The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas

[Night Fury]

Has anyone else seen this film?

It's about a young German boy in WW2 who is moved to a house built near a concentration camp. He manages to get to the camp and befriends a Jewish boy on the other side. He's a really innocent boy, who's been told that the camps are 'fun places' and farms with animals, and he's very sheltered from the war and doesn't know what is really happening.

I found the movie very harrowing and my mouth was just like at the end. So, so so sad.

A few weeks ago, I had a friend say to me that films like this shouldn't be made as for some people it's still just too soon. I think the opposite, I like films about the Holocaust. Well, maybe like is the wrong word considering the nature of it, but I find them all so interesting, and I don't think things like that should ever be forgotten, and film is a way to show it well. I can see why some people wouldn't like it though, but I really found this movie to be amazing - until the end when I just wanted to curl up in a ball and die.

[Shauna]

My Mum said I should watch it, because it's really good. However, I will cry my little heart out was the warning.

[Night Fury]

My Mum said I should watch it, because it's really good. However, I will cry my little heart out was the warning.

See I didn't cry, I was just.... shocked. I cry at everything but I couldn't cry at this. My mouth was just open and I sat like that for a good 5 minutes.

[Bubba]

I read the book a few years ago which was... different. I'm not sure how the film portrayed it but being told from the boy's perspective gave the book a kind of innocence. I think that made the horror of it all the more real at the end.

In fact, I think reading the book may have put me off watching the film!

[Jinx]

I heard some Jewish organization really brought the book/movie under criticism for the fiction of it.

I honestly probably would've never read or watched it, either way. I used to read about the Holocaust all the time, and the survivor's stories are heartbreaking, inspiring, and interesting enough without having to make up a story. That's pretty much one of the huge reasons why I hate Life is Beautiful.

[Slothy]

A few weeks ago, I had a friend say to me that films like this shouldn't be made as for some people it's still just too soon.

Too soon? What does your friend consider a nice grace period for depicting horrible acts like the holocaust on film? Seventy years isn't enough? Should we wait until every single person who lived through it is dead?

Me thinks your friend is slightly ridiculous on this one.

[Quindiana Jones]

Yeah, your friend is a fool. You should talk about, publicise and make fan-fiction about the worst things about mankind the day after they happen, and never stop. Those who bitch about troutty Holocaust films are destined to... uh, watch something else, I suppose.

[maybee]

I love this movie. It's so sweet and amazing, and so tragic and sad.

Yes I was shocked.

It was more like.

" No- Please don't..."

".. No ..."

" Oh my gosh, no... this is not going to happen..."

then

breakdown.

[Chris]

Why was this amazing film slaughtered by the critics?

[Night Fury]

I read the book a few years ago which was... different. I'm not sure how the film portrayed it but being told from the boy's perspective gave the book a kind of innocence. I think that made the horror of it all the more real at the end.

In fact, I think reading the book may have put me off watching the film!

Oh Bubba, the film really does show the innocence, in fact that's one thing I really noticed about. There is a scene where I think he is just sat playing on his swing and reading a book, and you can just see the smoke from the chimneys behind him. :/

[Bubba]

I read the book a few years ago which was... different. I'm not sure how the film portrayed it but being told from the boy's perspective gave the book a kind of innocence. I think that made the horror of it all the more real at the end.

In fact, I think reading the book may have put me off watching the film!

Oh Bubba, the film really does show the innocence, in fact that's one thing I really noticed about. There is a scene where I think he is just sat playing on his swing and reading a book, and you can just see the smoke from the chimneys behind him. :/

Ah, I'm glad. The innocence was one of the most powerful elements about it.

I might be tempted to watch the film but I'm not sure I could put myself through it knowing how it ends. I did sit through Grave of the Fireflies though when you knew from minute one how it was gonna turn out. I still never regretted that.

I'll stick it on my Lovefilm.

[Shiny]

This film is seriously depressing and also kind of boring.

[nik0tine]

This was arguably the stupidest movie I've ever seen. It's like they didn't even make an effort to be historically accurate. There is even a scene where Nazi officials are at a party and there is a jazz band playing music in the background. How stupid do they expect their audience to be? Nothing in this movie is realistic or believable in any way.

This movie is just another disgusting example of the glorification and distortion of the Holocaust in popular media. I hate everything this film stands for.

[DMKA]

Why was this amazing film slaughtered by the critics?

Probably for the reasons both Boobs and nik said.

The only movie I ever saw regarding the Halocaust that really had any effect on me was The Attic, a campy low budget film which chronicled Miep Gies, Anne Frank, and her family's time in hiding. It seemed...real, no frills, no sensationalism. I think that's what makes it so utterly horrifying.

[Cloudane]

I have it. I've not watched it yet though, honestly I've been too much of a coward - it doesn't take a spoiler to know what will happen unless it's some horribly unrealistic fairy tale, and I know it'll be one of the saddest things I'll ever watch

I'm just not sure about watching things that will depress me anyway. I dare say I already know about the horrors that occurred and don't need reminding/educating at this time. While of course never forgetting mankind's mistakes so that we don't repeat them, I'd sooner watch optimistic things (even if they themselves can be considered unrealistic fairy tales, optimism is quite different from ignoring an existing truth) and look forward to the happier future that I believe we'll eventually grow into.