davidmfishman's Review

Summary - Perfect 5.0

A jarring, moving film showing how Germans handled the final solution from the inside, centered around the improbable tale of the camp-commandant’s 8 year son who befriends a Jewish concentration camp inmate of the same age. Realistic, contextual portrayals of ardent nazis (with British accents, of course), their corporate politics within the military. The violent contrast between 8-year-old Bruno’s view of the war and his father’s job, his mother’s reaction to the source of the smell that wafts into their chateau on the other side of the woods, are all realistically portrayed. The film bears its irony gently and respectfully. The power of the film is in its careful, incremental construction of Bruno’s world, and the incremental pace of events in the world around him, leading to a conclusion of overwhelming tragedy and power — befitting its awesome, awful subject.

Acting - Perfect 5.0

Film - Perfect 5.0

Edge - Risqué 2.3

Reality - Supernatural 3.7

1 Comment

• davidmfishman Feb 22, 2009 7:21PM

  Regarding Wick’s Review
  There’s a satirical purpose — and by satire I mean not humor, but use of inversion to upend social norms or to level a critique — in the absurd use of the children as a vehicle. While there is ample distortion in the construction of the drama, the core message of parallel humanity and its terrible toll, the humanity that plays a role in the innocent and the evil, overcomes any limitations of the plot devices.

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