The Boy In The Striped Pajamas (2008) - 8/10

The Boy in The Striped Pajamas is a very interesting and emotional movie that explores the subject of the Holocaust through the eyes of a child which I found very effective in it's universal themes. This movie is set in 1940 Berlin where a Nazi family moves in next to a concentration camp and the young son Bruno wonders why the farmers next door look "weird". With James Horner's excellent score, I got caught up right away into the story as we see how each little fact that presents itself to Bruno is absorbed yet he never understands what's going on. Believing himself an explorer, he befriends a young boy through the fence named Shmuel who he slowly realizes is not in pajamas but caged like an animal and made to work. This movie is very sad but challenging as it made me see the costumes and how people during this time had different levels of understanding of what was going on and the research it took to find out what it would be like to be a family in the camp. From the great tracking shots to close ups of Bruno when he sees these atrocities happen to these people, you can't help but be absorbed into his imagination and feel sorry for his place in this horrible Nazi family. The ending is heart-wrenching but I think this is what makes this film so poweful where the hardship is turned around on them to make the family reflect the experience and horror this event caused. I found The Boy in The Striped Pajams very unique and appreciated that it took it's time to balance the relationship b/w the two boys which ultimately changes things forever.