ShareThisAfter six decades and countless films, the Holocaust remains a vibrant source for stories of heroism, tragedy and reflection."The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" is among the most moving I've seen. Like "Schindler's List" and "The Pianist," it boils down a massive historic cataclysm and sweeping themes to a personal level. Through the eyes of an 8-year-old boy -- Bruno (Asa Butterfield), son of a Nazi commandant -- you see the harrowing implications of war-driven insanity.Writer/director Mark Herman adapts John Boyne's novel into a wrenching tale set at one of Hitler's death camps. Boyne's accomplishment is to establish the uncomfortable truth that Nazis were people, too, with wives, children to raise and bills to pay.All it took for the tide of evil to sweep over Europe was for otherwise reasonable people to disregard the big picture, swallow the delusions of propaganda and focus on their own day-to-day survival. Bruno's father (David Thewlis) is one such man, a middle-management type thrilled to receive a promotion that uproots his family to a country house -- neighboring a death camp.The father brushes off concerns from his Nazi-resisting mother (Sheila Hancock) and sweeps away Bruno, his 12-year-old daughter, Gretel (Amber Beattie), and his wife (Vera Farmiga) to the country house. Bruno, who is into adventure books and fancies himself an explorer, is quick to find the electrified fence that surrounds the concentration camp, which he assumes is there to keep animals away.To Bruno, it's not a concentration camp but a farm, and its captives are, therefore, farmers. The numbers on their "pajamas" surely must be part of some sort of game. Bruno's parents, who only deflect the boy's numerous questions, don't tell him any different.Kid actors are usually amazing or awful, and there's never a doubt that Butterfield fits in the former category. Bruno's youthful sense of wonder shines through, although the boy is no fool -- just too innocent to fathom what's going on beyond that fence.Bruno's new friend, the boy referred to in the film's title, is Shmuel (Jack Scanlon), who is almost as insulated from the murderous horrors as Bruno.As the two boys talk and rationalize their plights, you feel the stinging sensations of the lies they've been told by parents whose instinct is to protect their children rather than give them the knowledge they'll need to confront reality.The moments Bruno spends with Shmuel are touching and beautiful. Their secret friendship blossoms under the dire circumstances; Bruno sneaks food to Shmuel, and the boys toss a ball back and forth over the fence.Going into the theater, I thought I knew where the film was headed, but it turned out I most certainly did not. The tale takes on the resonance of a Greek myth, and even though the story is fiction it finds devastating truths.4 stars out of 4Rated: PG-13 for mature thematic material involving the Holocaust.Family call: Appropriate for the whole family.Running time: 93 minutes.(Pvillarreal(at)azstarnet.com.)(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
'Boy in the Striped Pajamas' a wrenching tale of friendship amid evil
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