Average Rating: 6.2/10
Reviews Counted: 134
Fresh: 85 | Rotten: 49
A touching and haunting family film that deals with the Holocaust in an arresting and unusual manner, and packs a brutal final punch of a twist.
Average Rating: 6.4/10
Critic Reviews: 29
Fresh: 19 | Rotten: 10
A touching and haunting family film that deals with the Holocaust in an arresting and unusual manner, and packs a brutal final punch of a twist.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.9/5
User Ratings: 104,734
Vera Farmiga, David Thewlis, and Asa Butterfield star in Little Voice writer/director Mark Herman's adaptation of John Boyne's novel concerning the forbidden friendship that between an eight-year-old German boy and a Jewish concentration camp prisoner in World War II-era Germany. The innocent son of a high-ranking Nazi commandant, Bruno has been largely shielded from the harsh realities of the war. When Bruno discovers that his father has been promoted and that their family will be moving from
Nov 7, 2008 Wide
Mar 10, 2009
$9.0M
Miramax
All Critics (134) | Top Critics (29) | Fresh (92) | Rotten (50) | DVD (9)
The result isn't a deep film, but rather a profound one.
Young Scanlon and Butterfield are scathingly effective, never overplaying their roles.
In truth, the film is sure to stop the hearts of many who see it. There may indeed be hope in hell, but better to avoid hell altogether.
Because its gaze is so level and so unyielding, it stands as one of the better dramatic films made on this subject (although it's not nearly as fine as Louis Malle's Au Revoir les Enfants, in which the camps remain a distant abstraction).
Although it's told from the perspective of a child, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is as shattering as any film about the Holocaust could be, perhaps more so.
I think that's what makes it so powerful, is because it is so small.
A film dealing with the Holocaust really should be a little less clumsily executed, manipulative and contrived than this.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The performances never falter, and even James Horner's heavy-handed score can't dim the film's unfathomable, unshakable ending.
The story is passable, albeit a little too manufactured for my taste in terms of its moral lessons, but the execution is so stilted and unconvincing that the experience is uncomfortable
The power of this story and the way director Mark Herman tells it through the innocent eyes of an eight year old boy overcome all the hurdles with its child-like simplicity that clutches our hearts
The novel was written for young adults and the film feels like it pulls its punches. The final horrifying revelation is still a long way from the painful realities of those days.
Extras on the disc include a full-length audio commentary by writer/ director Mark Herman and novelist John Boyne.
When the time comes for resolution, writer/ director Mark Herman suddenly delivers the unexpected; he does not sell out.
Why do the all the Nazis here have British accents? How confusing is that? An unintentionally-comical cross of Hogan's Heroes and Springtime for Hitler!
Why do the all the Nazis here have British accents? How confusing is that? An unintentionally-comical cross of Hogan's Heroes and Springtime for Hitler!
The picture is blatantly obvious, pandering, and rather insulting.
An opening quote that characterizes childhood as being a carefree period before 'the dark hour of reason grows' serves as ironic counterpoint for a well-crafted World War II drama through which prejudice, dehumanization and corrupted innocence are all ass
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas would have been a masterpiece in another dimension. If the holocaust had never happened, and this was a movie about a fictional event, the excellence of the script, acting and cinematography would have made this a true classic. However, despite the noble intentions and talents of all
December 8, 2011Super Reviewer
Surprising and audacious film, from John Boyne's book of the same name, that does the Holocaust differently, telling about a particular (German) family making its name on the backs of the death camp's prisoners. Beautiful cinematography, great James Horner score and capable acting in a story that's a touch twee, but
December 2, 2008Super Reviewer
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