through the eyes of an 8-year-old boy. It’s a tender but crushing tale of the loss of innocence as we watch this young boy discover the truth about the world around him. Some critics have said it exploits or trivializes the Holocaust with others going as far as to call it offensive. I found it to be a careful yet devastating drama that ultimately succeeds in the end.

Asa Butterfield, better known for his more recent starring role in “Hugo”, plays Bruno. His father Ralf (David Thewlis) is a Nazi SS officer who gets a new assignment requiring him to move with his family from Berlin to the countryside. Bruno’s mother Elsa (Vera Farmiga) supports her husband’s decision. But Bruno finds himself alone and missing his friends back in Berlin. His loneliness and boredom spurs his curiosity and he begins noticing several interesting things about his new location. One is a mysterious “farm” in the distance that he sees from his bedroom window but is forbidden to visit or ask about. He’s also intrigued by a house servant who he notices is wearing what looks like striped pajamas. Of course we know the servant is Jewish and a captive, but through young Bruno’s eyes things are more confusing.

One of the most engaging things about the movie is that writer and director Mark Herman is able to keep us inside of Bruno’s head even though we know exactly what’s going on outside of his knowledge. I found the film to be very effective at conveying the feeling of discovery as Bruno learns more. Perhaps his biggest lessons come not from his twice-a-week tutor who bombards him with all sorts of Nazi propaganda and revisionist history, but from a young Jewish boy. Bruno encounters the boy after sneaking away from his house and stumbling across the “farm”. Of course it’s actually a Nazi execution camp and the boy, named Shmuel (Jack Scanlon), sits on the other side of an electrified fence. The two quickly develop a friendship. It is Shmuel who begins to shed light on what this “farm” really is and causes Bruno to question both his father and his cause.

The movie never loses sight of the fact that Bruno is only 8-years-old. He struggles with what he’s seeing and his attempts to reconcile certain things with his desire to see his father as a good man is heartbreaking. Even when his mother finds out why they’ve moved to the country and furiously confronts Ralf, we still witness these things through Bruno’s child-like reasoning. But there is an emotional balance. While we spend most of our time with Bruno, we know of the atrocities that are taking place almost entirely off-screen. Yet these atrocities are relayed to us very well in often subtle ways.

The performances throughout the film are fantastic. Farmiga is one Hollywood’s better actresses and she shows that here. I also appreciated Thewlis’ portrayal of a man who often times puts his role of father in complete subjection to his duties as a Nazi soldier. But it’s young Butterfield who gets the vast majority of the screen time and he is quite good. He draws a lot of sympathy and emotion and it’s always great to see a young actor able to pull that off. I also enjoyed his scenes with young Scanlon. While Butterfield is better in their scenes, they both handle the material nicely.

I can see where “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas” may put off some people. It’s hard to watch especially as everything comes to a head at the end of the film. In fact, it’s a movie I’m in no rush to see again. That isn’t due to any major shortcomings with the picture. It’s due to the film’s intense emotional punch that stuck with me for several days. I was incredibly moved and while there are some legitimate questions that could be asked about the story, the movie’s main point resonated with me. “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas” asks several powerful questions about war, family, and morality. It also gives us a glimpse into a part of our world’s history that is still hard to look at but should be reckoned with.

VERDICT – 4 STARS

THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PAJAMAS

	None	Light	Moderate	Heavy
Language
Violence
Sex
Nudity

What You Need To Know:

(BB, C, L, V, S, N, A, D, M) Strong moral worldview in a pronounced morality story, with the message that evil destroys itself, where Nazi concentration camp commandant loses his son to the evil system he helped establish with some Christian prayers and a funeral but they are made by or focus on the NAZI villains; one light profanity and comments saying “dirty Jew” and other anti-Semitic slurs; off-screen violence with intense sounds of beating a Jewish servant and showing the impact of a beaten Jewish boy, skinned knee, and a gas chamber scene with cyanide pellets being dropped on naked men and boys, then sounds of people trying to get out of the gas chamber; no sexual behavior, although a few light references; upper male nudity from the back; alcohol use; smoking; and, lying, deception, propaganda movie about concentration camps, and betrayal.

More Detail:

THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PAJAMAS opens with 8-year-old Bruno playing with his friends on the streets of Berlin while National Socialist Swastika flags wave in the breeze. When he gets home, his father, a Nazi officer, says he has just been promoted. He tells Bruno and his sister, Gretel, that they will be leaving their beautiful home in Berlin.

Bruno does not want to leave his friends. His mother throws a big going away party. The next day, they travel to a lonely mansion in the middle of nowhere. Through his window, Bruno can see a farm nearby where all the residents are wearing striped pajamas. His father is the commandant of the concentration camp, but all the commandants are sworn to secrecy not to tell anybody what they do.

Bruno is very bored. Being an explorer at heart, he eventually sneaks over to the concentration camp, where he talks through the electrified barbed wire to a Jewish boy named Shmuel. Bruno and Shmuel become fast friends. Bruno steals food from his own kitchen to give to Shmuel.

Bruno’s sister, by the way, takes an interest in a handsome young lieutenant, who is a hyper anti-Semitic National Socialist. An old Jewish man who works in the kitchen takes care of Bruno when he falls and skins his knee. He turns out to be a doctor. The lieutenant beats the man to a pulp when he makes a mistake serving the family at dinner.

Bruno’s mother becomes increasingly depressed, and the lieutenant lets slip that the burning smoke stacks smell bad because they smell worse when they are burned than when they are alive. Their father and the tutor try to teach Bruno and Gretel how vile and evil Jews are, but Bruno cannot believe it because of his best friend Shmuel.

Eventually, the mother becomes so depressed and the family becomes so strained by their proximity to the extermination camp, that the father decides to send them away. Feeling guilty that he’s already betrayed his friend Shmuel once when he let Shmuel take a beating for a cupcake Bruno gave him, Bruno decides to dig his way into the extermination camp to help Shmuel find his father. In the camp, the mechanical clockwork of the business of extermination sweeps Bruno along toward the inevitability of the gas chamber.

THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PAJAMAS is based on a best-selling children’s book. In the press notes, David Heyman, the producer behind the Harry Potter franchise and Mark Herman, the screenwriter, both discuss how difficult it was to make the book into a movie. The book is intended to help children remember the Holocaust. It is a morality story proving the biblical principle that the wages of sin are death.

However the story works as a book, its transformation into a movie produces a disappointing, depressing, hopeless, one-note film. Although the acting and production quality are good, the story seems slow at points because, as they say, it is on the nose or too obvious, too preachy and too clear about the points it is trying to make. It leaves no room for imagination. From the beginning, the story is weighed down by an impending sense of doom.

Books are hard to turn into movies. THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PAJAMSAS has a good message and a good heart and may get an A for effort. But, it’s hard to imagine people will want to go to a movie to be slowly depressed.

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The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

Dove review.

This is a powerful movie that will move you emotionally unless you have a heart of stone. The atrocities of Nazi, Germany led by Hitler and his commandants are realistically portrayed in this well-made film. The performance of the child actors, Asa Butterfield as young Bruno, and Jack Scanlon as Shmuel, are right on target and emotionally charged. Although there are no overly violent moments on the screen, the emotions which the story elicits warrants a two in our violence category, as such images as smoke rising from a gas chamber carry an emotional impact.

This picture brilliantly portrays the fact that when one person or people harm innocent people, that inevitably their own innocent people will be touched or harmed in some way. The interaction of the two young boys, both age eight, give characterizations that will draw the audience in. It is a bit depressing to watch at times; for example a former doctor, a Jew, now has the task of peeling potatoes for Bruno’s family. He is also badly mistreated by a soldier who frequents the home.

This film is dramatic in every respect and realistically reveals the horrible realities of the time, and the viewer may well forget it is fictionalized. This movie is well worth viewing and the value of life is markedly stated on the big screen. We gladly award our Dove “Family-Approved” Seal to this film.

Dove Rating Details

Boys fake shooting each other with imaginary guns; a boy falls and skins his knee and just a little blood is seen; man beaten off screen; a young boy shows visible signs of being beaten; the emotional drama of knowing the violence being committed at the war camp.

Just a "God forbid" and a girl prays in Jesus name.

Drinking at dinner party; wine served with dinner; brief smoking.

The men and boys are forced to disrobe in chamber and there is mild rear nudity.

A boy sneaks away from home thereby disobeying parents; children are brainwashed by a tutor who agrees with Nazi propaganda; a reference to burning Jews and man's wife disagrees with this policy; a boy in fear denies knowing his friend.

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The Boy in the Striped Pajamas Book vs Movie Review

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne (2006)

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas directed by Mark Herman (2008)

This was requested by Nikol Kola, so thank you for suggesting it because I would not have thought to cover it otherwise!

This story is about Bruno, a young German boy whose Nazi father is put in charge of a concentration camp. They move into the house near the camp; however Bruno is naïve and doesn’t realize the truth of the situation.

This movie stays pretty close to the book, but even so there were some changes that caused me to have different feelings towards the two of them.

I am going to get right into the plot, which means there will be spoilers going forward!

Bruno and family

In the book I liked Bruno right from the start. I found him enduring, sweet, smart, while also being very innocent and naïve. To me, he read like a believable boy. We also hear how adventurous he is and that he likes “exploring”. I thought Boyne did a great job at including different details about him and the tone the book is written in gave Bruno a distinct personality and I felt connected to him.

The book begins with him being told he and his family is moving, then while in his home near Auschwitz, we get flashbacks where we hear about his father’s promotion. We also learn that Bruno’s grandmother, his father’s mother, disapproved of Bruno’s dad being a Nazi.

We see all of this in the movie as well, but the movie is told chronologically.

In both the grandmother ended up dying part way through. In the movie they say she died when the city was bombed. In the book we are told she got sick. In both, Hitler has sent some kind of garland and the wife comments that the grandmother would roll in her grave if she knew something from Hitler was at her funeral.

In both he meets a man named Pavel who cuts their vegetable before dinner, and also helps serves the food. One day Bruno hurts his knee, and Pavel comes running out and helps him. Through talking with Pavel, he learns that he was once a doctor. Bruno doesn’t understand that Pavel is one of the prisoners from the camp who is brought over to help serve them. He thinks he chose to give up being a doctor, not realizing the truth.

In the movie, when the mother finds out he helped Bruno, she thanks Pavel. In the book, she doesn’t thank him, but tells one of the other servants that if anyone asks, they can say she helped Bruno. Bruno thinks she is saying this so she can get the credit, but really, she says it because the father would be upset is he knew a Jewish person had tended to his sons leg.

In a later scene, Pavel is serving dinner, but he is slow ans this upsets the father. They have another soldier, Lt. Kotler with them that evening, and he beats Pavel up which is very upsetting for Bruno to see.

Speaking of Lt. Kotler, he is a 19-year-old who is stationed at this camp. In both he is a jerk to Bruno. While at that dinner, one of the reasons he strikes out at Pavel is because he brings up his father and paints himself in a corner when he mentions that his father left the country in 1938. He is on the spot due to having a father who apparently didn’t like Hitler and the Nazi movement.

In the movie, he is removed from his station due to hiding this information about his father.

In the book, Bruno’s mother was having an affair with Kotler. The father finds out, and this is why he is removed.

Bruno’s mother

Speaking of the mother, in the movie she was not having an affair and in general she was made to be more likeable in the movie. As said, she hesitantly thanks Pavel, and when she sees her daughter with all of her Nazi posters and stuff on the wall we see she is bothered by it. This didn’t really make sense to me though. The dad is a big deal in the Nazi military, they are here so he can run these camps, like why would you be surprised or bothered that your daughter is super in to the Nazi party??

But as time goes on she learns about the crematoriums and is aghast that they are doing that. She goes into a depression and as time goes by, she gets the husband to agree to have her and the children live elsewhere. I did read that it is rumored that the real wife of the Aushwitz leader-she learned about the crematoriams and after this wouldn’t sleep in the same room with her husband and later moved away. But then other articles say the opposite, that she was aware and was proud of her husband’s accomplishments. But this is a work of fiction at the end of the day so despite the historical aspect, we can’t look at this book or movie to get a reliable idea on the wife.

In the book the mom wants to move away after awhile but it isn’t because she has issues with what is being done. She just misses life and her friends back home.

In both, Bruno is exploring the area and he comes to the electric, barbed wire fence. He sees a boy on the other side, wearing the striped pajamas he has noticed the people over there wearing. We find out his name is Schmuel, and throughout Bruno’s time there, he returns to this spot on a regular basis and he and Schmuel talk and become friends.

Bruno still doesn’t get exactly why Schmuel is over there but assumes it must be fairly nice. There is a part in the book when he slips and mentions Schmuel to his sister. He doesn’t want her knowing, so then he lies and says it is the name of his imaginary friend. She asks him what this imaginary friend tells him about and he says, “‘…yesterday he told me that his grandfather hasn’t been seen for days and no one knows where he is and whenever he asks his father about him he starts crying and hugs him so hard that he’s worried he’s going to squeeze him to death.’ Bruno got to the end of his sentence and realized that his voice had gone very quiet. These were things that Shmuel had told him, but for some reason he hadn’t really understood at the time how sad that must have made his friend. When Bruno said them out loud himself, he felt terrible that he hadn’t tried to say anything to cheer Shmuel up and instead had started talking about something silly, like exploring. I’ll say sorry for that tomorrow, he told himself.”

This moment wasn’t in the movie, but I wish it had been. It shows us how self-centered Bruno can be and that is one of the reasons he is oblivious at times to what is going on with Schmuel.

Though I guess maybe the movie doesn’t have this scene, is because in the movie Bruno isn’t quite as oblivious. He is taught about how the Nazi’s think every Jewish person is terrible and in general how they are out to ruin Germany. He then sees Schmuel the next day and says something about how they are supposed to be enemy’s, which was a littlev cheessy. He also sees his dad watching a propaganda video about the concentration camps and they are made out to be nice. Bruno sees this and assumes that it must not be bad for Bruno.

With that in mind, I would say movie Bruno wasn’t quite as naïve as book Bruno, but rather he wanted to believe that the Nazi’s were telling the truth and that his father wouldn’t allow for the place to be bad.

Shmuel in the kitchen

As we learned with Pavel, they will get people from the camp to help in the house. One day, Bruno sees Schmuel in the kitchen cleaning glassware. In the book, he encourages Schmuel to eat something, but he keeps saying he shouldn’t and that Kotler (who was still around at this point and who had beaten up Pavel just recently) will know. Bruno convinces him though and he eats something. Kotler then comes in and gets mad that he is talking to Bruno and threateningly asks if he has been sneaking into the food. Schmuel says that Bruno gave him the food and that Bruno is his friend. Kotler turns to Bruno, and Bruno is scared and denies knowing Schmuel but says nothing of the food. He goes to his room and is racked with guilt for not standing up for Schmuel.

In the movie, it doesn’t take much convincing to get Schmuel to eat and Kotler walks in while he is eating. When Schmuel says it was Bruno, Bruno lies even worse here and says Schmuel stole the food. He feels horrible when he is back up in his room.

In both, he later sees Schmuel and he has been beaten up. Bruno sincerely apologizes though and Schmuel accepts his apology.

In the book, Bruno gets lice and they shave his head.

Then, he later finds out that he will be leaving soon with his mom and sister. In both, he tells Schmuel this. Schmuel’s dad has recently gone missing, and Bruno says that if he could get to Schmuel’s side, he could help him find him. Schmuel says how Bruno himself said he looked like Schmuel now due to his shaved head and proposes that the next day, he can bring Bruno some “stiped pajamas” and Bruno can change, get under the fence, and help Schmuel find his dad in the camp. This is the same in the movie, however in the movie he doesn’t get lice and so he has all of his hair. They wear caps though, so they say he can hide his hair under the hat.

The next day Bruno changes, leaving his regular clothes outside the fence. They then walk through the camp and Bruno quickly sees what a sad, terrible place it is and wants to go home. He had promised Schmuel he would help look for his dad though so he stays. In the book they look for 90 minutes before they are told to go on a march. In the movie, the march happens right away.

They are marched in a group into one of the crematoriums, although they do not realize that is what it is. Book and movie end with both of them dying along with the other men that were brought in with them.

In the movie, the parents see what is happening and the scenes are intercut, to make the audience wonder if they will save Bruno in time.

In the book, they don’t realize what happened to Bruno until months later, when the dad finds his clothes outside of the fence.

Book vs Movie

Making fictional books or movies about the Holocaust can be tricky. Since it was such a horrific thing, it is a topic that is basically guaranteed to get a reaction from the reader/watcher. Due to this, it is important that the story is respectful and isn’t coming across as exploiting something so beyond terrible, just in an effort to force an emotion from your audience.

I think the book did a good job at telling this story in a respectful way. As said, I found Bruno a very compelling character and I loved his friendship with Schmuel. The conversations we hear were so sweet but of course, the story has a very dark shadow over it due to the subject matter.

I didn’t feel the friendship quite as strong in the movie, but I know it is tough to find great child actors. I didn’t like the change in the end, having it be a suspenseful moment as the family is looking for Bruno, they see the clothes, and then the dad realizes what has happened. We also had a bit of foreshadowing in the book with talk of the smell from what is burning and as said, when the wife finds out what is happening, it pushes her over the edge. But I also didn’t like the changes made with the wife. It seemed too simple minded in a way to think that the wife of a high ranking Nazi would act in the way she did here. I preferred the more detached mother in the book who was busy with her affair with Kotler.

And I felt this way even before seeing The Zone of Interest, but now that I have seen that, while it is chilling and terrible, I think Hedwig is a more fitting portrayal of the wife of a Nazi leader running a death camp. It’s interesting, because in the book they are at Aushwitz and Boyne based the mother and father loosely on the real life couple as seen in TZOI. By the way, the story here is like a combination of the movies The Zone of Interest and Jojo Rabbit , but this movie isn’t nearly as good as those two.

The music in the end scene of TBITSP was also too over the top for my taste. In the book, it didn’t feel over the top, but very simple and as the end is coming, you know where things are leading and it was very effective and heartbreaking and terrible while not feeling like it was squeezing the drama.

While I didn’t hate the movie, I definitely was disappointed and will have to say between book and movie, the book wins.

Book complaints

A number of reviewers also said it was unbelievable that Bruno wouldn’t realize the truth of the camps. When he first arrives, he thinks it is a farm and believes this for quite some time. In the moment, it seemed beleivable to me that Bruno wouldn’t know any better. In this version, the camp is also quite a ways away so it’s not like he is hearing the yelling/screaming/gunshots.

Yet another thing I read is that this book isn’t historically accurate. This too wasn’t something that bothered me because while this is historical fiction, it isn’t a history book and he isn’t retelling real stories. Yes, he uses the name of a real camp, but even so, this is clearly a work of fiction and its intent isn’t to give us a 100% accurate story. Its intent is to create a story that shows the horrors of what happened but does so through the lense of innocence with a young boy who doesn’t realize how truly terrible the things are.

Then there is the complaint that the author is overly simplistic and makes these trite observations like when Bruno is in the camp uniform, saying how they were so much alike. Meaning, the Jewish people were looked at as inhuman, but really, they are all alike. And yeah, when you read that section on its own, it is pretty basic. But when I read the book as a whole, those lines work. This also reads as a YA novel, so the potentially overly simplistic and cliche lines also work better here. If this was a novel aimed to adults, I probably would have had more of an issue.

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Movie Review: “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas”

This movie is based on the novel (historical fiction) by John Boyne. Set in World War II, the Holocaust drama relates the horror of a Nazi extermination camp through the eyes of a young boy. The movie revolves around an eight-year-old boy whose father has just been promoted to commandant of the German army. Hence the family moves from berlin to the residence near a concentration camp of which his father was in charge.

The movie “The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas” is based on the novel (historical fiction) by John Boyne. Set in World War II, the Holocaust drama relates the horror of a Nazi extermination camp through the eyes of a young boy. The movie revolves around an eight-year-old boy whose father has just been promoted to commandant of the German army. Hence the family moves from berlin to the residence near a concentration camp of which his father was in charge.

The boy, Bruno was quite unhappy and lonely because of separating from his friends and school. On the very first day in the new house, while chatting with the maid who was unpacking his stuff he shared his misery but the maid being quite positive exclaimed “sitting around miserable all day won’t make you any happier.”

The little boy meant it and started to explore fun and happiness in the things around him. Although he was quite unsuccessful in the starting as there were restrictions too, especially, from his mother as she doesn’t want her child to be exposed to the surroundings, in other words, to the state-sponsored persecution and murder of millions of Jews which his own father was also a part. His repetitious schedule in the first week made him answer to his father rather in this way.

Father: “What have you guys done today?”

Bruno: “Same as yesterday”.

Father: “And what have you done yesterday?”

Bruno: “Same as the day before”.

A few days later, the unhappy and lonely boy Bruno while wandering in the garden discovers a way out to the camp, which he mistook for a farm. As he reaches closer to it, met a Jewish boy, Shmuel of the same age. Although the two were separated by a barbed-wire fence, begin with a forbidden friendship oblivious to the real nature of their surroundings. The surroundings in which a human was seen through the cast of his religion and was been denied the basic right to live. But it does not affect these two as they were still too young to understand the basis of discrimination and only see that some things are inappropriate in the first place as there is no fitting logic or reason behind doing them.

The movie showcases the innocence of these two children and the influence of politics (the political culture and socialization) on their lives. How people are being denied to be considered even as human and how people outside do not object to the maltreatment or ill-treatment caused to a whole community including the inhumane activities leading to ethnic cleansing.

Moreover, the intrusion in the education system and framing of the mindset of the next generations that has the motto to sow the seed of hatred in the heart of people towards another community was the most horrible thing which was shown in the movie. Basically, we can find that antisemitism i.e., the hatred of or prejudice against Jews was the foundation of the Holocaust and was the basic tenet of Nazi Ideology. The mass murder of nearly two out of every three Jews was done using deadly living conditions, brutal mistreatment, mass shootings & gassings and specially designed killing centers.

The few instances from the movie are as mentioned below:-

– The servant named, Pavel was found to be a doctor who was then forced to work as a domestic helper. Also, the scenes of him being killed although heart-breaking were the evidence of the treatment the Jews get that time.

– The condition of Shmuel i.e., being denied food, clothing, housing, even jobs, separated from the family members, and shaved off hair. Their humanity was first questioned and then denied. Their freedom was stolen, crippled and starved. The question for them was – do they have the right to live?

The complex emotional issues of evil and the holocaust depicted in the movie raise the question about the nature of man and spark a great moral discussion. We all can find ourselves in the place of the child who loves to explore and have both the things in front of his eyes i.e., the thing which his parents, sister, teacher, and the leader of his country wants him to see and the thing which he himself explores. And the impact of the former was so strong that he was not able to believe the things which he himself has seen with his eyes. He was not able to trust himself or maybe he was not able to believe that all his loved ones are wrong. But while exploring which is true or reality, he himself was crushed in that mill. At last, he figured out the truth by experiencing it.

The boy committed treason of being innocent and believing his own self; his dream, interest or his passion to explore things was disloyal to the state. If we see the current situation, I found myself exactly in the same place as the boy who although have many sources of information but is stuck between whom to believe and whom to not? Like the point of view of a nine-year-old German boy, who only learned about the reality of his situation in bits and pieces.

The recent situations in India including the 2020 Delhi riots, 2022 Karauli riots, and bulldozing houses in MP & Delhi, make us stand in the same place as ‘there are always two sides to every story’ and understanding is a three-edged sword, your side, their side, and the truth in the middle. So, we must get all the facts before jumping to the conclusions and we have to explore on our own and can’t just rely.

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Understanding “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas”

This essay about “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas” explores how John Boyne’s novel portrays the Holocaust through the innocent perspective of an 8-year-old boy named Bruno. It discusses themes of friendship, innocence, and the devastating impact of prejudice and war, focusing on Bruno’s unlikely friendship with Shmuel, a Jewish boy held in Auschwitz. Through Bruno’s naive viewpoint, the narrative highlights the stark contrast between his privileged upbringing and the harsh reality of Shmuel’s existence. The essay emphasizes the novel’s profound message about empathy, compassion, and the consequences of prejudice, challenging readers to reflect on historical atrocities while promoting a more tolerant future.

How it works

“The Boy in the Striped Pajamas,” authored by John Boyne, is a poignant narrative that delves into the harrowing realities of World War II through the innocent eyes of an 8-year-old boy named Bruno. Set against the backdrop of Auschwitz concentration camp, the story unfolds as Bruno’s family moves from Berlin due to his father’s new position in the Nazi military. The tale explores themes of friendship, innocence, and the devastating impact of prejudice and war on humanity.

Central to the narrative is Bruno’s exploration of his new surroundings, which leads him to discover a fence separating his family’s home from the camp.

Through this fence, he befriends Shmuel, a Jewish boy of the same age, dressed in the camp’s striped uniform. Despite their starkly different circumstances, the boys form a deep bond, sharing conversations and even clandestine adventures along the fence line.

Boyne uses Bruno’s naive perspective to highlight the stark contrast between his privileged upbringing and the harsh reality of Shmuel’s existence inside the camp. This stark juxtaposition serves to emphasize the innocence lost and the tragic consequences of prejudice and hatred fueled by the Holocaust. The innocence of childhood friendship stands in stark contrast to the brutal reality of the Holocaust, making the novel a powerful exploration of human empathy and the consequences of prejudice.

The novel’s conclusion delivers a gut-wrenching revelation that underscores the tragic consequences of blind obedience and prejudice. Through the eyes of Bruno, readers are confronted with the devastating impact of hatred and ignorance, culminating in a finale that leaves a profound emotional impact.

In conclusion, “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas” is not merely a story about friendship; it is a poignant exploration of the human condition during one of history’s darkest periods. By presenting the Holocaust through the lens of childhood innocence, John Boyne invites readers to reflect on the enduring lessons of empathy, compassion, and the dangers of unchecked prejudice. It is a narrative that challenges us to confront the past while urging us to build a more tolerant and compassionate future.

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Home — Essay Samples — Entertainment — The Boy in The Striped Pajamas — A Critical Review Of The Movie The Boy In The Striped Pajamas

The Boy in The Striped Pajamas: Movie Review and Critique

Categories: Movie Review The Boy in The Striped Pajamas

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Words: 2043 |

11 min read

Published: Aug 6, 2021

Words: 2043 | Pages: 4 | 11 min read

The boy in the striped pajamas: summary and analysis, the boy in the striped pajamas: movie review (essay), works cited.

Boyne, J. (2006). The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. Random House.
Crowe, D. (2008). The Holocaust in the eyes of children. The English Journal, 97(4), 25-31.
Edelman, L. (1995). The Ghetto Fights. Holocaust Library.
Finkelstein, N. G. (2003). The Holocaust Industry: Reflections on the Exploitation of Jewish Suffering. Verso Books.
Gilroy, A. (2011). Ethnic and racial studies. Between camps: Race and culture in postmodernity, 34(3), 458-469.
Gleeson-White, J. (2011). Double vision: The Holocaust and representation. Australian Humanities Review, (50), 89-102.
Roth, J. K. (2006). Teaching about the Holocaust: essays by college and university teachers. University Press of America.
Snyder, T. (2015). Black Earth: The Holocaust as History and Warning. Crown/Archetype.
Wistrich, R. S. (2003). Holocaust and genocide studies. The long road back: Jewish intellectual refugees in post-war Europe, 17(2), 180-199.
Zuckerman, M. (1999). A dream undone: The integration of soldiers in World War II. University of California Press.

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Review: The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
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The Boy in the Striped Pajamas movie review (2008)
Mark Herman's "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" depends for its powerful impact on why, and when, it transfers the film's point of view. For almost all of the way, we see events through the eyes of a bright, plucky 8-year-old. Then we begin to look out through the eyes of his parents. Why and when that transfer takes place gathers all of the film's tightly wound tensions and savagely uncoils ...
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
Rated: 3/4 Mar 7, 2024 Full Review Keith Garlington Keith & the Movies "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" asks several powerful questions about war, family, and morality. It also gives us a ...
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas Movie Review
Our review: Parents say ( 62 ): Kids say ( 222 ): THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PAJAMAS, based on John Boyne's novel, is a quietly effective, tastefully crafted, and ultimately devastating portrait of the Holocaust as seen through one boy's eyes. Directed by Mark Herman ( Hope Springs, Little Voice ), The Boy in the Striped Pajamas pulls off a hard-to ...
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas may very well be 2008's most important family film. Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4.0 | Sep 4, 2020
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is a powerful fictional story that offers a unique perspective on how prejudice, hatred and violence affect innocent people, particularly children, during wartime. Through the eyes of an eight-year-old boy largely shielded from the reality of World War II, we witness a forbidden friendship that forms between Bruno, the son of Nazi commandant, and Shmuel, a Jewish ...
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (2008)
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas: Directed by Mark Herman. With Asa Butterfield, Zac Mattoon O'Brien, Domonkos Németh, Henry Kingsmill. Through the innocent eyes of Bruno, the eight-year-old son of the commandant at a German concentration camp, a forbidden friendship with a Jewish boy on the other side of the camp fence has startling and unexpected consequences.
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (film)
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas grossed a worldwide total of $44.1 million. Critical response. The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas has a 64% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 142 reviews, with an average rating of 6.30/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "A touching and haunting family film that deals with the Holocaust in an ...
Horror Through a Child's Eyes
"The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" is rated PG-13 (Parents strongly cautioned) for some mild violence. THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PAJAMAS Opens on Friday in Manhattan.
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas critic reviews
Viewers should know that the film's resolution, though admirably restrained and unsentimental, is devastatingly sad. Parents should take this into account. This beautifully rendered family film is told in a classic and old-fashioned style, in the best sense, providing poignant and powerful teachable moments. Read More.
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
The home life of the Nazi commandant of a World War II concentration camp appears bizarrely serene in Mark Herman's grave and powerful drama "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas," but the ...
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (2008)
When his family moves from their home in Berlin to a strange new house in Poland, young Bruno befriends Shmuel, a boy who lives on the other side of the fence where everyone seems to be wearing striped pajamas. Unaware of Shmuel's fate as a Jewish prisoner or the role his own Nazi father plays in his imprisonment, Bruno embarks on a dangerous ...
Review: 'The Boy in the Striped Pajamas'
November 8, 2008. In " The Boy in the Striped Pajamas ," the unspeakable atrocities of the Holocaust are glimpsed through the eyes of a 9-year-old boy, and somehow this makes them seem even more ...
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
Movie Review. Ah, little boys. They're impish, curious, messy and daring. Most mothers of boys have at least a few gray hairs because of their sons' escapades. ... The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, which is based on a book by John Boyne, also illustrates how powerful words and images are. Bruno, who likely represents thousands of his ...
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All Reviews Editor's Choice Game Reviews Movie Reviews TV Show Reviews Tech Reviews. Discover. ... The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is a fictional story that offers a unique perspective on how ...
Parent reviews for The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
March 31, 2023. age 13+. These 3 reviews come from 3 of my grade 8 and 9 students, B, N and D. 1. I rate the movie "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" a 4 out of 5. It was a completely unexpected ending since most main characters live in other movies. I was even kind of surprised by it.
REVIEW: "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas"
6. Obviously there have been several powerful films that have dealt directly with the Holocaust. "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" is a unique look at this murderous and genocidal scar on world history. It's based on John Boyne's 2006 novel of the same name and looks at the subject through the eyes of an 8-year-old boy.
THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PAJAMAS
THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PAJAMAS is based on a best-selling children's book. In the press notes, David Heyman, the producer behind the Harry Potter franchise and Mark Herman, the screenwriter, both discuss how difficult it was to make the book into a movie. The book is intended to help children remember the Holocaust.
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas Movie Reviews
Buy a ticket to Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire Save $5 on Ghostbusters 5-Movie Collection; ... Go to next offer. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas Critic Reviews and Ratings Powered by Rotten Tomatoes Rate Movie. Close Audience Score. The percentage of users who made a verified movie ticket purchase and rated this 3.5 stars or higher. ...
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
Limited Theatrical Release: The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is a fictional story that offers a unique perspective on how prejudice, hatred and violence affect innocent people, particularly children, during wartime. Through the lens of an eight-year-old boy largely shielded from the reality of World War II, we witness a forbidden friendship that forms between Bruno, the son of Nazi commandant ...
Movie Review: The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
The movie not only depicts the tragic effects of prejudice, but it offers a poignant look at the evil that humans are capable of apart from Christ's redemption. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas reminds us of the atrocities that can happen when people fail to love each other as Christ commanded. Related Links: The Holocaust Through a Child's Eyes
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas Book vs Movie Review
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas directed by Mark Herman (2008) This was requested by Nikol Kola, so thank you for suggesting it because I would not have thought to cover it otherwise! This story is about Bruno, a young German boy whose Nazi father is put in charge of a concentration camp. They move into the house near the camp; however Bruno is ...
Movie Review: "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas"
The movie "The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas" is based on the novel (historical fiction) by John Boyne. Set in World War II, the Holocaust drama relates the horror of a Nazi extermination camp through the eyes of a young boy. The movie revolves around an eight-year-old boy whose father has just been promoted to commandant of the German army.
Understanding "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas"
This essay about "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" explores how John Boyne's novel portrays the Holocaust through the innocent perspective of an 8-year-old boy named Bruno. It discusses themes of friendship, innocence, and the devastating impact of prejudice and war, focusing on Bruno's unlikely friendship with Shmuel, a Jewish boy held ...
The Boy in The Striped Pajamas: Movie Review and Critique
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas: summary and analysis A young, fun-loving 8-year-old boy lives his days to the fullest in the city of Berlin, Germany where... read full [Essay Sample] for free ... The Boy in the Striped Pajamas: movie review (essay) The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) rated the audience demographic for this movie as ...
What Are Things I Learned In The Boy In The Striped Pajamas?
After reading The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, students should have learned about human nature, genocide, and innocence. Human nature is a major theme in the novel. Students can contrast the kindness of Bruno and Shmuel with the horrors the Nazis are perpetrating on the people in the concentration camp.
Review Buku The Boy in the Striped Pajamas Karya John Boyne
"The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" berlatar belakang periode ini, memberikan gambaran tentang kekejaman dan ketidakadilan yang dialami oleh korban-korban Holocaust. John Boyne menggunakan cerita ini untuk mengingatkan pembaca tentang pentingnya mengenang dan memahami sejarah agar tragedi serupa tidak terulang.

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