The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas

I could easily fill 30 posts with various Movies that touch on the Holocaust as it was such a real world tragedy but I choose not to.  There are 2 Movies that I would like to include however, the first is mentioned here.

The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas is a Movie adaptation of a Novel by John Boyne which tells the story of a young boy named Bruno, the son of an SS Officer in Nazi Germany.  His father is promoted and becomes the commandant of a Nazi Concentration Camp.  Bruno never knows what the camp is exactly only that he believes it to be some sort of Prison after he discovers it, much to the efforts of his parents to prevent it.  A friendship grows between Bruno and a young boy imprisoned in the camp a Jew named Shmuel.  At the climax of the Movie, Bruno enters the camp with Shmuel to try and find Shmuel's lost father, the two get swept away in a rush when prisoners are being moved and together they end up within one of the Gas Chambers.  The two perish in the extermination and the truth is discovered by Bruno's parents and the Movie ends fading to black.

I do not at all find these types of Movies entertaining.  I would not willingly recommend this movie to others simply because I find electing to watch them as a form of self torture.  They deal with deeper issues than we are willing to confront.  The reason I saw this movie originally was as I was invited to an advanced screening with a friend before the Movie was officially finished and before it was produced for final viewing.  It was not until around 18 months later that the Movie was actually released to the public.  At the time I recommended it for what it was, a powerful display of emotional evocation depicting the horror that mankind has committed.  Over time we often change our views on many things, and at present I have come to deplore these types of Movies in my mentality of wishing to avoid self torture.  I delved into these types of Movies when younger and I may one day return as with the Saw Movies or those of Gore and Horror they are not my taste today.

Below I attach the trailer.