Customer Reviews

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

5 star:		(139)
4 star:		(34)
3 star:		(16)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(13)

 

 

2008 was a very big year for films adapted from books, with several reaching the high acclaim of Academy Award nominations. One adapted film that didn't get much recognition, however, is The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, based on the novel by John Boyne.

The film opens with the following quote emblazoned on the screen: "Childhood is measured out by sounds and smells and sights, before the dark hour of reason grows." As the quote suggests, this is a sort of coming of age film, and over the course of 94 minutes,those in the audience slowly watch the innocence of children unravel before their eyes as the reality of what is taking place becomes more and more illuminated.

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is the story of a family living in Berlin during World War II. The main character, an eight-year-old boy named Bruno (Asa Butterfield), spends his time in Berlin playing with his friends and reading adventure novels. His father, brilliantly played by David Thewlis (most will recognize him as Professor Lupin from the Harry Potter franchise), soon gets a promotion, however, and Bruno, his parents, and his sister move to the German countryside where his father will take up his new position. Unlike their time in Berlin, Bruno's parents are careful to keep their son close to home, and Bruno, an explorer and adventurer at heart, is confined to the small fenced area surrounding their house.

From his bedroom window, Bruno can see what he thinks is a strange farm off in the distance. He notices that the "farmers" act strangely and wear strange "pajamas" while they work. Later, he notices that the smokestacks on the farm give off an absolutely wretched stench when they are burning. By now, of course, the audience knows that what Bruno has seen is not a farm at all, and that his father's new position is Commandant of the nearby concentration camp.

The naive Bruno manages to escape from the grounds of his home and is finally free to explore the woods behind the house. Not paying much attention to where he is going, he happens upon a remote part of the camp where he meets another eight-year-old boy, Shmuel (Jack Scanlon), confined by a different kind of fence. The two become friends, and Bruno sneaks away every chance he gets to go and visit the only playmate he has found since moving away from Berlin.

This is an interesting film on many accounts, the most fascinating being the changes that each member of Bruno's family undergoes. His father, a seemingly reluctant, "political only" Nazi at the beginning, devolves into a hardened, harsh man. Bruno's sister Gretel (Amber Beattie), encouraged by a handsome lieutenant working with her father, falls victim to the Aryan propaganda so much that her room is soon filled with posters of the Fuhrer, much like young girls today would adorn their walls with images of the Jonas Brothers. Finally, there's Bruno's mother (Vera Farmiga), who is the antithesis to the growing Nazism in her family. At first she is happy for her husband and the success he has as a soldier in the German army. However, as she learns more about her husband's new charge, and the truth is revealed about the camp, she becomes bitter and angry.

And then there's Bruno. All the signs are there. Bruno comes across every hint he possibly could as to the truth behind the "farm" where his friend Shmuel lives and works. Yet he remains utterly oblivious. Caught between the two stages of "sounds and smells and sights" and "the dark hour of reason," the filmmakers show the great price of failing to deal with the world around us.

Much of the criticism that I've read regarding this film deals with the supposed overextension of innocence to both child characters. Many critics cannot grasp the idea of an eight-year-old child not understanding that the "farm" is really a horrible work camp, that the "pajamas" are prison clothes, that the mysterious disappearances that Shmuel tells of and the smoke from the chimneys are the results of the systematic slaughter of the camp's inhabitants. That may be a fair criticism, but I think it misses the greater point that the filmmakers seem to be making.

Bigger than a child's loss of innocence, Bruno seems to be a representation of Germany, perhaps even humanity, itself, and the failure to deal with the evil right before one's very eyes. So many Germans claimed the innocence that we see in Bruno, saying they had no knowledge of the Final Solution to the Jewish Problem that Hitler and his SS were carrying out across the European continent. Even today, despite all the existing evidence, there are still those that deny the Holocaust happened, not wanting to acknowledge the great evil of which humanity, perhaps even their neighbors and family members, is capable. More than anything else, this film shows the great price humanity pays for such utter naivete.

All in all, this is a very well done film. The story, though slow in the beginning, is engaging, thought-provoking, and, in the end, heart-wrenching. It is well-acted, especially in the performances of the young boys, and the bright colors and airy score provide a sort of bizarre juxtaposition to what is happening on screen.

The DVD includes the typical bonus features of deleted scenes and a feature-length commentary, as well as a featurette entitled "Friendship Beyond the Fence."

After I read the novel by John Boyne and heard the news that a movie adaption was currently in theatres, I was slightly scared that the film would be too extreme and dramatic for me, because I don't do well at all with films that scare me or make me sad- and thinking about the plot of the book, I knew watching a movie version would tear me to pieces.
But, as it happened, my school went on a field trip to see the movie a few weeks after I finished the book, and I ended up having to watch the whole movie through and write a report comparing and contrasting it from the novel. And guess what?- I sobbed like a baby in front of all my friends.
Although the last parts of the movie are very sad and deeply patronizing, it is overall a very good adaption of the book that caused so much controversy among young readers like me(I'm 15 by the way).

I know that many movie critics bombed this movie, but you really need to decide for yourself.

I thought this movie was very well made, the acting was excellent, and the story was very intriguing. I have read the book the movie is based from, and the movie follows the book very closely.

I have to say my favorite part of the movie is the music - the soundtrack is amazing! It was made by the same composer that did the soundtrack for Titanic and Braveheart, to name a few.

Be prepared for a shocking ending - some don't like it, but I did. I think it's a realistic approach to the Holocaust - not every story has a happy ending.

The movie's subject matter, first and foremost is very HEAVY.

The story follows a boy in a particular German military family. He is your average adventurous and innocent/ naïve eight-year-old boy. His family is a very ordinary German family, for that time, except his father had just been promoted to a high position within the military, causing the family, much to the children's chagrin, to move out to the country (discovered in the first five minutes of the film).

In this movie, you will see a wide range of acceptance and emotion for the German political agenda. You'll see the happenings of this family from the boy's perspective, including his introduction to the Jewish people.

In my opinion, this movie is very well made, intelligent, and powerful. The messages that are being conveyed are wonderful conversation pieces. It's time to expand horizons and stimulate the brain with this very strong film. Grab some family or friends, or someone from the office and see what this movie is all about.

THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PAJAMAS is a 'compleat' motion picture: even the title states the vision of the film in a subtly powerful way. Based on the excellent novel by John Boyne and adapted for the screen by director Mark Herman, this film has the courage to re-visit the Holocaust from the child's perspective. Not that it covers up the atrocities of that horrid event and time - quite the opposite: in electing to examine that period in history the stance is that of two children, one German son of an officer in Hitler's armed forces and one son of a Jewish captive living with his father in a concentration camp. The juxtaposition of these two eight year old boys separated not only by a fence but by an ideology neither of them can fathom the other's side makes for not only a brilliant film but also an unforgettable emotional experience.

Bruno (Asa Butterfield in an extraordinary performance) is eight, his sister Gretel (Amber Beattie) is twelve and the two live with their parents in 1940 Berlin - father (David Thewlis) is a Komandant in Hitler's army and mother (Vera Farminga) is a popular socialite and loving mother. Father is 'promoted' and will be in charge of a new 'position' that means moving from their beautiful Berlin home to a 'home in the country'. Though Bruno doesn't want to leave his friends the family does indeed move - to a cold house next to what Bruno perceives is a farm. The father is forbidden to share his role and the meaning of it with his family, but it soon becomes obvious by the smoke stacks spewing hideously smelling odors into the atmosphere that the 'farm' is a concentration camp. The house servant Pavel (David Hayman), though abused by the father, becomes Bruno's friend when Bruno sustains an injury: Pavel quietly admits to Bruno that despite his 'pajama' uniform from the 'farm' that he practiced medicine in the past. Bored, Bruno explores the forbidden area outside his home confines and finds a barbed wire electrified fence behind which sits Shmuel (Jack Scanlon) who becomes Bruno's friend. Neither lad understands the differences between them until Shmuel is sent into Bruno's household to polish glasses for a party: the armed forces chauffeur Lieutenant Kotler (Rupert Friend) beats the 'little filthy Jew' for eating pastries Bruno has shared with him - a fact that the terrified Bruno denies.

The mother discovers the truth about the 'farm' and the smoke stacks and sinks into a depression, loathing that her husband is in charge of such atrocities. Gretel becomes transformed as a Hitler youth under the influence of the children's tutor (Jim Norton) and there are obvious philosophical schisms in the family. Bruno, regretting his treatment of Shmuel, continues to sneak food to him and plans to help his young friend save Shmuel's father: Bruno digs into the 'farm' and the results bring the film to a terrifying and abrupt end.

Both young actors give enormously moving performances and the manner in which Herman directs the action underlines the blur of perception many German's had about the reality of the Final Solution. But for what this viewer perceives as the reason the film sustains the powerful message it does is the manner in which it ends. There are no attempts to 'sanitize' this film: it simply ends with a lightning bolt jolt that is one of the most powerful statements in all of the many films about the Holocaust. It is simply a brilliant masterpiece of a movie from every aspect of judging it - acting, direction, music, cinematography, editing - and why this film failed to make an impression on the critics and public (and the Oscar folks!) when it was released in the theaters remains a conundrum. Highly recommended for all audiences. Grady Harp, March 09

Not the movie, it is a beautiful work of gut-wrenching horror. I wept like a baby and I am a 62 year-old man. What is appalling to me is reading all of the one-star reviews. I now see how the holocaust (shoah) could have taken place, all that is necessary is for a nation to be composed of and ruled by people with no feelings, bereft of human compassion and sensitivity, just like several of the reviewers here.

Which is why I am reviewing this. The promos I had seen for this movie had not prepared me for this. Be forewarned.

The movie is good. Just remember, the young boy in this book lives near a concentration camp. His father is the SS officer in charge of it. I suppose with this setting I should not have expected a good ending. Nevertheless, I was blindsided by this ending. This movie ended very disturbing and I was unable to sleep after viewing it.

I knew I would hate THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PAJAMAS - but I knew I had to see it. I finally did. I sat on the edge of a chair for the entire viewing and shivered at what has happened and what could so easily happen again. I remember seeing SCHINDLER'S LIST (1993), walking out saying to my husband, "We must see that all of our grandchildren have a copy of this before we die."

Somehow you don't want to remember these things that must never be forgotten!

At the end of THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PAJAMAS, I did not speak and could not think. It took perhaps 48 hours before I could "begin" to think clearly. I cannot tell you the end - it would be wrong - but you must see it. And, right after I purchase SCHINDLER'S LIST for all 15 of our grandchildren, I will need to purchase another 15 copies of THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PAJAMAS.

Saint Ambrose of Milan once said: "Not only for every idle word, but for every idle silence shall we be called to account." These two movies mentioned here need to be in every library known to man. Don't miss seeing THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PAJAMAS and know it could be your son, your grandson or your great grandson.

This emotionally wrenching film deserves 10 Stars. Changed my life forever and a major part of my life was in motion pictures. The movie will will change your life everlastingly too if you open your heart to a simple story of a little German boy who befriends a Jewish boy through the barbed wire fence of a concentration camp.

My heart was ripped out, but I will be a more loving, gracious, forgiving person for having seen this sensitive and also horrifying motion picture. YES, as the reviewers have said: It is "historically inaccurate to the extreme." "It is total fiction." It is "ridiculously contrived." It is "all too absurd." It is "hard to swallow." It is "forced and artificial," and "The actors have British accents instead of German."

One critic posed the question, "Did Bruno's father in the end get what he deserved?" Such moralizing and such criticisms of the film make me wonder if those viewers of the film missed the unanswered questions of the Holocaust. How could it happen? How could so many good people allow it to happen?

The most insightful reviewer said, "What is appalling to me is reading all of the one-star reviews. I now see how the holocaust (shoah) could have taken place. All that is necessary is for a nation to be composed of and ruled by people with no feelings, bereft of human compassion and sensitivity, just like several of the reviewers here."

Great Art (even fiction) reveals to us "things as they really are". Through Bruno and his mother, we see through the eyes of Germans who were totally innocent until they came face to face with with the horrors of the "final solution." Most Europeans accepted the deportation of Jews, some not knowing what would be their fate and others even accepting the fate of Jews because it was so easy to blame Jewish Merchants and Jewish Bankers for World War 1 and for the collapse of the German economy. Savings were totally wiped out. It took 22 million German Marks to buy a loaf of bread. Though not the same, we can understand today how easy it would be to blame all Muslims for 9/11.

Through Bruno's sister we see how easy it was to indoctrinate an entire nation of German youth. A notable exception was the 17 year old Mormon boy, Helmuth Hubener, that resisted the 3rd Reich and was sentenced by a German Court for treason and beheaded by guillotine on October 27, 1942 at Plötzensee Prison in Berlin. (See his true story on Wikipedia!)

In this motion picture we see and learn how good men, good fathers, and good soldiers, putting military obedience ahead of even their mothers, wives and children, directed and became the executioners of millions of Jews. Even still photos of all the corpses, and eye witness accounts of the Holocaust do not give us that understanding.

Last, by identifying and seeing through the eyes of an innocent child, we learn from the film what it was like to be ordered into the gas chambers. No other motion picture, book, or document has ever, or ever will, capture that experience or the depth of those feelings like the film Boy in the Stripped Pajamas.

Would that each viewer could become as a little child (Matthew 18:3), like Bruno, not judgmental, and not critical. The Holocaust (like the film) is hard to believe but the gas chambers to kill and the ovens to burn bodies were real. I've seen them with my own eyes. I've been in the house made sacred by Anne Frank. My next door neighbor was one of the first U.S. soldiers into the Dachau Prison Camp, and my neighbor across the street served in the Danish Underground.

Let us resolve, NEVER AGAIN, not just in five languages, but in all the languages of the world. There were those in Germany that truly did not know what was happening to the Jews, but no other film answers for me how an entire nation could be led by one man to kill, or accept the killing, of so many. I will be forever haunted by the words, "If he had been your Fuehrer, you would have followed him too." Although it is fiction, "Boy In the Striped Pajamas" reveals not the historical truth, but the TRUTH of Nazi Germany as it was.

FOOTNOTE: What follows regarding man's inhumanity to man is presented because HISTORY WILL REPEAT ITSELF IF WE DO NOT KNOW AND UNDERSTAND IT!

People today need to know that Hitler did not invent anti-semitism. It began with the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and has never ceased. It is mind boggling to learn that throughout history there have been innumerable and hundreds of attempts in many countries to kill all of the Jews. (See "Pogroms" on Google, then read the Wikipedia account.)

I was shocked beyond belief to read Martin Luther's anti Jewish sentiments published in 1543 (See "On the Jews and Their Lies - Wikipedia" Luther's feelings about the Jews and what should be done to them were as vile and extreme, as any words spoken in Nazi Germany. Indeed, Luther's document may have been the blueprint for the Nazi Holocaust.

Seeing history repeat itself so many times makes us wonder if there is hope to save the Jews and the world from so much hate and killing. Pope John VI in 1965 issued his historic "Nostra Aetate" that expresses understanding, forgiveness and love for the Jews and for all religions. Pope John VI states in this history changing document that the death of Christ, "cannot be charged against all the Jews, without distinction, then alive, nor against the Jews of today." The age old doctrine behind all of the Pogroms which stated that "all Jews, past, present, and future were collectively guilty of the Crucifixion of Jesus," was officially revoked by a Catholic Pope! EVERYONE should read entirely the "Nostra Aetate" which is one of the most important documents in the history of mankind (It is short and can be read on Google)! The current Pope Benedict XVI who was forced to join the Hitler Youth as a child in Nazi Germany (in two books) has made a sweeping exoneration of the Jewish people for the death of Jesus Christ. There is hope for the world! These are history changing actions by two Catholic Popes. It would be well for everyone who wants the world to be a better place to thank Catholics for Pope John VI and Pope Benedict XVI.

We must be ever vigilant against condemning another. "Therefore thou art inexcusable, Oh man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself: for thou that judgest doest the same things." (Romans 2:1). Jews who migrated to Israel after World War 11, themselves committed a Holocaust of the Palestinian people. Tens of thousands of Palestinians were killed and nearly one million were forced into refugee camps. "This is my Land. God gave this Land to me," was not justification for killing the Palistinians!

There is one notable voice in the Middle East that documents the atrocities by all three sides and seeks to reconcile Jews, Christians, and Muslims. Elias Chacour, a Palestinian Melkite Christian Priest has established a school in Ibillon near Galilee where Christians, Jews, Muslims, and Druze study side by side. More important than their secular studies, students learn to love their enemies. To bring peace to the Holy Land, Elias Chacour's book "BLOOD BROTHERS" SHOULD BE REQUIRED READING FOR EVERYONE.

Two unsung and less known heroes of the Holocaust are Irena Sendler and Raoul Wallenberg. Their stories should be told along with the stories of Oskar Schindler, Corrie Ten Boom, and Anne Frank. Irena Sendler was a Polish Catholic Social worker who saved more than 2500 Jewish Children from the Warsaw Ghetto. If you have any interest in the Holocaust, YOU MUST READ the inspiring story "Life in A Jar - The Irena Sendler Story" on Google. In 2007 when Sendler was still alive, she was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. Al Gore received the prize that year instead.

Raoul Wallenberg is credited with saving near 100,000 Hungarian Jews. At the peril of his life he defied the Nazis innumerable times. Read a summary of Wallenberg's unbelievable courage to save Hungarian Jews on Google: "Profile of a Leader: The Wallenberg Effect." See Wallenberg's complete story in the book "Righteous Gentile" available used from amazon.com from a number of book dealers for one cent plus $3.99 for shipping and handling. EVERY reviewer gave the book 5 stars! Unlike Schindler, Wallenberg had only his humanity and no ulterior motive in saving Jews; and he probably saved more Jews than Schindler.

Few Motion pictures can compare to the book. The motion picture "Wallenberg A Hero's Story" is even equal to the book "Righteous Gentile"! Both the book and the movie will lift your very being to heaven. Man at his best is so good, so noble, so Christlike, that we would fain throw a cover over men and women when they are less. Mankind needs Hero's like Wallenberg to lift and redeem us. It will make anyone a better person to make the book or the motion picture a part of their life.

See all of my Reviews. I write only about books, events, or motion pictures that have changed the course of history or unforgettable books or motion pictures that will totally change peoples lives.

Powerful, innocent and absolutely tragic! `THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PAJAMAS' is simply an amazing film.

The film focuses on a family of four focusing on the youngest, Bruno (Asa Butterfield), a naive young eight-year-old who loves playing "airplanes" with his friends. But he learns that his father, a high ranking Nazi officer is being moved to a new area (to oversee a Jewish concentration camp) and thus it will be a start of a new life for Bruno and his family.

For Bruno's father (played by David Thewlis), the man does his job for their thinking of a better world and thus massacring the Jews. Bruno's grandfather (Richard Johnson) is supportive and proud of his dad but his grandmother (Sheila Hacock) feels shame for his son. Of course, that is the first major secret the family has kept (any German who objects to the Nazi way of thinking would be incarcerated or would be branded a traitor).

But the family begins their new life in their new home. With armed guards and a Jewish slave/helper named Pavel, the family tries to get accustomed to their new surroundings. Of course, Bruno is not to thrilled because he has no friends around him but outside his bedroom window, he sees a farm (actually, the concentration camp) and wonders why everyone is wearing striped pajamas.

His mother (Vera Farmiga) is shocked that they have moved not far from a concentration camp. She thought they would be many miles away not right near it. Meanwhile, Bruno's sister Gretel (Amber Beattie) who was a young daughter at 12-years-old fascinated with dolls, suddenly becomes fascinated with the young Nazi soldier who is a driver for the family.

But as much as his parents have told him to not look towards the "farm", Bruno runs off towards what he thinks is a farm and he sees a young boy sitting near the electric wired fence. The boy is named Shmuel (Jack Scanlon). Bruno is just happy to find someone young that he can play with but doesn't understand why he wears pajamas or can't play. Shmuel is also naive himself. He knows that he must follow the rules in the concentration camp but he sits in the corner behind a rock to be alone.

The two become friends and Bruno eventually comes to visit him everyday with food and so he can play games or talk with him.

Throughout the course of the film, we see Bruno, who doesn't fully understand the war and when he wants to read adventure books, his instructor teaches him about being proud to be Nazi and why he should despite the Jewish people.

This is where Bruno is confused because the servant named Pavel seems like a nice guy, Shmuel seems like a nice guy but his teacher tells him that there are no good Jewish people and if he ever found one, he would be a great explorer.

In the air outside the home, there is a putrid stench and sure enough Bruno's mother finds out from one of the soldiers that the smell is the cremation of Jewish people. She is just in awe of how terrible they are being treated and thus leads to problems between her and her husband. Her husband is doing his job but for Bruno's mother, she can't believe they are living near a concentration camp.

In one scene, the family witnesses during dinner time, Pavel accidentally spills wine on the table and literally taken to another room and kicked to death.

This pushes Bruno's mother even more to the edge now because she has to witness the brutalization of Jewish people in her home. Of course, Bruno is naive and not knowing what happened to Pavel.

Next thing you know, Pavel is replaced by Shmuel. Bruno is so happy to have his friend now at his home and his friend looks so hungry, Bruno gives him some food. But unfortunately, a Nazi soldier catches them and when Bruno is yelled at and asked how the Jewish boy got the food, in fear, Bruno tells the soldier that Shmuel stole it and thus Shmuel is taken in for punishment.

Because of his lie, Bruno knows he did something very bad and now his friend has gotten hurt. But being a friend, Bruno wants to make it up to Shmuel.

"THE BOY IN STRIPED PAJAMAS" deals with Bruno's naiveness but yet his friendship with Shmuel, his sister's transformation to a girl who liked to play with dolls to a loyal believer in Hitler and the Nazis but also seeing how his mother's conscience starts to eat her up and knowing what her husband is in charge of and that they are living near a death camp and seeing how the Jewish people are treated.

"THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PAJAMES" is powerful and moving film but very tragic.

VIDEO & AUDIO:

The film is presented in Widescreen (1:85:1), enhanced for 16×9 televisions. Video quality on this DVD is pretty good as you do get a sense of color during the outdoor scenes and good lighting and set design as well.

Audio is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound with the film being primarily a dialogue film that comes clear on your front channel speakers. Music is used to show emotion of a scene and is utilized quite well.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

There are three special features included on the DVD for "THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PAJAMAS". Included are:

* Deleted Scenes (With Optional Commentary by Writer/Director Mark Herman and Author John Boyne) - About five deleted scenes with commentary. Most of the cuts were made early in the film.
* Friendship Beyond the Fence Featurette - A featurette featuring interviews with the director and the cast of the film. Comments on how talented Asa Butterfield was as a young actor and playing Bruno. Each talked about their character and working with each other, asking Asa Butterfield (Bruno) and Jack Scanlon (Shmuel) about their knowledge of the Holocaust and even having to remake one of the Nazi propaganda films of Jewish enjoying the concentration camps which was used in the film.
* Feature Commentary by Writer/Director Mark Herman and Author John Boyne - Both discuss the film and talk about the talent, the characters and differences between the film and the book. Certain shots and the emotions that the director wanted to capture on screen.

JUDGMENT CALL:

I have to admit that with a Holocaust film involving children, I wasn't sure where this story was going. But by the film's end and the final wide shot, I was just amazed by the film and yet saddened by how tragic the film ended.

I was really moved by the film and the various performances. I was very amazed by Asa Butterfield's performance as Bruno and because he was naive and really didn't care about how the Nazi's felt about the Jews, he was able to have this friendship with Shmuel. Jack Scanlon's Shmuel was also another performance that was well done and you had this sense of sadness in the child's eyes.

Vera Farmiga's performance as his mother was well-done and seeing how she started out as this strong woman, good mother and proud wife of a high ranking Nazi officer but then seeing her evolve when she discovers the atrocities and having to live nearby and having to bare with death near her home and having to lie to her children of what is happening.

But what was innocent for the most part of the film really shocks you at what happens at the end of the film. I was shocked of how it ended and I'll just leave it at that.

Very good costume and set design and really good cinematography by Benoit Delhomme. The screenplay was well-written, emotions well captured on film and each talent did a great job in portraying their character.

Everything was well done in this film.

A powerful and moving film, "THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PAJAMAS" is a film that deserves to watched. It's not a film about the Holocaust with guns ablazing, it's a film that shows the cruelty of that time but focusing on an eight-year-old boy who knows not of what is going on around him, not knowing why the Nazi's hate the Jewish people but being optimistic that once the war is over, he and Shmuel can finally play together. Naive to know that the "farm" where he thinks Shmuel and others are having fun in is actually a concentration camp where many people are being massacred. And it's the naivety of both children, not knowing how dangerous things are but knowing that their friendship is real that sets up the final part of the film.

"THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PAJAMAS" is highly recommended!