My wife and i recently saw a film on DVD -- "Boy in the Striped Pajamas". It's a (presumably) fictional take on the Holocaust, seen through the eyes of the 8 year old son of the Auschwitz death camp director in 1942, and his friendship with the title character, an 8 year old Jewish boy who lives on the other side of the fence.It's a very well done The two children, especially, are amazing.
Asa Butterfield portrays Bruno, the lead character. Physically, he looked to me like Hitler would have as a child. But his character is in fact a true human being, and while not at all perfect, definitely a protagonist.
Jack Scanlon, who portrays Shmuel, is so amazingly sad (as one would expect in real life), yet still has childlike hope.
Its a must-see movie.
While i loved Slumdog Millionaire & was glad to see it win so many awards, i am surprised this wasn't nominated for as many Oscars. Jack Scanlon, hands down, should've won Best Supporting actor.
Please note -- this movie is based on a book by author John Boyne. While in some ways different from the book, both the author & many readers were very pleased by the result.
The official site of the movie is here.
Just a rough thought here...but if you were to show movies about the Holocaust to students, I would do it in this order:
- Boy in the Striped Pajamas - great "entry level" Holocaust film, which shows some of the horror, but enough for a child (i.e. grade school) to take in. Certainly lots of issues for people of all ages to discuss, however.
- Life Is Beautiful - For middle schoolers...lots of humor, but again, getting into issues to discuss
- Schindler's List - For high schoolers and above...some intense stuff, that certainly requires discussion. A great film...
This blog entry should probably sound deeper & more thoughtful than it is...i encourage you to check out this movie (we just saw it at our local RedBox DVD rental)...but you should actually buy it, especially if you're a teacher, or in some way work with youth.
