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The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

  • 2008
  • PG-13
  • 1h 34m
IMDb RATING
7.7/10
262K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
1,640
299
Asa Butterfield and Jack Scanlon in The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (2008)
This is the theatrical trailer for The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, directed by Mark Herman.
Play trailer2:16
7 Videos
59 Photos
Period DramaPrison DramaTragedyDramaWar

Through the innocent eyes of Bruno, the eight-year-old son of the commandant at a German concentration camp, a forbidden friendship with a Jewish boy on the other side of the camp fence has ... Read allThrough the innocent eyes of Bruno, the eight-year-old son of the commandant at a German concentration camp, a forbidden friendship with a Jewish boy on the other side of the camp fence has startling and unexpected consequences.Through the innocent eyes of Bruno, the eight-year-old son of the commandant at a German concentration camp, a 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
    • Mark Herman
  • Stars
    • Asa Butterfield
    • David Thewlis
    • Rupert Friend
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    7.7/10
    262K
    YOUR RATING
    POPULARITY
    1,640
    299
    • Director
      • Mark Herman
    • Writers
      • John Boyne
      • Mark Herman
    • Stars
      • Asa Butterfield
      • David Thewlis
      • Rupert Friend
    • 624User reviews
    • 144Critic reviews
    • 55Metascore
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 7 wins & 7 nominations total

    Videos7

    The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas: Trailer
    Trailer 2:16
    The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas: Trailer
    The Boy In The Striped Pajamas: I'm Exploring
    Clip 1:02
    The Boy In The Striped Pajamas: I'm Exploring
    The Boy In The Striped Pajamas: I'm Exploring
    Clip 1:02
    The Boy In The Striped Pajamas: I'm Exploring
    The Boy In The Striped Pajamas: Be Careful
    Clip 1:02
    The Boy In The Striped Pajamas: Be Careful
    The Boy In The Striped Pajamas: I Want To Make A Swing
    Clip 1:00
    The Boy In The Striped Pajamas: I Want To Make A Swing
    The Boy In The Striped Pajamas: This Is Not War
    Clip 1:01
    The Boy In The Striped Pajamas: This Is Not War
    The Boy In The Striped Pajamas: I Want To Go Home
    Clip 1:02
    The Boy In The Striped Pajamas: I Want To Go Home

    Photos59

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    Top cast26

    Edit
    Asa Butterfield
    Asa Butterfield
    • Bruno
    David Thewlis
    David Thewlis
    • Father
    Rupert Friend
    Rupert Friend
    • Lieutenant Kotler
    Zac Mattoon O'Brien
    • Leon
    • (as Zac Mattoon-O'Brien)
    Domonkos Németh
    • Martin
    Henry Kingsmill
    • Karl
    Vera Farmiga
    Vera Farmiga
    • Mother
    Cara Horgan
    Cara Horgan
    • Maria
    Zsuzsa Holl
    • Berlin Cook
    Amber Beattie
    Amber Beattie
    • Gretel
    László Áron
    László Áron
    • Lars
    Richard Johnson
    Richard Johnson
    • Grandpa
    Sheila Hancock
    Sheila Hancock
    • Grandma
    Charlie Baker
    • Palm Court Singer
    Iván Verebély
    • Meinberg
    Béla Fesztbaum
    • Schultz
    Attila Egyed
    • Heinz
    David Hayman
    David Hayman
    • Pavel
    • Director
      • Mark Herman
    • Writers
      • John Boyne
      • Mark Herman
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews624

    7.7262.2K
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    Featured reviews

    9tomashaffenden-1

    Perfectly weighted film...

    I'm a man's man, and it takes something really exceptional to break my emotionless machine persona. This film ripped me apart and reminded me (and my partner) of humanity inside even the most hardened man.

    Perfectly weighted film in every way, from pace to acting and all framed with a wonderful score. The subtlety of the looks passing between the actors and a finale that ensured silence until the final credit rolled, makes this one of the best films i've seen in a long time.

    This is the first review I have never written and i cannot think of a better way to have opened my account.
    9tpurcell-1

    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!
    8sara-343

    Moving + doesn't put a foot wrong

    You don't often sit in a BAFTA screening and hear weeping behind you but even the most hardened cineaste would be moved by this look at the holocaust through an Aryan child's eyes.

    It is beautifully scripted, acted and shot too - with none of the anachronisms of taste and language that bedevil historically-set films such as The Duchess.

    A small, British movie with an unusual take on a ghastly and well-worn subject.

    PS - for parents: It's a 12A in Britain and I wouldn't take a child under about eleven. Nor would I let them go alone.
    10mjavfc1

    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.
    10bkoganbing

    Bruno And Shmuel

    I can't speak for other people, but for me The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas is a film that can be seen once and once only because the impact is so shattering. Not even a stone statue can be not moved by this film, this child's eye view of the Holocaust.

    Bruno is an 8 year old German kid whose father David Thewlis is an officer in the Wehrmacht. They're living a nice life in the beginning of World War II in metropolitan Berlin. Thewlis gets orders however shipping him to a command in a nice rural area of southern Germany, presumably Bavaria. Like any other kid he's upset at being dislocated from his friends and his school, but he certainly hasn't much to say in the matter.

    So the family is uprooted to a lovely pastoral area where Dad's been put in charge of a concentration camp. Not one of the bigger ones like Auschwitz and Dachau, but a small one that his superiors expect Thewlis to run efficiently.

    Young Bruno has absolutely no one to play with and he wanders over to the camp. His parents feel he's way too young to understand about these things and he makes friends with a kid on the other side of the barbed wire, a young Jewish boy named Shmuel who wears those funny striped pyjamas like everyone else in the camp.

    Two things struck me about The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas. When I did a review of The Diary Of Anne Frank, the biggest impression I got out of the film was the ordinariness of that small group of Jews hidden in that attic. Who could possibly think these people were any kind of threat to civilization simply for being and believing in their faith? We get to see the other side of the looking glass here, a view of this very average German family, besides young Bruno and Thewlis, there's mother Vera Famiga and daughter Amber Beattie. Famiga is not happy one bit with her domestic situation and it's slowly dawning on her that the politics and policies of the Third Reich is the root of her concerns. As for Beattie, she's really buying into the whole Nazi thing, partly because she's going through puberty and a young and handsome aide to her father played by Rupert Friend is stirring up those first womanly feelings.

    But to all intents and purposes this is your average German family, not too much different than the Frank family in that attic, but that this regime of hate has made Thewlis a death merchant.

    The second thing that struck me and it's what gives hope to this crazy world is what passes between Asa Butterfield as Bruno and Jack Scanlon as Shmuel. If all we are as humans are reflections of our parents prejudices there would be absolutely no hope for mankind. But we do grow, we do question, some of us just don't accept everything that's fed to us. We don't see Shmuel's world of the camp until the very end, the boys mostly have contact with a barbed wire fence between them. But we see Bruno and his sister being now home schooled in Nazi teachings and his innocent contact with that kid on the other side of the fence makes him question what's going on.

    The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas is one of the best films of 2008. You will not forget the performances of Butterfield and Scanlon and the adult cast members. The end will shatter your mind, but the film's depiction of friendship growing in the worst possible circumstances is also a message of hope.

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Bruno's parents are named Ralf and Elsa, but in the credits of the film they are listed as "Father" and "Mother." This is a tribute to the novel, in which the narrative focuses solely on Bruno's point of view.
    • Goofs
      The Nazi banners at the film's beginning are sheer and translucent: silk, nylon or rayon. Nazi banners were constructed of wool and were never translucent.
    • Quotes

      Shmuel: I wish you'd remembered the chocolate.

      Bruno: Yes, I'm sorry. I know! Perhaps you can come and have supper with us sometime.

      Shmuel: I can't, can I? Because of this.

      [points the electric fence]

      Bruno: But that's to stop the animals getting out, isn't it?

      Shmuel: Animals? No, it's to stop people getting out.

      Bruno: Are you not allowed out? Why? What have you done?

      Shmuel: I'm a Jew.

    • 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"
    • Connections
      Featured in Siskel & Ebert: Quantum of Solace/Madagascar 2/Soul Men/Repo! The Genetic Opera/The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (2008)
    • Soundtracks
      Rhythm For You
      Written by Eddy Christiani and Frans Poptie

      Courtesy of APM Music

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    FAQ26

    • How long is The Boy in the Striped Pajamas?Powered by Alexa
    • Is "The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas" based on a book?
    • How do Bruno and Shmuel meet?
    • If the movie is set in Germany, why do they have English accents?

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • November 26, 2008 (United States)
    • Countries of origin
      • United Kingdom
      • United States
    • Official sites
      • Official Facebook
      • Official Site
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • El niño con el pijama de rayas
    • Filming locations
      • Kerepesi Cemetery, Budapest, Hungary
    • Production companies
      • Miramax
      • BBC Film
      • Heyday Films
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Budget
      • $12,500,000 (estimated)
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $9,046,156
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $253,085
      • Nov 9, 2008
    • Gross worldwide
      • $40,416,563
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 34 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • DTS
      • Dolby Digital
      • SDDS
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.85 : 1

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