23rd October 2009

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas has been quite a popular rental dvd since it was released over a month ago, so I was happy when there were a few left so I could finally watch this movie. I admit, when I was 11 and my teacher gave me 'The Boy in the Striped Pajamas' to read, I didn't actually get around to reading it. So I told her a lie and said that I had read it, and hoped we wouldn't get into a conversation about it. Now I think I must read the book, because the story is so fantastic. A young boy, Bruno, moves to the countryside in World War II, and finds no fun or no friends. But he discovers that at the back of his property, there is a 'farm', where he meets another young boy who wears pajamas all day. The secret about this farm is that it's a Jew camp, and the boy Bruno met is a Jew, and they shouldn't be friends, but enemies. There is a heartbreaking ending to this film, and a story I will probably remember for the rest of my life. It begs the question, why did we have this war, and why were some people so cruel to others? It's devastating, really. Vera Farmiga plays the mother of Bruno, and I think she is a truly wonderful actress who hopefully has more fantastic films to come. One of the criticism's I have of this film is that it quite slow at the beginning, and all the exciting parts are quite brief. But it is a film which everyone should be required to see.
8/10