The Boy in The Striped Pajamas is a 2008 historical dram film directed by Mark Herman. It was adapted from the book of the same name by John Boyne. In it, an eight year old boy named Bruno moves from his home in Berlin, to the countryside. His father is a leader in the Nazi army. One day, he sees a “farm” from his window. The farm actually turns out to be a Jewish work camp. When he befriends a Jewish boy in the camp, he starts to realize the true nature of his father’s work.

Theme 1: How innocence can help us through bad times
Bruno is an eight year old boy and his life was normal before moving to the countryside. He plays with his friends, toys, and has a rivalry with his older sister. When he see the “farm” from his bedroom window, he asks his mother, Elsa, about it. She tells him to stay away from the “farmers” because they are strange. The farm is actually a concentration camp, and the farmers are the Jews. By not knowing what the concentration camp actually was, Bruno’s innocence was preserved.

Theme 2: Everyone needs someone to talk to during bad times

Shmuel (the Jewish boy) is in the concentration camp and he says that he doesn’t have any friends there. He talks about how lonely he always is. When he meets Bruno, Shmuel starts to become happier and more upbeat. Bruno’s life is also lonely because he left all of his friends behind when he moved. His days always consist of tutoring and playing by himself. When he meets Shmuel, he isn’t lonely anymore and he has someone to talk to. Even though their problems were drastically different, they both needed someone.

Theme 3: Conformity

Bruno’s sister, Gretel, is a twelve years old. She is like most girls until she meets one of her father’s soldiers. Before she met him, she played with other girls and dolls. She starts to like him so she joins the Hitler youth group and puts her dolls away. In one scene she is shown hiding her dolls, and covering her walls in pictures of Hitler and propaganda posters. She conforms to the norm to get closer to this soldier that she likes. Gretel completely changes herself.

According to the movie, what was the nature of life in London?

The movie was set in Germany, and Bruno’s father is a high ranking person in the Nazi army. At first Elsa is supportive of her husband’s work, but as the war starts affecting her family more and more she becomes less supportive. This shows how people in Germany wanted to support the war effort, but it could be very dangerous.

What was your favorite scene?

My favorite scene in the movie was when Bruno and Shmuel go into the concentration camp together. Shmuel’s father has gone missing and Bruno has agreed to help him look for him. Shmuel has an extra pair of “pajamas” for Bruno and Bruno was able to get in by digging a hole under the fence. Bruno and Shmuel start their search for the father in the sleeping huts. A pair of Nazi soldiers start to round everyone in the huts up and line them up. At this point I had figured out what was about to happen. The soldiers marched Shmuel, Bruno, and the others to a large, brick building. They instruct everyone to take their jumpsuits off and go into the chamber. The crowd begins to worry, but one man says, “It’s just a shower! It’s just a shower.” The audience knows that it is not just a shower. It is a gas chamber. Both boys and everyone else can be assumed dead.

I liked this scene because the audience knew something that the characters didn’t. This scene also showed how cruel Nazis were to the Jews in the camp. Even children were not excused from death.

Would you recommend this film to others?

I would recommend this film to people depending on who they are. I don’t usually get emotional over movies, but I found myself needing to process the ending of the movie. I would not recommend this movie as something to watch with a younger sibling or relative.