Film Reviews & Movie Analysis

I’m about three months and an awards season late, but what matters is that I got here!

The Synopsis
Ten year old Jojo Betzler (Roman Griffin Davis) is both excited and a little nervous to finally be attending Hitler Youth Camp. His nerves are quickly abated by a pep talk from his best friend Hitler (Taika Waititi)… who is also imaginary. Soon he is on his way to learning all about Jew’s and their supernatural abilities, being given a knife should he spot the enemy, and learning how to throw grenades.

Sadly an accident leaves Jojo both scarred and unable to continue his training, instead he is forced to miss school and spend time at home where he discovers a door in the wall, and a girl hiding inside.

Elsa (Tomasin McKenzie) is nothing Jojo imagined the enemy to be (no horns etc) and as much as he wishes to turn her in to Hitler himself, he doesn’t want to get his mother Rosie (Scarlett Johansson) in trouble, and so a mutual understanding is reached.

The Good
I happened to be in a screening with only five other people, so it’s hard to say if they lacked a sense of humour or I just found this movie incredibly funny. Because I did, I laughed a lot whilst watching Jojo Rabbit, which oftentimes linked me to the childlike buoyancy of the main character.

Which leads on to another major plus side of this movie for me – the perspective. It’s war, or more so the idea of war told from the perspective of a ten year old German kid, whose idol is Adolf Hitler himself. Where it would be easy to villianize Jojo and the other children, painting them as the enemy, another viewpoint is taken into consideration. They are painted as they are; Children, who know not what they do.

The nuance in the relationship between Elsa and Jojo, was striking to watch. As Jojo sat and talked with such surety about what a bad person Elsa and her people were, juxtaposed with the anger, pain, defiance and ghost of pity that flitted across Elsa’s face that all went unnoticed to Jojo.

It was Jojo’s world and everyone else was just living in it: There were subtle hints about what Rosie was up too, and which adults weren’t as warped by their nations beliefs, but it all went unsaid. It was a silent C story that was incredibly smart.

The Bad
I really didn’t think there was anything bad about Jojo Rabbit, however I can understand how some audience members could have watched certain scenes and thought them tasteless.

The primary example that comes to mind is a scene in which Rebel Wilson’s character straps a bomb to a kids back, removes the pin and tells him to ‘run and give that American soldier a big hug!’, and yes I laughed. My personal taste for humour aside, though the dialogue is constructed to be light and funny (let’s not forget whose POV it’s from), the darkness in its reality is still incredibly poignant.

I read a comment that said Jojo Rabbit will make people sympathetic towards the enemy, and I really don’t believe that’s true. Though I spent the better part of the movie enjoying Taika Waititi’s Hitler, and uttering ‘aww my poor baby’ any time Jojo looked sad, the themes of the movie didn’t fly over my head. I think there is a difference in the wisdom of understanding what is on the other side of the fence, after all if you remain on your side then your version of events is just as narrow. Understanding breeds change.

Okay back on track to my final point! Also not really a negative but despite what I said earlier about a silent C story, part of me is still curious to know what Rosie was up to…

The Conclusion
A wonderful stand alone movie that manages to capture a unique perspective of World War II, reminding us that it was more than the troupe of British Men getting blown up or trench foot. The comedic/satirical style might not sit well with everyone however I thought it was fantastic and really allowed the film to put us in the head of an enthusiastic ten year old boy who truly doesn’t understand he is on the wrong side of war, but allows for the hope that he can change.