The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (2008)

Director:

Mark Herman

Writers:

John Boyne (novel)
Mark Herman (screenplay)

Release Date:

14 November 2008 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Thriller | War

Tagline:

A timeless story of innocence lost and humanity found.

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.

Plot Keywords:

Concentration Camp | Friend | Friendship | Nazi Concentration Camp | Father Son Relationship

Awards:

2 wins & 5 nominations

Cast

Asa Butterfield	...	Bruno
Zac Mattoon O'Brien	...	Leon (as Zac Mattoon-O'Brien)
Domonkos Németh	...	Martin
Henry Kingsmill	...	Karl
Vera Farmiga	...	Mother
Cara Horgan	...	Maria
Zsuzsa Holl	...	Berlin Cook
Amber Beattie	...	Gretel
László Áron	...	Lars
David Thewlis	...	Father
Richard Johnson	...	Grandpa
Sheila Hancock	...	Grandma
Charlie Baker	...	Palm Court Singer
Iván Verebély	...	Meinberg
Béla Fesztbaum	...	Schultz

Also Known As:

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (USA)

MPAA:

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

Runtime:

94 min | Israel:93 min

Country:

UK | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

USA:PG-13 (certificate #44276) | Ireland:12A | UK:12A | Norway:11 | Argentina:16 | Sweden:15 | Australia:M | Netherlands:12 | Brazil:12 | Chile:14 | Singapore:PG | Portugal:M/12 (Qualidade) | South Korea:12 | Philippines:PG-13 (MTRCB) | Germany:12 (f) | Hong Kong:IIA | Mexico:B | Japan:PG-12 | New Zealand:M | Peru:14

Filming Locations:

Budapest, Hungary

Company:

BBC Films

Trivia:

Vera Farmiga who plays the boy's mother is shown wearing her wedding band on her right hand. For Germany, this is correct and an excellent accurate detail.

Goofs:

Incorrectly regarded as goofs: "The story mixes up the German Wehrmacht (army) and the SS (Hitler's paramilitary "protective" forces). While the Wehrmacht was not directly involved in the holocaust (though they committed war crimes and killed civilians), the SS was in charge of the concentration camps. Bruno's father's uniform is a mix of Wehrmacht and SS. The Wehrmacht uniforms were green, whereas SS uniforms were black and had the skull ("Totenkopf") symbol on the cap." Incorrect: the black "allgemeine SS" uniform, so beloved of Hollywood because of its iconographic qualities, was discontinued during the war. On the green 1940-1945 SS uniforms, the black colour was only retained on the peaked cap bands, the collar patches, as underlay for badges and on some varieties of shoulder board pipings. Camp Guards wore sported copper brown uniform piping, the "waffenfarbe" , denoting the camp guards branche. Just look at the original pictures of uniformed SS guards in the camps from the period 1940-1945.

Quotes:

[about Gretel's reading from their tutor of popaganda about "the Jew"]
Bruno: I don't understand. One man caused all this trouble?

Movie Connections:

References Theresienstadt (1944)

Soundtrack:

Smile When You Say Goodbye

Utterly Devastating

My fiancé and I purchased tickets for a special advanced screening of this movie during the Carnegie Film Festival in Dunfermline, Fife. I didn't realise, but we were one of the first people to see it. I will try and not spoil it and keep the review very simple and straight forward.

The film is mainly shot through the eyes of Bruno played by Asa Butterfield growing up in war time Germany during the holocaust. After relocating at the will of the German Army, the film then centres on the friendship between Bruno and Shmuel (Jack Scanlon). I will end it there as I don't wish to spoil the rest of the film.

Putting to one side the fact that everyone has a flawless English accent (which does make it difficult to hate them at first), the cinematics, sound, editing and above all acting are a credit to the British film industry.

Asa Butterfield is fine young actor and I'm sure will be destined for even greater things in the future.

As I mentioned above, I won't give anything away, but I will say that this is the first time I have been to the Cinema and everyone sat quiet right up until the end of the credits.

Please, please see this film. It will remain with you for a long time.