Mark Herman: Director
Plot: Set during World War II, a story seen through the innocent eyes of Bruno, the eight-year-old son of the commandant at a concentration camp, whose forbidden friendship with a Jewish boy on the other side of the camp fence has startling and unexpected consequences.
Cast:
Vera Farmiga, David Thewlis
Just when I thought I had seen all the World War II sob story films that I ever wanted to see, there is one more well worth the time, the effort. Boy in the Stripped Pajamas is a film so gripping that once it ends the impact of the experience remains in the mind and heart of those who have children and those who don't.
What is striking about the film is the contrast between the world in which the parents live and the world that the child inhabits, albeit in the same house, in the same environment.
The gap between the generation is so striking and yet, watching the film it seems very natural, very understandable but upon thinking about it long after the DVD ended I realized that nothing really made sense. How could there be such profound misunderstanding between well meaning adults and their off springs.
As baffling as it was in retrospect, while I saw the film it all seemed natural; a statement of life during war time where the bizarre becomes the norm
This is a family film in the true sense of the concept, not a feel good film but a film that offers something for everyone who sees it. A poignant film that needs no music to inform on feelings present or anticipated.
I strongly recommend this quiet masterpiece.
Linda Zises
WBAI Radio
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