the boy in striped pyjamas movie review

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Mark Herman's "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" depends for its powerful impact on why, and when, it transfers the film's point of view. For almost all of the way, we see events through the eyes of a bright, plucky 8-year-old. Then we begin to look out through the eyes of his parents. Why and when that transfer takes place gathers all of the film's tightly wound tensions and savagely uncoils them. It is not what happens to the boy, which I will not tell you. It is -- all that happens. All of it, before and after.

Bruno ( Asa Butterfield ) is a boy growing up in a comfy household in Berlin, circa 1940. His dad ( David Thewlis ) goes off to the office every day. He's a Nazi official. Bruno doesn't think about that much, but he's impressed by his ground-level view of his father's stature. One day Bruno gets the unwelcome news that his dad has a new job, and they will all be moving to the country.

It'll be a farm, his parents reassure him. Lots of fun. Bruno doesn't want to leave his playmates and his much-loved home. His grandma ( Sheila Hancock ) doesn't approve of the move either. There seems to be a lot she doesn't approve of, but children are made uneasy by family tension and try to evade it.

There's a big house in the country, surrounded by high walls. It looks stark and modern to be a farmhouse. Army officials come and go. They fill rooms with smoke as they debate policy and procedures. Bruno can see the farm fields from his bedroom window. He asks his parents why the farmers are wearing striped pajamas. They give him one of those evasive answers that only drives a smart kid to find out for himself.

At the farm, behind barbed wire, he meets a boy about his age. They make friends. They visit as often as they can. The other boy doesn't understand what's going on any more than Bruno does. Their stories were told in a 2007 young adult's novel of the same name by John Boyne, which became a best seller. I learn the novel tells more about what the child thinks he hears and knows, but the film is implacable in showing where his curiosity leads him.

Other than what "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" is about, it almost seems to be an orderly story of those British who always know how to speak and behave. Those British? Yes, the actors speak with crisp British accents, which I think is actually more effective than having them speaking with German accents, or in subtitles. It dramatizes the way the German professional class internalized Hitler's rule and treated it as business as usual. Charts, graphs, titles, positions, uniforms, promotions, performance evaluations.

How can ordinary professional people proceed in this orderly routine when their business is evil? Easier than we think, I believe. I still obsess about those few Enron executives who knew the entire company was a Ponzi scheme. I can't forget the Oregon railroader who had his pension stolen. The laughter of Enron soldiers who joked about killing grandmothers with their phony California "energy crisis." Whenever loyalty to the enterprise becomes more important than simple morality, you will find evil functioning smoothly.

There has not again been evil on the scale of 1939-1945. But there has been smaller-scale genocide. Mass murder. Wars generated by lies and propaganda. The Wall Street crash stripped people of their savings, their pensions, their homes, their jobs, their hopes of providing for their families. It happened because a bureaucracy and its status symbols became more important than what it was allegedly doing.

Have I left my subject? I don't think so. "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" is not only about Germany during the war, although the story it tells is heartbreaking in more than one way. It is about a value system that survives like a virus. Do I think the people responsible for our economic crisis were Nazis? Certainly not. But instead of collecting hundreds of millions of dollars in rewards for denying to themselves what they were doing, I wish they had been forced to flee to Paraguay in submarines.

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

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Film credits.

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (2008)

Rated PG-13 for some mature thematic material involving the Holocaust

Asa Butterfield as Bruno

David Thewlis as Father

Vera Farmiga as Mother

Rupert Friend as Lt. Kotler

David Hayman as Pavel

Jack Scanlon as Shmuel

Amber Beattie as Gretel

Sheila Hancock as Grandma

Richard Johnson as Grandpa

Jim Norton as Herr Liszt

Cara Horgan as Maria

Written and directed by

• Mark Herman

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The boy in the striped pajamas, common sense media reviewers.

Holocaust drama sensitive, but never sentimental.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Extensive discussion of the German attitude toward

Bruno's dad runs a death camp. Bruno tries to do t

Guards brandish guns; prisoners are threatened wit

Affection between a long-married couple; non-sexua

One non-sexual use of "f---ing" and extensive use

A Mercedes logo is visible on the hood of a car.

Characters drink hard liquor, champagne, and wine

Parents need to know that this intense World War II-set drama follows a young boy whose father, a German officer, has moved the entire family close to his new assignment -- running a death camp dedicated to the mass extermination and murder of Jewish prisoners. The boy befriends a prisoner on the other side of the…

Positive Messages

Extensive discussion of the German attitude toward and treatment of Jewish prisoners during World War II, including deliberate, dehumanizing language. Discussion of anti-Semitic philosophies and ideas. Discussions of duty to one's country and race.

Positive Role Models

Bruno's dad runs a death camp. Bruno tries to do the right thing at times.

Violence & Scariness

Guards brandish guns; prisoners are threatened with guns, clubs, and dogs. A beating is administered off screen. Discussion of a supporting character dying during an English bombing raid. The mechanisms of mass extermination are seen in action, including a sensitively shot yet still devastating sequence in which a room crammed with concentration-camp prisoners is gassed.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Affection between a long-married couple; non-sexual, waist-up male nudity as concentration camp prisoners strip for a "shower."

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

One non-sexual use of "f---ing" and extensive use of "Jew" as an epithet.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

Drinking, drugs & smoking.

Characters drink hard liquor, champagne, and wine and smoke cigarettes and cigars (accurate for the time period).

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that this intense World War II-set drama follows a young boy whose father, a German officer, has moved the entire family close to his new assignment -- running a death camp dedicated to the mass extermination and murder of Jewish prisoners. The boy befriends a prisoner on the other side of the wire even as his teachers and parents explain to him about how "the Jew" is the enemy. Given the subject matter, the film -- which culminates in a room full of people being killed with poison gas -- could be difficult to watch for viewers of any age. There's also some drinking and smoking and concentration camp violence. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

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Community Reviews

• Parents say (61)
• Kids say (219)

Based on 61 parent reviews

Beautiful but extremely emotional and distressing

Very sad film, what's the story.

Bruno ( Asa Butterfield) is a young boy growing up in Berlin with his sister, mother ( Vera Farmiga ), and father ( David Thewlis ) -- but that all changes when his father gets a new post in the country. From his window, Bruno can now see people toiling at the distant facility where his father works -- farmers, as near as he can tell, tending a garden, and all wearing "striped pajamas." We soon understand what Bruno does not -- that his father's new post is at a death camp dedicated to the extermination of Jewish prisoners. Sneaking out of the family's house and through the back woods to the camp, Bruno meets a young boy, Shmuel ( Jack Scanlon ), and the two become friends -- as Bruno comes to understand why Shmuel is on the other side of the wire.

Is It Any Good?

THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PAJAMAS, based on John Boyne's novel, is a quietly effective, tastefully crafted, and ultimately devastating portrait of the Holocaust as seen through one boy's eyes. Directed by Mark Herman ( Hope Springs , Little Voice ), The Boy in the Striped Pajamas pulls off a hard-to-imagine balance between the innocence and optimism of children and the evil and darkness of modern history's greatest crime. As Bruno, Butterfield is on-screen in almost every scene, and viewers see the world through his eyes -- as well as his confusion as he comes to truly see the world. "We're not supposed to be friends, you and me," Bruno notes to Shmuel through electrified barbed wire. "We're supposed to be enemies." Bruno can't understand what's going on; what The Boy in the Striped Pajamas shows us is how the grown-ups in Bruno's life (played superbly by Farmiga and Thewlis) are just as capable of deluding themselves about what's really going on at the camp.

At the same time, Bruno isn't a cardboard innocent; he acts selfishly, speaks unthinkingly, and betrays Shmuel in a moment of fear. Herman's direction is never sentimental and yet always sensitive, thoughtful but never flashy, and acutely aware of the dramatic and moral stakes on the table. We only see the mechanisms of mass extermination in one scene; the rest of the film just hints and suggests what's really going on at the camp (which, while unnamed, is clearly Auschwitz) -- which in many ways is more terrifying than more explicit scenes. When Farmiga's character recoils at a rank plume of smoke coming from the camp's chimneys, a young officer smirks: "They smell even worse when they burn, don't they?" and Farmiga's face collapses under the weight of realization; she had no idea. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas builds to a brutal, haunting finale that doesn't let innocence, love, or friendship save the day and sticks with you long after the credits have rolled.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about what teens know about the Holocaust. What upset them in the movie? Why?

Ask your kids whether they think people can be good and evil at the same time. Then you can go into the discussion of how the Holocaust was kept secret. Was it actually hidden, or did people know and simply look the other way?

Families can also discuss what keeps drawing filmmakers and audiences to this subject material.

Movie Details

• In theaters : November 7, 2008
• On DVD or streaming : March 10, 2009
• Cast : Asa Butterfield , David Thewlis , Vera Farmiga
• Director : Mark Herman
• Inclusion Information : Female actors
• Studio : Miramax
• Genre : Drama
• Run time : 95 minutes
• MPAA rating : PG-13
• MPAA explanation : some mature thematic material involving the Holocaust
• Last updated : November 15, 2023

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

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The Boy in the Striped Pajamas Reviews

[The film] touches on important questions about the costs of human life and the dangers of hatred in a stirring, heart-wrenching tale.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Mar 7, 2024

A child’s-eye view of the Holocaust, this family film is likely to trigger big questions from younger viewers.

Full Review | Nov 4, 2022

“The Boy in the Striped Pajamas” asks several powerful questions about war, family, and morality. It also gives us a glimpse into a part of our world’s history that is still hard to look at but should be reckoned with.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 19, 2022

A valiant attempt to tell a small scale story about an unimaginably huge period in our history, and while it may drag in places, it has its heart in the right place and a devastating ending that will take your breath away.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Jan 31, 2021

At once painful, tear-jerking, and deeply emotional, this is a film that cannot be easily forgotten.

Full Review | Original Score: 8/10 | Nov 28, 2020

British director Mark Herman's film... is moving and thought provoking, and handles its subject matter with great sensitivity. It deserves to be seen by young and old.

Full Review | Nov 12, 2020

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas may very well be 2008's most important family film.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4.0 | Sep 4, 2020

Despite the film's various weaknesses, however, it's hard not to be moved by its ending.

Full Review | Sep 2, 2020

A superb adaptation of John Boyne's novel bears witness to the unyielding horror of the Holocaust through the eyes of a child.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | May 4, 2020

This intelligent film offers a fresh perspective on an oft-portrayed period, asking the viewer to question his own assumptions about what he expects and wants from such a telling.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Dec 12, 2018

Not without its qualities, the movie ultimately does a disservice to the very people it purports to represent.

Full Review | Original Score: 69/100 | Jul 12, 2012

[Director] Mark Herman knows how to milk the melodrama from every scene, but viewers may feel a little icky about the experience.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Nov 17, 2011

A film dealing with the Holocaust really should be a little less clumsily executed, manipulative and contrived than this.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Jul 14, 2011

Built upon a powerful but gimmicky end, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas would make a fine short. As a full-length feature, though, the pajamas wear thin quickly.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Aug 14, 2009

The result isn't a deep film, but rather a profound one.

Full Review | Original Score: 5/5 | May 13, 2009

We are left in no doubt about the brutality of what's going on there but it's almost entirely off-screen. Still, the film is terribly confronting.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | May 1, 2009

This writer can't remember witnessing a harder-hitting kids' movie denouement than the one that closes this microcosm of middle-class German family life in WWII.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/6 | Apr 24, 2009

Much of the film depends on our ability to suspend disbelief and see the world as Bruno sees it. It has a finale designed to shock.

Full Review | Apr 24, 2009

You may get halfway through and wonder why it's getting so heavily recommended here. Once you've experienced it in its entirety, you'll know why.

For me, the pluses far outweighed any misgivings I had with this ultimately very moving film.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 24, 2009

• Cast & crew
• User reviews

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

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 all 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. 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.

• Mark Herman
• Asa Butterfield
• David Thewlis
• Rupert Friend
• 574 User reviews
• 147 Critic reviews
• 55 Metascore
• 7 wins & 7 nominations

• Lieutenant Kotler
• (as Zac Mattoon-O'Brien)

• Berlin Cook

• Palm Court Singer

• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

More like this

Did you know

• 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.

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

User reviews 574

• sophie-l-chapman
• Sep 22, 2008
• 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?
• November 26, 2008 (United States)
• United Kingdom
• United States
• arabuloku.com
• Official Facebook
• Chú bé mang pyjama sọc
• Kerepesi Cemetery, Budapest, Hungary
• Heyday Films
• See more company credits at IMDbPro
• $12,500,000 (estimated)
• Nov 9, 2008
• $40,416,563

Technical specs

• Runtime 1 hour 34 minutes
• Dolby Digital

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The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (2008) Review

This article was written exclusively for  The Film Magazine   by Bethen Blackabee of Films at Focal Point .

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (2008) Director: Mark Herman Screenwriter: Mark Herman Starring: Asa Butterfield, Vera Farmiga, Cara Horgan, Amber Beattie, David Thewlis, David Hayman, Jack Scanlon, Rupert Friend

It takes a truly incredible film to make an audience physically and emotionally react without intention, something that Mark Herman’s The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas does with ease. This ingenious piece of work combines a heart-warming narrative of friendship and childhood with a factual documentation of mass murder and politics, using a variety of canny visuals to create conflict both within the film and within ourselves. Based in World War II Germany, this 2008 release follows the story of a young boy, Bruno, after he and his family relocate as a result of his father’s promotion. Bruno is aware of his father’s work as a soldier, but his innocence shields him from the horrific reality of his father’s role within the Nazi party. Whilst exploring the surrounding areas of his new home, Bruno meets Shmuel, a boy who is trapped within the walls of a barbed wire fence. Though Shmuel understands most of his and his family’s situation, Bruno has no knowledge of the true nature of the farm he sees before him; the basis of a challenging friendship.

What makes this film stand out is the way in which it approaches each narrative beat from a child’s perspective. Bruno’s positioning at the forefront of most scenes means that he dictates the tone, his innocence a key factor regarding how the situation is represented and how we are led to view it. Several impactful moments of background action (relating to Jewish discrimination and genocide) coincide with shots of Bruno’s everyday life as a child, where he appears oblivious to the terrifying realities surrounding him. Fiction films often mask factual events as stories through the association of cinema and narrative by the audience, suggesting that some action is added for cinematic impact, but while Bruno and Shmuel’s friendship is not based on a true story, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas continuously references historical context to remind each of us of the horrifying reality of what we are seeing elsewhere in the frame. Some spectators believe that the entirety of the film is based on truth, expressing the true capabilities of Herman as a director and the talent of the cast.

There are several fantastic examples of cinematography relating to these moments, as well as the use of symbolic props and placement to increase the power of the image. A mountain of bare dolls, an empty concrete room, a barbed wire fence; these are all examples of how simple set design has led to some incredibly chilling visuals, encouraging the association of the image with history. Colour also plays a huge part here, juxtaposing the rich with the neutral to contrast the locations, people and situations. Darker colours suggest wealth, power and health, whereas bland colours (such as beige, brown and white) connote the opposite, comparing the two boys’ lives and the destiny of each group in a wider war-time context.

The contrast of (diegetic) noise and pronounced silence is a fantastic addition to the structure of the film, creating a devastating yet stunning final image. Pronounced silence has become a widely used technique in films with important messages, often paired with stunning cinematography to allow spectators to digest the action. When constructed effectively, just as Herman has done here, it can leave its audience shaken to the core, the message embedded deep inside the mind. With such an incredible final sequence, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas has done exactly this. It will leave you speechless, and for once not wanting to know more.

The film’s persistence and focus upon character development builds up to this moment, each and every character given important personality details to provide a wider spread of identifiable individuals. This is further supported by some incredible acting, creating a seemingly accurate line of events that suggest a level of realness that few films successfully portray. Credit must go to Asa Butterfield (Bruno), Amber Beattie (Gretel) and Jack Scanlon (Shmuel) in particular, the child actors each exhibiting an incredible level of performance and empathy for such young talents. Each of their personalities are convincing and, despite holding some negative traits, invite empathy and a relatability to their view of the world. Vera Farmiga also provides a heart-breaking performance as Bruno’s mother, her slow deterioration of mental health and love for her husband delivered to perfection. The final sequence shows Farmiga and Beattie’s full potential as actresses, a heart-wrenching moment to watch as their emotions explode in a state of anger, fear and hurt. With the additional talents of the likes of David Thewlis, Rupert Friend and David Hayman each involved in prominent roles, the entire collection of performances within The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas has a hugely positive impact on the overall execution of the story, controlling the power of each and every moment, thus creating a deeper empathy and understanding regarding the topic at hand.

Overall,  The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is a true credit to Herman’s filmography as a screenwriter-director. Such a hard-hitting and emotional narrative, presented to the realistic and powerful extent that Herman has achieved, deserves endless recognition. Though many films are memorable, this is one of the few that can be said to have left a mark on millions of individuals, as evidenced through the instant recognition that is expressed whenever it is mentioned in conversation. Like a small handful of cinema’s most impactful moments, this film has you fully engaged as a constant, receiving an obvious physical reaction through its continuous suspense and ever more impactful narrative beats. With a powerful and scarring ending that will be ingrained into the memories of all who see it, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is a devastating piece of delicately handled and incredible cinema; a film that will likely become a deserved classic for future cinephiles.

Written by Bethen Blackabee

You can support Bethen in the following places:

Blog – Films at Focal Point Instagram – @bethen.film Twitter – @Bethen1999

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• DVD & Streaming

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

• Drama , War

Content Caution

In Theaters

• Asa Butterfield as Bruno; Jack Scanlon as Shmuel; Vera Farmiga as Elsa; David Thewlis as Ralf; Amber Beattie as Gretel; Rupert Friend as Lieutenant Kotler; Jim Norton as Herr Liszt; Richard Johnson as Grandpa; Sheila Hancock as Grandma; David Hayman as Pavel

Home Release Date

• Mark Herman

Distributor

• Miramax Films

Movie Review

Ah, little boys. They’re impish, curious, messy and daring. Most mothers of boys have at least a few gray hairs because of their sons’ escapades. Sometimes boys really can stop fidgeting at the table and squirming during church. Sometimes they can even resist the temptation to torment their sisters. Rarely, though, can they ignore the all-consuming urge to explore—and this thirst for excitement can get them into trouble.

Enter 8-year-old Bruno, an inventive young German who loves to read adventure books and investigate whatever is outside. When we meet him in the early 1940s, his father, Ralf, a high-ranking military officer, has just accepted an important position within the Nazi war effort. The family packs up their city home in Berlin and moves to a country house located near what Bruno thinks is a strange farm.

Naive Bruno doesn’t fully understand what’s happening in his new world, including why his 12-year-old sister, Gretel, suddenly spurns a treasured doll collection and decorates her bedroom with Nazi youth posters. He can’t comprehend why old Pavel, a “farmer” who works in the kitchen, gave up being a doctor so he could peel potatoes. Nor can he fathom why Pavel and all the other “farmers” wear striped pajamas.

Bruno especially struggles with his mother’s order to stay inside their very uninspiring, walled-in front yard. After all, he thinks the “farm” just beyond the woods out back must be full of fun, food, animals and potential playmates.

So, when his tedious tutor, Herr Liszt, and the lackluster life indoors become too much for him to tolerate, he begins to sneak off. He runs through the trees to the “farm,” where he meets Shmuel, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas who lives behind a huge electrified fence.

[ Note: The following sections contain plot spoilers. ]

Positive Elements

Bruno’s mother is reasonably patient with his disappointment when they move, but she isn’t silent, either. She tells Bruno that sitting around being miserable won’t make things any happier. In response, for a while he tries his best to be content.

Despite the adults around him who demean Jews, Bruno ultimately learns to see Shmuel and Pavel through the lens of his own positive, firsthand experience with them. While his friendship with Shmuel wouldn’t necessarily be called courageous (Bruno is bored and unaware, and Shmuel is the only friend available), it does reveal the beauty of innocence, which underscores the wickedness of the adults’ cruelty. And while Bruno is at first intimidated into siding with his father’s and the surrounding soldiers’ hateful opinions of his Jewish friends, he realizes that something is very wrong, and he questions his dad’s moral goodness.

One day Shmuel’s father goes missing at the “farm.” Bruno offers to help his friend search for him, saying, “It will be like an adventure!” Shmuel gets a pair of spare “pajamas” for Bruno so he won’t draw attention, and Bruno digs a (precise and impossibly large) trench under the fence. Until he comes face to face with the horror inside the wire, Bruno seems to just be having fun. But when he sees enough to become frightened, he gathers himself and makes a clear decision to face his fear in order to help his friend.

This act is redemptive, in a way, since Bruno turned his back on Shmuel a few days (weeks?) earlier. In that circumstance, he lied in such a way that Shmuel is thought to be a thief and is subsequently beaten by soldiers (offscreen).

Elsa’s ignorance about what’s going on in war-torn Germany is much less excusable than her son’s, and it seems she chooses to remain oblivious regarding what occurs at the “farm.” But when she finally realizes how grave the situation is—that her husband is in charge of mass exterminations—she begins to justly rail against him, demanding that he immediately quit. She’s also alarmed by Gretel’s growing vehemence against Jews.

While raising questions about where duty to one’s country ends and conscience and morality begin, the film winds these themes together to teach a powerful lesson about human equality. Prejudice is rightfully shown to be based on lies and hatred. And it’s reinforced that every one of us has a responsibility to choose rightness and truth, even when the tide of a society is utterly against us.

Spiritual Elements

Bruno says a bedtime prayer with his father, thanking God (in Jesus’ name) for His protection. It’s a sweet children’s rhyme that seems real to the boy, and its candid trust feels oddly situated against Nazi hatred. A preacher says another prayer at Ralf’s mother’s funeral service.

Sexual Content

Precocious Gretel holds twentysomething Lt. Kotler’s forearm in an adoring way and is embarrassed when Bruno publicly reminds her that she is only 12.

Violent Content

Oblivious to the real-life awfulness they’re mimicking, Bruno and his young friends in Berlin act like fighter planes and pretend to shoot machine guns. In a different play scene, Bruno runs through the woods flailing a stick and shouting, “Die! Die!” A little blood shows up when he falls out of a tire swing and skins his knee.

Nazis shove Jews onto wagons while dogs nip and bark. When inky black smoke rises from the furnace at the “farm,” Lt. Kotler quips, “They smell even worse when they burn, don’t they?” Later he and Ralf yell at Pavel, and Kotler beats the old man to death. We see the lieutenant grab Pavel’s head and hit him, and we hear yelling and more powerful blows after Kotler drags him into another room. The next morning, Maria scrubs the blood from the wood floor where Pavel lay.

Kotler also yells at Shmuel and Bruno. We don’t see the officer hurt Shmuel, but it’s clear that he does when the boy disappears for days and finally returns with a badly beaten face.

Ralf calmly announces his mother’s death. We’re told she died in a bombing, but circumstances could be viewed as suspicious because she’d stridently opposed the Nazi party line even when Ralf warned her not to. Similarly, Lt. Kotler talks himself into a corner one night by casually mentioning that his father emigrated to Switzerland before the war. Ralf reminds the lieutenant that he must report his father as a defector, and Kotler is disciplined for his oversight by being moved to the war’s front line.

And then we arrive at the final minutes of The Boy in the Striped Pajamas : Nazi soldiers herd men and boys into a gas chamber. We see their terrified expressions as they’re jammed against one other in the dim room. A soldier wearing a gas mask rains down poison through a rooftop opening. And prisoners howl until there is silence.

Crude or Profane Language

In making its righteous points about prejudice and racism, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas resists the temptation to brandish epithets, but does include anti-Semitic remarks. Ralf claims that Jews “aren’t really people at all.” Gretel calls them “evil, dangerous vermin.” Liszt teaches his pupils that Jews are a destructive enemy of culture that cost Germany the first world war. He also tells Bruno that if he finds a “nice Jew” he “would be the best explorer in all the world.”

Bruno calls his mother “stupid.”

Drug and Alcohol Content

The adults have champagne at a going-away party and later drink wine with dinner. Ralf smokes cigarettes, sometimes in front of his kids.

Other Negative Elements

Bruno and truthfulness share a strained relationship. He frequently lies to his mother about his whereabouts, disobeying her rules. He fibs about the contents of his book bag. And when he lies to Lt. Kotler, saying Shmuel stole food, his selfishness costs Shmuel dearly.

Elsa and Ralf argue loudly about his role in the war, causing Gretel and Bruno to huddle together for comfort. Elsa calls Ralf a monster whose own mother couldn’t love him.

Crowds of Jewish men and boys are forced to strip naked. Huddled together, and with the camera looking on mostly from above, only their upper torsos are seen.

Set against the horror of the Holocaust, Bruno’s naiveté and investigative spirit look that much more innocent. The boy’s inability to comprehend prejudice and killing, and his instinctive, uncomplicated ability to see Jews as real human beings starkly contrast Nazi cruelty, brightly illuminating the viciousness and irrationality of the bloodshed.

A significant plot twist—which is one spoiler I’ve tried very hard to keep out of this review—demonstrates with breathtaking force how the consequences of evil behavior eventually affect all those involved, perpetrators included.

Beyond this, Elsa’s role may serve as sobering testament against complacency. After she blindly follows Ralf to his new post, she struggles with her own attitude toward Jews but does nothing significant to help them, even as she begins to recognize their unjust fate. Her conformity should remind us of our own apathy in other situations, and it challenges us to question situations until we fully understand them, fight for what we believe in and stand up for those who cannot defend themselves.

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas , which is based on a book by John Boyne, also illustrates how powerful words and images are. Bruno, who likely represents thousands of his contemporaries, doesn’t always know what to make of his father’s job. That is, until a propaganda film he sees calls the death camp—the “farm”—a wonderful place with “hearty, nutritious meals,” and the camera shows seemingly happy Jews smiling and waving. After the film, Bruno proudly hugs his father.

It’s often said that if history is forgotten, it’s likely to be repeated. So perhaps the most profitable thing about the film is the fact that—without including any of the gore and explicit violence seen in similar films—it reminds us about our global history of brutality. We must recall and keep recalling the Holocaust and other atrocities like it. And never overlook the millions who have needlessly died at the hand of hatred and greed.

Heartbreaking and soul-rending, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is, then, one more piece of the puzzle that ultimately forms the picture of who we were, who we are and who we don’t want to become.

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Movie Review | 'The Boy in the Striped Pajamas'

Horror Through a Child’s Eyes

By Manohla Dargis

• Nov. 6, 2008

See Bruno (Asa Butterfield). See Bruno run. See Bruno see a farm. See Bruno see “farmers” in “striped pajamas.” See Shmuel (Jack Scanlon). See Shmuel at the farm. See Shmuel run because men are yelling. See Bruno run to his new house. Come home, Bruno, said Mother (Vera Farmiga), in a British accent. Come, Bruno, come. See Bruno and Shmuel meet across an unguarded barbed wire fence. See Bruno and Shmuel laugh, perhaps because there are no soldiers guarding this fence, even though, in John Boyne’s allegorical children’s novel on which this film is based, the farm is Auschwitz. See Bruno, whose blue eyes and dark hair tend to make him look like a Nazi moppet, eat the food he said he would give to Shmuel. See Shmuel look even sadder than usual. See Bruno learn that the farmers are Jews.

See Bruno ponder the kind of false paradoxes that only an authorial contrivance, like the artificial naïf, would face: Jews are supposed to be bad, and yet Shmuel is nice. See Bruno tunnel, with astonishing rapidity, into the camp. See the film’s director, Mark Herman, take his camera into a gas chamber where naked men and children huddle, and two little hands clasp before the film cuts to black. Do not see the blood and excrement on the walls or the dead piled on the floor. See Mother howling outside the camp in the rain as the camera hovers over her. See Father (David Thewlis), realizing that his son has been swept away by the Nazi death machine he himself helps run, look horror-stricken. See the Holocaust trivialized, glossed over, kitsched up, commercially exploited and hijacked for a tragedy about a Nazi family. Better yet and in all sincerity: don’t.

“The Boy in the Striped Pajamas” is rated PG-13 (Parents strongly cautioned) for some mild violence.

THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PAJAMAS

Opens on Friday in Manhattan.

Written and directed by Mark Herman, based on the novel by John Boyne; director of photography, Benoit Delhomme; edited by Michael Ellis; music by James Horner; production designer, Martin Childs; produced by David Heyman; released by Miramax Films. At the Cinema 1, 2, 3, Third Avenue at 60th Street, Manhattan. Running time: 1 hour 33 minutes.

WITH: Asa Butterfield (Bruno), Jack Scanlon (Shmuel), Amber Beattie (Gretel), David Thewlis (Father), Vera Farmiga (Mother), Richard Johnson (Grandpa), Sheila Hancock (Grandma), Rupert Friend (Lieutenant Kotler), David Hayman (Pavel), Jim Norton (Herr Liszt) and Cara Horgan (Maria).

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The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas

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Reviews in chronological order (Total 5 reviews)

Grainnefitz, crossing the fence.

19 September 2008 5:11PM

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from a childs' eyes

28 September 2008 9:24PM

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Events crush the innocent.

19 October 2008 9:28PM

21 November 2008 11:17AM

sadlercastle

18 April 2009 9:38PM

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The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas Review

12 Sep 2008

Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, The

Tackling the Holocaust takes a brave soul. To turn such tragedy into fiction, however noble your intention, is to lurk over the trapdoor daubed exploitation. Even Spielberg’s Oscar winning Schindler’s List had Shoah director Claude Lanzmann hiss about “kitsch melodrama”. Tackling the Holocaust through the eyes of a child reeks of madness. How do you sell death camps to the Hogwarts generation?

Yet Mark Herman’s adaptation of John Boyne's novella succeeds by granting the story the glint of fable. At eight years old, the prejudice curdling his teen sister is alien to Bruno (Butterfield). So hungry is Bruno for companionship, he sees only a friend in the boy in raggedy stripes sitting across the wire. Shmuel (Scanlon) is just hungry.

If Herman’s style falls prey to the bone-china stiltedness of Sunday TV, it is sticky with dread. His camera rarely escapes the commandant’s house, a modernist castle stiff with its own locks, bars, and a house-slave in lank ‘pyjamas’; perversely washed in a dappled summer light, as if on the edge of a strange dream. Only later do clouds gather.

Both Farmiga and Thewlis furnish their parental roles with real humanity. Thewlis, especially, makes sense of the contradiction in this caring father overseeing genocide. The child-actors look right - Butterfield has the angelic gaze of antique photographs - but their prep-school delivery feels stiff.

None of which prepares you for the ending. Mustering a dark, vicious power, Herman passes out of fairytale into the sickening coils of history. There is an image, of a gas-masked soldier pouring Zyklon B through a rainstorm, so disarming even Lanzmann will recoil.

REVIEW: “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas”

Obviously there have been several powerful films that have dealt directly with the Holocaust. “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas” is a unique look at this murderous and genocidal scar on world history. It’s based on John Boyne’s 2006 novel of the same name and looks at the subject through the eyes of an 8-year-old boy. It’s a tender but crushing tale of the loss of innocence as we watch this young boy discover the truth about the world around him. Some critics have said it exploits or trivializes the Holocaust with others going as far as to call it offensive. I found it to be a careful yet devastating drama that ultimately succeeds in the end.

Asa Butterfield, better known for his more recent starring role in “Hugo”, plays Bruno. His father Ralf (David Thewlis) is a Nazi SS officer who gets a new assignment requiring him to move with his family from Berlin to the countryside. Bruno’s mother Elsa (Vera Farmiga) supports her husband’s decision. But Bruno finds himself alone and missing his friends back in Berlin. His loneliness and boredom spurs his curiosity and he begins noticing several interesting things about his new location. One is a mysterious “farm” in the distance that he sees from his bedroom window but is forbidden to visit or ask about. He’s also intrigued by a house servant who he notices is wearing what looks like striped pajamas. Of course we know the servant is Jewish and a captive, but through young Bruno’s eyes things are more confusing.

One of the most engaging things about the movie is that writer and director Mark Herman is able to keep us inside of Bruno’s head even though we know exactly what’s going on outside of his knowledge. I found the film to be very effective at conveying the feeling of discovery as Bruno learns more. Perhaps his biggest lessons come not from his twice-a-week tutor who bombards him with all sorts of Nazi propaganda and revisionist history, but from a young Jewish boy. Bruno encounters the boy after sneaking away from his house and stumbling across the “farm”. Of course it’s actually a Nazi execution camp and the boy, named Shmuel (Jack Scanlon), sits on the other side of an electrified fence. The two quickly develop a friendship. It is Shmuel who begins to shed light on what this “farm” really is and causes Bruno to question both his father and his cause.

The movie never loses sight of the fact that Bruno is only 8-years-old. He struggles with what he’s seeing and his attempts to reconcile certain things with his desire to see his father as a good man is heartbreaking. Even when his mother finds out why they’ve moved to the country and furiously confronts Ralf, we still witness these things through Bruno’s child-like reasoning. But there is an emotional balance. While we spend most of our time with Bruno, we know of the atrocities that are taking place almost entirely off-screen. Yet these atrocities are relayed to us very well in often subtle ways.

The performances throughout the film are fantastic. Farmiga is one Hollywood’s better actresses and she shows that here. I also appreciated Thewlis’ portrayal of a man who often times puts his role of father in complete subjection to his duties as a Nazi soldier. But it’s young Butterfield who gets the vast majority of the screen time and he is quite good. He draws a lot of sympathy and emotion  and it’s always great to see a young actor able to pull that off. I also enjoyed his scenes with young Scanlon. While Butterfield is better in their scenes, they both handle the material nicely.

I can see where “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas” may put off some people. It’s hard to watch especially as everything comes to a head at the end of the film. In fact, it’s a movie I’m in no rush to see again. That isn’t due to any major shortcomings with the picture. It’s due to the film’s intense emotional punch that stuck with me for several days. I was incredibly moved and while there are some legitimate questions that could be asked about the story, the movie’s main point resonated with me. “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas” asks several powerful questions about war, family, and morality. It also gives us a glimpse into a part of our world’s history that is still hard to look at but should be reckoned with.

VERDICT – 4 STARS

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6 thoughts on “ review: “the boy in the striped pajamas” ”.

Great review, Keith! I never saw this film, but I’ve heard the title from time to time and always wondered what it was about. Sounds compelling. I’m definitely interested in seeing this film now. I would also be interested to see Butterfield in another role after seeing Hugo.

Thanks a lot! It’s certainly worth seeing. I had it on my watch list but have been putting it off. REALLY glad I made time for it.

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REALLY great movie! (The novel’s really good, too.)

I’ve heard the novel is good but I haven’t read it.

I read the novel as a kid. Real gut-punch. Saw the movie in the last year or so.

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It is several hours after I have attended a press screening for "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas," the opening night film for the 2008 Heartland Film Festival in Indianapolis, Indiana.

I cannot shake the images from my mind.

Based upon a novel by John Boyne that was primarily directed at children, "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" is the story of a most extraordinary friendship between two 8-year-old boys, Bruno (Asa Butterfield, "Son of Rambow") and Shmuel (Jack Scanlon).

Bruno, you see, is the son of a fierce, dutiful concentration camp commandant (David Thewlis, of the "Harry Potter" films) during the holocaust...Shmuel is a young boy that Bruno meets one day while exploring the forbidden areas behind the new family home that curiously overlooks a mysterious "farm" and people who appear to dress in pajamas.

I have long professed my love for British family films. British family films are far more intelligent, far less "busy" and they simply don't condescend to children or families.

Is it possible to make a family film about the holocaust? If "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" was an American film, it would undoubtedly become a sentimental, weepy film or would simply dissolve into a sea of manipulation. "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" avoids these manipulations of the story and, rather courageously, presents the story of this friendship with great realism and stark truth.

"The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" is a mesmerizing film that has left me pondering its images, its words and its actions long after I have left the theatre.

Seldom have I seen such truth and such innocence embraced by such harrowing imagery.

Given that Disney owns Miramax, some have expressed concern about the "Disneyification" of this story...rest assured, the studio's release of this film "as is" is a bold, courageous and I dare say not so market friendly gesture.

"The Boy in the Striped Pajamas," as directed by Mark Herman ("Little Voice"), avoids Hollywood stylings and glossings over. While the film does simplify the holocaust, much to the dismay of some historians, it does so solely by seeing the holocaust through the eyes of 8-year-olds who seem almost impossibly naive.

We are introduced to young Bruno as he and his young friends are mock "flying" around the sidewalks of Berlin. It becomes obviously right away that something is amiss...while the young boys innocently play, Jews in the background are being carted away. Bruno is oblivious to the world around him, protected as he is by being the son of a rising German soldier. Even when the family relocates to the countryside estate that overlooks the concentration camp, Bruno remains ignorant to the true devastation that surrounds him. His innocent inquiries about the farmers, the pajamas, the heavily smoking chimneys, the horrid smells and the unusual stories of those who surround him are typically met with minimal, if any, explanation.

When he meets Shmuel, who is sitting alone on the other side of a barbed wire fence, he believes the young boy to be playing some kind of game in his pajamas with a number on them.

I am heartbroken, even now, simply remembering the words exchanged between the two boys.

"The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" is undoubtedly not a film that every child should view, and I would strongly recommend that children view it in the company of a parent or adult who can help process the often intense words and imagery contained within this PG-13 rated film. Some might say this film is far TOO heavy for children...I disagree. Children who have been able to view the cartoon violence of "The Dark Knight" or "Iron Man" would do well to see the real impact of hatred, violence and prejudice contained within this film.

Is it devastating? Absolutely. It is also the truth.

As the two young boys, Asa Butterfield and Jack Scanlon are stellar in their ability to evoke complete and utter innocence despite the world that surrounds them. As the film winds down, this blend of innocence with stark reality is astounding to watch unfold. Blind to a full understanding of what surrounds them, the two children enter their friendship seemingly unaware of what it all means and where it's all headed.

Nearly as harrowing as watching the friendship of these two young boys unfold is observing Bruno and his family as it becomes more and more obvious the full spectrum of what is going on around them.

While Herman wisely avoids the "Disneyification" of this film, so too he avoids painting anyone with broad strokes of evil or good. As Bruno's father, David Thewlis is astounding as a man who does, it seems, truly love his family and yet is completely blinded by duty and nationalism. Initially, his wife (Vera Farmiga, "The Departed") is fiercely loyal and speaks disparaging of the Jews...yet, over time, the entire plot unfolds and she begans to see an evil within her husband she never new existed. Farmiga's transformation from dutiful wife to destroyed mother and spouse, especially towards the end, is devastating. Finally, Amber Beattie is spot-on perfect as Bruno's older sister, a young girl who is both easily influenced towards supporting Hitler while remaining tenderly protective of her brother.

The supporting cast shines, as well, including Rupert Friend as an up-and-coming lieutenant with a secret of his own, Cara Horgan as a house maid/caregiver, and David Hayman's portrayal of an older, ill-fated Jew.

James Horner's original score is exemplary, and the production design of Martin Childs perfectly blends elements of innocence within the stark surroundings.

After receiving its North American premiere as the opening night film of Indianapolis's Heartland Film Festival, "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" is scheduled for a limited nationwide release on November 7, 2008.

By no means an easy film to view, "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" may very well be 2008's most important family film. Simply, yet with integrity, Mark Herman has created what is easily one of 2008's best family films and a film that will evoke a wide array of thoughts, emotions and conversations from audience members of all ages.

by Richard Propes The Independent Critic Copyright 2008

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The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

By Peter Travers

Peter Travers

You may not buy into actors playing Nazis with hightoned Brit accents, but the power of this Holocaust tale sneaks up and floors you. Writer-director Mark Herman has adapted John Boyne’s novel with admirable restraint. Eight-year-old Bruno (Asa Butterfield) isn’t pleased when he and older sister Gretel (Amber Beattie) are forced to leave their friends in Berlin and settle in a remote area where Bruno’s commandant father (David Thewlis) has been stationed. The kids and their mother (Vera Farmiga) believe the fence they see outside their window encloses a farm, not a concentration camp. Bruno even ventures out of bounds and meets Shmuel (Jack Scanlon), the boy in striped pajamas behind the fence. They develop a dangerous, covert friendship with devastating results. Delicate allegorical business is being transacted here – a realization of evil seen from a child’s point of view. The premise doesn’t excuse lapses in logic (the boys would have been spotted instantly), but the power of the story and the performances – young Butterfi eld amazes – is indisputable.

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THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PAJAMAS

What You Need To Know:

(BB, C, L, V, S, N, A, D, M) Strong moral worldview in a pronounced morality story, with the message that evil destroys itself, where Nazi concentration camp commandant loses his son to the evil system he helped establish with some Christian prayers and a funeral but they are made by or focus on the NAZI villains; one light profanity and comments saying “dirty Jew” and other anti-Semitic slurs; off-screen violence with intense sounds of beating a Jewish servant and showing the impact of a beaten Jewish boy, skinned knee, and a gas chamber scene with cyanide pellets being dropped on naked men and boys, then sounds of people trying to get out of the gas chamber; no sexual behavior, although a few light references; upper male nudity from the back; alcohol use; smoking; and, lying, deception, propaganda movie about concentration camps, and betrayal.

More Detail:

THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PAJAMAS opens with 8-year-old Bruno playing with his friends on the streets of Berlin while National Socialist Swastika flags wave in the breeze. When he gets home, his father, a Nazi officer, says he has just been promoted. He tells Bruno and his sister, Gretel, that they will be leaving their beautiful home in Berlin.

Bruno does not want to leave his friends. His mother throws a big going away party. The next day, they travel to a lonely mansion in the middle of nowhere. Through his window, Bruno can see a farm nearby where all the residents are wearing striped pajamas. His father is the commandant of the concentration camp, but all the commandants are sworn to secrecy not to tell anybody what they do.

Bruno is very bored. Being an explorer at heart, he eventually sneaks over to the concentration camp, where he talks through the electrified barbed wire to a Jewish boy named Shmuel. Bruno and Shmuel become fast friends. Bruno steals food from his own kitchen to give to Shmuel.

Bruno’s sister, by the way, takes an interest in a handsome young lieutenant, who is a hyper anti-Semitic National Socialist. An old Jewish man who works in the kitchen takes care of Bruno when he falls and skins his knee. He turns out to be a doctor. The lieutenant beats the man to a pulp when he makes a mistake serving the family at dinner.

Bruno’s mother becomes increasingly depressed, and the lieutenant lets slip that the burning smoke stacks smell bad because they smell worse when they are burned than when they are alive. Their father and the tutor try to teach Bruno and Gretel how vile and evil Jews are, but Bruno cannot believe it because of his best friend Shmuel.

Eventually, the mother becomes so depressed and the family becomes so strained by their proximity to the extermination camp, that the father decides to send them away. Feeling guilty that he’s already betrayed his friend Shmuel once when he let Shmuel take a beating for a cupcake Bruno gave him, Bruno decides to dig his way into the extermination camp to help Shmuel find his father. In the camp, the mechanical clockwork of the business of extermination sweeps Bruno along toward the inevitability of the gas chamber.

THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PAJAMAS is based on a best-selling children’s book. In the press notes, David Heyman, the producer behind the Harry Potter franchise and Mark Herman, the screenwriter, both discuss how difficult it was to make the book into a movie. The book is intended to help children remember the Holocaust. It is a morality story proving the biblical principle that the wages of sin are death.

However the story works as a book, its transformation into a movie produces a disappointing, depressing, hopeless, one-note film. Although the acting and production quality are good, the story seems slow at points because, as they say, it is on the nose or too obvious, too preachy and too clear about the points it is trying to make. It leaves no room for imagination. From the beginning, the story is weighed down by an impending sense of doom.

Books are hard to turn into movies. THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PAJAMSAS has a good message and a good heart and may get an A for effort. But, it’s hard to imagine people will want to go to a movie to be slowly depressed.

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The Boy in the Striped Pajamas Book vs Movie Review

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne (2006)

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas directed by Mark Herman (2008)

This was requested by Nikol Kola, so thank you for suggesting it because I would not have thought to cover it otherwise!

This story is about Bruno, a young German boy whose Nazi father is put in charge of a concentration camp. They move into the house near the camp; however Bruno is naïve and doesn’t realize the truth of the situation.

This movie stays pretty close to the book, but even so there were some changes that caused me to have different feelings towards the two of them.

I am going to get right into the plot, which means there will be spoilers going forward!

Bruno and family

In the book I liked Bruno right from the start. I found him enduring, sweet, smart, while also being very innocent and naïve. To me, he read like a believable boy. We also hear how adventurous he is and that he likes “exploring”. I thought Boyne did a great job at including different details about him and the tone the book is written in gave Bruno a distinct personality and I felt connected to him.

The book begins with him being told he and his family is moving, then while in his home near Auschwitz, we get flashbacks where we hear about his father’s promotion. We also learn that Bruno’s grandmother, his father’s mother, disapproved of Bruno’s dad being a Nazi.

We see all of this in the movie as well, but the movie is told chronologically.

In both the grandmother ended up dying part way through. In the movie they say she died when the city was bombed. In the book we are told she got sick. In both, Hitler has sent some kind of garland and the wife comments that the grandmother would roll in her grave if she knew something from Hitler was at her funeral.

In both he meets a man named Pavel who cuts their vegetable before dinner, and also helps serves the food. One day Bruno hurts his knee, and Pavel comes running out and helps him. Through talking with Pavel, he learns that he was once a doctor. Bruno doesn’t understand that Pavel is one of the prisoners from the camp who is brought over to help serve them. He thinks he chose to give up being a doctor, not realizing the truth.

In the movie, when the mother finds out he helped Bruno, she thanks Pavel. In the book, she doesn’t thank him, but tells one of the other servants that if anyone asks, they can say she helped Bruno. Bruno thinks she is saying this so she can get the credit, but really, she says it because the father would be upset is he knew a Jewish person had tended to his sons leg.

In a later scene, Pavel is serving dinner, but he is slow ans this upsets the father. They have another soldier, Lt. Kotler with them that evening, and he beats Pavel up which is very upsetting for Bruno to see.

 Speaking of Lt. Kotler, he is a 19-year-old who is stationed at this camp. In both he is a jerk to Bruno. While at that dinner, one of the reasons he strikes out at Pavel is because he brings up his father and paints himself in a corner when he mentions that his father left the country in 1938. He is on the spot due to having a father who apparently didn’t like Hitler and the Nazi movement.

In the movie, he is removed from his station due to hiding this information about his father.

In the book, Bruno’s mother was having an affair with Kotler. The father finds out, and this is why he is removed.

Bruno’s mother

Speaking of the mother, in the movie she was not having an affair and in general she was made to be more likeable in the movie. As said, she hesitantly thanks Pavel, and when she sees her daughter with all of her Nazi posters and stuff on the wall we see she is bothered by it. This didn’t really make sense to me though. The dad is a big deal in the Nazi military, they are here so he can run these camps, like why would you be surprised or bothered that your daughter is super in to the Nazi party??

But as time goes on she learns about the crematoriums and is aghast that they are doing that. She goes into a depression and as time goes by, she gets the husband to agree to have her and the children live elsewhere. I did read that it is rumored that the real wife of the Aushwitz leader-she learned about the crematoriams and after this wouldn’t sleep in the same room with her husband and later moved away. But then other articles say the opposite, that she was aware and was proud of her husband’s accomplishments. But this is a work of fiction at the end of the day so despite the historical aspect, we can’t look at this book or movie to get a reliable idea on the wife.

In the book the mom wants to move away after awhile but it isn’t because she has issues with what is being done. She just misses life and her friends back home.

In both, Bruno is exploring the area and he comes to the electric, barbed wire fence. He sees a boy on the other side, wearing the striped pajamas he has noticed the people over there wearing. We find out his name is Schmuel, and throughout Bruno’s time there, he returns to this spot on a regular basis and he and Schmuel talk and become friends.

Bruno still doesn’t get exactly why Schmuel is over there but assumes it must be fairly nice. There is a part in the book when he slips and mentions Schmuel to his sister. He doesn’t want her knowing, so then he lies and says it is the name of his imaginary friend. She asks him what this imaginary friend tells him about and he says, “‘…yesterday he told me that his grandfather hasn’t been seen for days and no one knows where he is and whenever he asks his father about him he starts crying and hugs him so hard that he’s worried he’s going to squeeze him to death.’ Bruno got to the end of his sentence and realized that his voice had gone very quiet. These were things that Shmuel had told him, but for some reason he hadn’t really understood at the time how sad that must have made his friend. When Bruno said them out loud himself, he felt terrible that he hadn’t tried to say anything to cheer Shmuel up and instead had started talking about something silly, like exploring. I’ll say sorry for that tomorrow, he told himself.”

This moment wasn’t in the movie, but I wish it had been. It shows us how self-centered Bruno can be and that is one of the reasons he is oblivious at times to what is going on with Schmuel.

Though I guess maybe the movie doesn’t have this scene, is because in the movie Bruno isn’t quite as oblivious. He is taught about how the Nazi’s think every Jewish person is terrible and in general how they are out to ruin Germany. He then sees Schmuel the next day and says something about how they are supposed to be enemy’s, which was a littlev cheessy. He also sees his dad watching a propaganda video about the concentration camps and they are made out to be nice. Bruno sees this and assumes that it must not be bad for Bruno.

With that in mind, I would say movie Bruno wasn’t quite as naïve as book Bruno, but rather he wanted to believe that the Nazi’s were telling the truth and that his father wouldn’t allow for the place to be bad.

Shmuel in the kitchen

As we learned with Pavel, they will get people from the camp to help in the house. One day, Bruno sees Schmuel in the kitchen cleaning glassware. In the book, he encourages Schmuel to eat something, but he keeps saying he shouldn’t and that Kotler (who was still around at this point and who had beaten up Pavel just recently) will know. Bruno convinces him though and he eats something. Kotler then comes in and gets mad that he is talking to Bruno and threateningly asks if he has been sneaking into the food. Schmuel says that Bruno gave him the food and that Bruno is his friend. Kotler turns to Bruno, and Bruno is scared and denies knowing Schmuel but says nothing of the food. He goes to his room and is racked with guilt for not standing up for Schmuel.

In the movie, it doesn’t take much convincing to get Schmuel to eat and Kotler walks in while he is eating. When Schmuel says it was Bruno, Bruno lies even worse here and says Schmuel stole the food. He feels horrible when he is back up in his room.

In both, he later sees Schmuel and he has been beaten up. Bruno sincerely apologizes though and Schmuel accepts his apology.

In the book, Bruno gets lice and they shave his head.

Then, he later finds out that he will be leaving soon with his mom and sister. In both, he tells Schmuel this. Schmuel’s dad has recently gone missing, and Bruno says that if he could get to Schmuel’s side, he could help him find him. Schmuel says how Bruno himself said he looked like Schmuel now due to his shaved head and proposes that the next day, he can bring Bruno some “stiped pajamas” and Bruno can change, get under the fence, and help Schmuel find his dad in the camp. This is the same in the movie, however in the movie he doesn’t get lice and so he has all of his hair. They wear caps though, so they say he can hide his hair under the hat.

The next day Bruno changes, leaving his regular clothes outside the fence. They then walk through the camp and Bruno quickly sees what a sad, terrible place it is and wants to go home. He had promised Schmuel he would help look for his dad though so he stays. In the book they look for 90 minutes before they are told to go on a march. In the movie, the march happens right away.

They are marched in a group into one of the crematoriums, although they do not realize that is what it is. Book and movie end with both of them dying along with the other men that were brought in with them.

In the movie, the parents see what is happening and the scenes are intercut, to make the audience wonder if they will save Bruno in time.

In the book, they don’t realize what happened to Bruno until months later, when the dad finds his clothes outside of the fence.

Book vs Movie

Making fictional books or movies about the Holocaust can be tricky. Since it was such a horrific thing, it is a topic that is basically guaranteed to get a reaction from the reader/watcher. Due to this, it is important that the story is respectful and isn’t coming across as exploiting something so beyond terrible, just in an effort to force an emotion from your audience.

I think the book did a good job at telling this story in a respectful way. As said, I found Bruno a very compelling character and I loved his friendship with Schmuel. The conversations we hear were so sweet but of course, the story has a very dark shadow over it due to the subject matter.

I didn’t feel the friendship quite as strong in the movie, but I know it is tough to find great child actors. I didn’t like the change in the end, having it be a suspenseful moment as the family is looking for Bruno, they see the clothes, and then the dad realizes what has happened. We also had a bit of foreshadowing in the book with talk of the smell from what is burning and as said, when the wife finds out what is happening, it pushes her over the edge. But I also didn’t like the changes made with the wife. It seemed too simple minded in a way to think that the wife of a high ranking Nazi would act in the way she did here. I preferred the more detached mother in the book who was busy with her affair with Kotler.

And I felt this way even before seeing The Zone of Interest, but now that I have seen that, while it is chilling and terrible, I think Hedwig is a more fitting portrayal of the wife of a Nazi leader running a death camp. It’s interesting, because in the book they are at Aushwitz and Boyne based the mother and father loosely on the real life couple as seen in TZOI. By the way, the story here is like a combination of the movies The Zone of Interest and Jojo Rabbit , but this movie isn’t nearly as good as those two.

The music in the end scene of TBITSP was also too over the top for my taste. In the book, it didn’t feel over the top, but very simple and as the end is coming, you know where things are leading and it was very effective and heartbreaking and terrible while not feeling like it was squeezing the drama.

While I didn’t hate the movie, I definitely was disappointed and will have to say between book and movie, the book wins.

Book complaints

A number of reviewers also said it was unbelievable that Bruno wouldn’t realize the truth of the camps. When he first arrives, he thinks it is a farm and believes this for quite some time. In the moment, it seemed beleivable to me that Bruno wouldn’t know any better. In this version, the camp is also quite a ways away so it’s not like he is hearing the yelling/screaming/gunshots.

Yet another thing I read is that this book isn’t historically accurate. This too wasn’t something that bothered me because while this is historical fiction, it isn’t a history book and he isn’t retelling real stories. Yes, he uses the name of a real camp, but even so, this is clearly a work of fiction and its intent isn’t to give us a 100% accurate story. Its intent is to create a story that shows the horrors of what happened but does so through the lense of innocence with a young boy who doesn’t realize how truly terrible the things are.

Then there is the complaint that the author is overly simplistic and makes these trite observations like when Bruno is in the camp uniform, saying how they were so much alike. Meaning, the Jewish people were looked at as inhuman, but really, they are all alike. And yeah, when you read that section on its own, it is pretty basic. But when I read the book as a whole, those lines work. This also reads as a YA novel, so the potentially overly simplistic and cliche lines also work better here. If this was a novel aimed to adults, I probably would have had more of an issue.

raning best picture noms, zone of interest

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The Boy in The Striped Pajamas: Movie Review and Critique

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Published: Aug 6, 2021

Words: 2043 | Pages: 4 | 11 min read

Table of contents

The boy in the striped pajamas: summary and analysis, the boy in the striped pajamas: movie review (essay), works cited.

• Boyne, J. (2006). The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. Random House.
• Crowe, D. (2008). The Holocaust in the eyes of children. The English Journal, 97(4), 25-31.
• Edelman, L. (1995). The Ghetto Fights. Holocaust Library.
• Finkelstein, N. G. (2003). The Holocaust Industry: Reflections on the Exploitation of Jewish Suffering. Verso Books.
• Gilroy, A. (2011). Ethnic and racial studies. Between camps: Race and culture in postmodernity, 34(3), 458-469.
• Gleeson-White, J. (2011). Double vision: The Holocaust and representation. Australian Humanities Review, (50), 89-102.
• Roth, J. K. (2006). Teaching about the Holocaust: essays by college and university teachers. University Press of America.
• Snyder, T. (2015). Black Earth: The Holocaust as History and Warning. Crown/Archetype.
• Wistrich, R. S. (2003). Holocaust and genocide studies. The long road back: Jewish intellectual refugees in post-war Europe, 17(2), 180-199.
• Zuckerman, M. (1999). A dream undone: The integration of soldiers in World War II. University of California Press.

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The Boy in the Striped Pajamas 2008 Movie Guide: Questions + Activities Puzzles + Answers

Subject: History

Age range: 7-11

Resource type: Worksheet/Activity

Last updated

7 April 2024

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The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is a poignant and thought-provoking film set during World War II. It tells the story of Bruno, a young German boy whose family moves near a concentration camp. Unaware of the camp’s grim reality, Bruno befriends a Jewish boy on the other side of the fence, leading to powerful and heart-wrenching consequences as he confronts the brutal truths of war and prejudice.

• 30 Questions requiring full-sentence answers.
• 30 Multiple choice question.
• Word search puzzle.
• Crossword puzzle with 18 clues from the movie
• Students draw their favorite character from the movie, with four questions for that choice.
• Three coloring pages.
• Movie review with 5 stars.

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