The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (2008)
"The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas" (original title)

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.

Director:

Mark Herman

Writers:

John Boyne (novel), Mark Herman (screenplay)

Stars:

Asa Butterfield, Zac Mattoon O'Brien, David Thewlis

2 wins & 5 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
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

Storyline

Young Bruno lives a wealthy lifestyle in prewar Germany along with his mother, elder sister, and SS Commandant father. The family relocates to the countryside where his father is assigned to take command a prison camp. A few days later, Bruno befriends another youth, strangely dressed in striped pajamas, named Shmuel who lives behind an electrified fence. Bruno will soon find out that he is not permitted to befriend his new friend as he is a Jew, and that the neighboring yard is actually a prison camp for Jews awaiting extermination.

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Plot Keywords:

jew | fence | ss | jewish | friend | 

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Taglines:

Lines may divide us, but hope will unite us...

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Genres:

Drama | History | War

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

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

Details

Official Sites:

Miramax Films [us] Official Facebook

Country:

UK USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

28 November 2008 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

Filming Locations:

Budapest, Hungary

Box Office

Budget:

$12,500,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$253,085 (USA) (7 November 2008)

Gross:

$9,030,581 (USA) (16 January 2009)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Miramax Films, BBC Films, Heyday Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

94 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Bruno's parents are named Ralf and Elsa, but in the credits of the film they are listed as 'Mother' and 'Father'. This is a tribute to the novel, in which the narrative focuses solely on Bruno's point of view.

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Goofs

At the going away party in the Berlin house, the band is playing jazz music. This is highly unlikely in an SS officer's home, circa 1942 as the Nazis has prohibited Jazz music in the 1930s.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Mother: Hello, sweetheart.
Bruno: Mum, what's going on?
Mother: We're celebrating.
Bruno: Celebrating?
Mother: Mm, your father's been given a promotion.
Gretel: That means a better job.
Bruno: I know what promotion is.
Mother: So we're having a little party to celebrate.
Bruno: He's still going to be a soldier though, isn't he?
[...]

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Crazy Credits

Quotation displayed before the opening titles: "Childhood is measured out by sounds and smells and sights, before the dark hour of reason grows - John Betjeman"

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Connections

Referenced in Friendship Beyond the Fence (2009)

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Soundtracks

"Horst Wessel Lied"
Written by Horst Wessel
Melody adapted from Hessian Marching Song
Performed by Kappelle der SS-Standarte 4.
Courtesy of The Tomahawk Films
WW-II German Archive, UK

User Reviews

One of the most affecting pieces of Cinema released in years

There are more dramatic and more philosophical pieces of cinema dealing with this very emotive subject, but few deal with the horror, futility and falsehood of the "final solution" with such clear simplicity. We see the lead characters as both humans and monsters we see internal conflict and how they each come to terms with their conflicts, above all we see how futile their conclusions were.

There will be the predictable comparisons with Schindler's List but you might also want to compare this movie to "The Counterfeiters" which also deals with the conflicts necessary to survive. Watching this movie I kept being drawn back to Primo Levi's book "If This is Man" the story of his time as a prisoner suffering from this evil.

The great success of the film is its simplicity, it does not seek to over analyse but simply allows the development of the characters to tell the story.

One of the contributers spoke of how he was in screen 9 (if I remember correctly) in Cineworld Dublin - I was in Screen 11 and I can had the same experience, the film ended and no one moved, all were in a state of shock, no, sorrow. This is not a film for young children, but older children and adults familiar with the evil addressed in this movie should go and see it. This movie deserves great success. I rate it 9 out of 10 and would have given it a perfect score except for some small technical questions, but none that take away from this fantastic piece of cinema - All associated with this movie should be rightly proud of there work and if any of you read these comments - Thank You!