The boy in striped pajamas (film)

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (in English and original version: The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas , or The Boy in the Striped Pajamas in the United States ) is a dramatic film directed by Mark Herman and whose argument is based on the novel By John Boyne . ² The film shows quite a few changes, such as the end of it, which recreates the Holocaust , during World War II . Production British - American , was presented at the 56th edition of Film Festival San Sebastián the 19 of September of 2008 . ³

Argument

Bruno ( Asa Butterfield ), an 8-year-old German boy who lived during the Nazi regime in World War II in 1942, is the son of a strict commander who has just been assigned to his new post in a concentration camp. Bruno, who lives together with his older sister Gretel in a well-to-do neighborhood of Berlin, is suddenly forced to move, moving to an isolated place called “Auschwitz.” Bruno is desperate to find no friends with whom to play in his new house, smaller and with less land to explore. From his window you can see a group of houses behind a fence and many people dressed in striped pajamas. All those who are there are Jews confined in the Auschwitz concentration camp. Bruno, in his innocence, assumes that they are farmers.

In one of his explorations around the house, always hidden from his family, he finds a child on the other side of the fence, eight years old, like him. The boy’s name is Shmuel. Bruno and Shmuel become friends and begin to see each other regularly, Bruno occasionally brings him food and Shmuel tells Bruno how his life is on the other side of the fence, how he was before and his family. When Shmuel is taken to Bruno’s house to clean a lot of glass glasses, he is accused of stealing food when it was actually offered by his friend. Bruno apologizes to Shmuel days later; Since Shmuel had not come to the meeting after the fence in days, Bruno thought that he had lost the friendship of his new friend. That way they will continue, sneaking around.

Bruno’s parents decide one day that this is not a suitable place for the growth of their children, a decision that precipitates Bruno’s mother to know the true mission of her husband in the concentration camp, as she discovers that in the field Are murdering the Jews when it smells smoke coming out of a crematorium of the same camp. Mother and children would leave Auschwitz in a couple of days. Bruno gives the news of his transfer to Shmuel, just the day Shmuel is sad because he can not find his father. Bruno decides to help him, since it would be the last adventure before leaving of Auschwitz, and to be freed of the shame of having betrayed his friend in front of Lieutenant Kotler. They decide that the next day, the last of Bruno’s stay at Auschwitz, Bruno would pass to the other side of the fence, and disguised in prison clothes that Shmuel could easily find Shmuel’s father. The next day Bruno disguises himself in his striped pajamas and crosses the fence: Bruno and Shmuel are finally together. As they search for Shmuel’s father among the barracks, it begins to rain. The soldiers form a group of prisoners, including Bruno and Shmuel. The group is taken to a gas chamber , where Bruno and Shmuel die together without suspecting that the place was not a haven for rain, as Bruno had thought.

Bruno’s parents are aware of the child’s absence and are desperately searching for him around the house. They find Bruno’s clothes in front of a hole under the barbed wire, but it’s too late. Finally everyone realizes what has happened, and they also realize that they could not do anything else.

Cast

• Asa Butterfield as Bruno .
• Jack Scanlon as Shmuel .
• David Thewlis as Ralph / Father .
• Vera Farmiga as Elsa / Mother .
• Sheila Hancock as Nathalie / Abuela .
• Richard Johnson as Grandfather .
• Rupert Friend as Tte. Kotler .
• Amber Beattie as Gretel .
• Horgan guy like Maria .
• David Hayman as Pavel .
• Jim Norton as Herr Liszt .

References