[leezuki]

Originally Posted by Bizarre

I watched "The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas" on BBC2 last night.

I liked the film generally but I think some characters were unsure of their actual motivations. I think that the mother character didn't really work. She didn't seem to hold any Nazi values at all despite being the wife of the commandant of what it presumably Auschwitz. That she didn't know of or approve of the extermination was fine, and realistic. That she didn't seem to have any negative feelings towards the Jews seemed to be at odds with what her character should have been. She seemed upset at the labour camp enough before realizing that it was an extermination camp. This would have worked had it been a regular German family, because of course not everyone was fanatically devoted to the regime. She seemed a bit too unsure and clueless for the wife of a commandant and SS man, though.

The kids were good and the ending, whilst shocking, was very good and very tastefully done.

I think the highlighting of the hypocrisy of the Nazi state was brilliant. The idea of one soldier being sent to the front line for disloyalty for not denouncing his father by the commandant with a disloyal wife - and her calling him out for just that - was very good and a very real part of that culture.

Overall, a very good film. I'm just not that keen of kids, they kind of piss me off with their innocence. But hey, maybe I'm just bitter because the cold light of reason hit me pretty early on...a reference to the quote (that I forget exactly) at the beginning of the movie.

still not watched that yet, i brought the book 3 years ago not read it yet.i wanted to watch the movie but thought i should read the book first