The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas

Two arguments with the cinema staff and thirty minutes of commercials led to the opening credits of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas. Looking around the cinema I see a vast variety of people; mothers, fathers, daughters, husbands and the occasional child who’s parents misconceived the title of the film to suggest a cheerful and upbeat Disney adventure flick about a boy dressed in a pair of fetching pyjamas. The lights are low and I’m holding my breath, mentally preparing myself for the following ninety-four minutes of the film adaptation of John Boyle’s book.

We begin our story in Berlin, where we meet Bruno (Asa Butterfield), the eight-year-old son of a Nazi officer (David Thewlis), who soon learns of his father’s promotion from a desk job to a far more active job: running a death camp in the middle of nowhere. When he arrives in his new home, Bruno finds it difficult to adjust. He has no friends, no contact with home and he cannot even begin to fathom why his mother (Vera Farmiga) is so against him exploring the back garden. But every child goes against their mother’s wishes every now and then…

When Bruno sees the ‘farm’, with its dangerously high electrical fences and crowds of workers (dressed in the infamous attire of striped ‘pyjamas’) from his bedroom window; his curiosity is only heightened as he strives to find out about the inhabitants of the farm, seeing it as an opportunity to make friends. But his efforts are stumped by his mother, who immediately shuts down his ideas of possibly befriending the children who live on the so-called farm.

With breath taking performances from Vera Farmiga and David Thewlis, who pull off the uptight role of Bruno’s protective parents perfectly, whose relationship creates a gravely tense atmosphere in comparison to the bond between naive Bruno and Jack Scanlon’s portrayal of Shmuel- the boy in the striped pyjamas. An unlikely friendship blossoms between the two, based on their inability to understand the prejudice raging surrounding them and the innocence that can only be displayed by children who are oblivious to the fact that their friendship is perceived as wrong based only on the fact that Shmuel is a Jew.

The two boys are unaware of the events ahead that utterly devastate the viewer and move most to tears. This heart wrenching film shows us the true meaning of friendship, through thick and thin.

“And sooner or later you will arrive with Bruno at a fence. Fences like this exist all over the world. We hope you never have to cross such a fence…” – John Boyle (author of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas).