the boy with striped pajamas movie review

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Mark Herman's "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" depends for its powerful impact on why, and when, it transfers the film's point of view. For almost all of the way, we see events through the eyes of a bright, plucky 8-year-old. Then we begin to look out through the eyes of his parents. Why and when that transfer takes place gathers all of the film's tightly wound tensions and savagely uncoils them. It is not what happens to the boy, which I will not tell you. It is -- all that happens. All of it, before and after.

Bruno ( Asa Butterfield ) is a boy growing up in a comfy household in Berlin, circa 1940. His dad ( David Thewlis ) goes off to the office every day. He's a Nazi official. Bruno doesn't think about that much, but he's impressed by his ground-level view of his father's stature. One day Bruno gets the unwelcome news that his dad has a new job, and they will all be moving to the country.

It'll be a farm, his parents reassure him. Lots of fun. Bruno doesn't want to leave his playmates and his much-loved home. His grandma ( Sheila Hancock ) doesn't approve of the move either. There seems to be a lot she doesn't approve of, but children are made uneasy by family tension and try to evade it.

There's a big house in the country, surrounded by high walls. It looks stark and modern to be a farmhouse. Army officials come and go. They fill rooms with smoke as they debate policy and procedures. Bruno can see the farm fields from his bedroom window. He asks his parents why the farmers are wearing striped pajamas. They give him one of those evasive answers that only drives a smart kid to find out for himself.

At the farm, behind barbed wire, he meets a boy about his age. They make friends. They visit as often as they can. The other boy doesn't understand what's going on any more than Bruno does. Their stories were told in a 2007 young adult's novel of the same name by John Boyne, which became a best seller. I learn the novel tells more about what the child thinks he hears and knows, but the film is implacable in showing where his curiosity leads him.

Other than what "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" is about, it almost seems to be an orderly story of those British who always know how to speak and behave. Those British? Yes, the actors speak with crisp British accents, which I think is actually more effective than having them speaking with German accents, or in subtitles. It dramatizes the way the German professional class internalized Hitler's rule and treated it as business as usual. Charts, graphs, titles, positions, uniforms, promotions, performance evaluations.

How can ordinary professional people proceed in this orderly routine when their business is evil? Easier than we think, I believe. I still obsess about those few Enron executives who knew the entire company was a Ponzi scheme. I can't forget the Oregon railroader who had his pension stolen. The laughter of Enron soldiers who joked about killing grandmothers with their phony California "energy crisis." Whenever loyalty to the enterprise becomes more important than simple morality, you will find evil functioning smoothly.

There has not again been evil on the scale of 1939-1945. But there has been smaller-scale genocide. Mass murder. Wars generated by lies and propaganda. The Wall Street crash stripped people of their savings, their pensions, their homes, their jobs, their hopes of providing for their families. It happened because a bureaucracy and its status symbols became more important than what it was allegedly doing.

Have I left my subject? I don't think so. "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" is not only about Germany during the war, although the story it tells is heartbreaking in more than one way. It is about a value system that survives like a virus. Do I think the people responsible for our economic crisis were Nazis? Certainly not. But instead of collecting hundreds of millions of dollars in rewards for denying to themselves what they were doing, I wish they had been forced to flee to Paraguay in submarines.

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

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Film credits.

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (2008)

Rated PG-13 for some mature thematic material involving the Holocaust

David Thewlis as Father

Sheila Hancock as Grandma

Vera Farmiga as Mother

Jim Norton as Herr Liszt

Rupert Friend as Lt. Kotler

Richard Johnson as Grandpa

Jack Scanlon as Shmuel

Asa Butterfield as Bruno

Amber Beattie as Gretel

Cara Horgan as Maria

David Hayman as Pavel

Written and directed by

• Mark Herman

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The boy in the striped pajamas, common sense media reviewers.

Holocaust drama sensitive, but never sentimental.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Extensive discussion of the German attitude toward

Bruno's dad runs a death camp. Bruno tries to do t

Guards brandish guns; prisoners are threatened wit

Affection between a long-married couple; non-sexua

One non-sexual use of "f---ing" and extensive use

A Mercedes logo is visible on the hood of a car.

Characters drink hard liquor, champagne, and wine

Parents need to know that this intense World War II-set drama follows a young boy whose father, a German officer, has moved the entire family close to his new assignment -- running a death camp dedicated to the mass extermination and murder of Jewish prisoners. The boy befriends a prisoner on the other side of the…

Positive Messages

Extensive discussion of the German attitude toward and treatment of Jewish prisoners during World War II, including deliberate, dehumanizing language. Discussion of anti-Semitic philosophies and ideas. Discussions of duty to one's country and race.

Positive Role Models

Bruno's dad runs a death camp. Bruno tries to do the right thing at times.

Violence & Scariness

Guards brandish guns; prisoners are threatened with guns, clubs, and dogs. A beating is administered off screen. Discussion of a supporting character dying during an English bombing raid. The mechanisms of mass extermination are seen in action, including a sensitively shot yet still devastating sequence in which a room crammed with concentration-camp prisoners is gassed.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Affection between a long-married couple; non-sexual, waist-up male nudity as concentration camp prisoners strip for a "shower."

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

One non-sexual use of "f---ing" and extensive use of "Jew" as an epithet.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

Drinking, drugs & smoking.

Characters drink hard liquor, champagne, and wine and smoke cigarettes and cigars (accurate for the time period).

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that this intense World War II-set drama follows a young boy whose father, a German officer, has moved the entire family close to his new assignment -- running a death camp dedicated to the mass extermination and murder of Jewish prisoners. The boy befriends a prisoner on the other side of the wire even as his teachers and parents explain to him about how "the Jew" is the enemy. Given the subject matter, the film -- which culminates in a room full of people being killed with poison gas -- could be difficult to watch for viewers of any age. There's also some drinking and smoking and concentration camp violence. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

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Community Reviews

• Parents say (62)
• Kids say (222)

Based on 62 parent reviews

Beautiful but extremely emotional and distressing

Very sad film, what's the story.

Bruno ( Asa Butterfield) is a young boy growing up in Berlin with his sister, mother ( Vera Farmiga ), and father ( David Thewlis ) -- but that all changes when his father gets a new post in the country. From his window, Bruno can now see people toiling at the distant facility where his father works -- farmers, as near as he can tell, tending a garden, and all wearing "striped pajamas." We soon understand what Bruno does not -- that his father's new post is at a death camp dedicated to the extermination of Jewish prisoners. Sneaking out of the family's house and through the back woods to the camp, Bruno meets a young boy, Shmuel ( Jack Scanlon ), and the two become friends -- as Bruno comes to understand why Shmuel is on the other side of the wire.

Is It Any Good?

THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PAJAMAS, based on John Boyne's novel, is a quietly effective, tastefully crafted, and ultimately devastating portrait of the Holocaust as seen through one boy's eyes. Directed by Mark Herman ( Hope Springs , Little Voice ), The Boy in the Striped Pajamas pulls off a hard-to-imagine balance between the innocence and optimism of children and the evil and darkness of modern history's greatest crime. As Bruno, Butterfield is on-screen in almost every scene, and viewers see the world through his eyes -- as well as his confusion as he comes to truly see the world. "We're not supposed to be friends, you and me," Bruno notes to Shmuel through electrified barbed wire. "We're supposed to be enemies." Bruno can't understand what's going on; what The Boy in the Striped Pajamas shows us is how the grown-ups in Bruno's life (played superbly by Farmiga and Thewlis) are just as capable of deluding themselves about what's really going on at the camp.

At the same time, Bruno isn't a cardboard innocent; he acts selfishly, speaks unthinkingly, and betrays Shmuel in a moment of fear. Herman's direction is never sentimental and yet always sensitive, thoughtful but never flashy, and acutely aware of the dramatic and moral stakes on the table. We only see the mechanisms of mass extermination in one scene; the rest of the film just hints and suggests what's really going on at the camp (which, while unnamed, is clearly Auschwitz) -- which in many ways is more terrifying than more explicit scenes. When Farmiga's character recoils at a rank plume of smoke coming from the camp's chimneys, a young officer smirks: "They smell even worse when they burn, don't they?" and Farmiga's face collapses under the weight of realization; she had no idea. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas builds to a brutal, haunting finale that doesn't let innocence, love, or friendship save the day and sticks with you long after the credits have rolled.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about what teens know about the Holocaust. What upset them in the movie? Why?

Ask your kids whether they think people can be good and evil at the same time. Then you can go into the discussion of how the Holocaust was kept secret. Was it actually hidden, or did people know and simply look the other way?

Families can also discuss what keeps drawing filmmakers and audiences to this subject material.

Movie Details

• In theaters : November 7, 2008
• On DVD or streaming : March 10, 2009
• Cast : Asa Butterfield , David Thewlis , Vera Farmiga
• Director : Mark Herman
• Inclusion Information : Female actors
• Studio : Miramax
• Genre : Drama
• Run time : 95 minutes
• MPAA rating : PG-13
• MPAA explanation : some mature thematic material involving the Holocaust
• Last updated : May 25, 2024

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

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The Boy in the Striped Pajamas Reviews

[The film] touches on important questions about the costs of human life and the dangers of hatred in a stirring, heart-wrenching tale.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Mar 7, 2024

A child’s-eye view of the Holocaust, this family film is likely to trigger big questions from younger viewers.

Full Review | Nov 4, 2022

“The Boy in the Striped Pajamas” asks several powerful questions about war, family, and morality. It also gives us a glimpse into a part of our world’s history that is still hard to look at but should be reckoned with.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 19, 2022

A valiant attempt to tell a small scale story about an unimaginably huge period in our history, and while it may drag in places, it has its heart in the right place and a devastating ending that will take your breath away.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Jan 31, 2021

At once painful, tear-jerking, and deeply emotional, this is a film that cannot be easily forgotten.

Full Review | Original Score: 8/10 | Nov 28, 2020

British director Mark Herman's film... is moving and thought provoking, and handles its subject matter with great sensitivity. It deserves to be seen by young and old.

Full Review | Nov 12, 2020

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas may very well be 2008's most important family film.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4.0 | Sep 4, 2020

Despite the film's various weaknesses, however, it's hard not to be moved by its ending.

Full Review | Sep 2, 2020

A superb adaptation of John Boyne's novel bears witness to the unyielding horror of the Holocaust through the eyes of a child.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | May 4, 2020

This intelligent film offers a fresh perspective on an oft-portrayed period, asking the viewer to question his own assumptions about what he expects and wants from such a telling.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Dec 12, 2018

Not without its qualities, the movie ultimately does a disservice to the very people it purports to represent.

Full Review | Original Score: 69/100 | Jul 12, 2012

[Director] Mark Herman knows how to milk the melodrama from every scene, but viewers may feel a little icky about the experience.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Nov 17, 2011

A film dealing with the Holocaust really should be a little less clumsily executed, manipulative and contrived than this.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Jul 14, 2011

Built upon a powerful but gimmicky end, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas would make a fine short. As a full-length feature, though, the pajamas wear thin quickly.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Aug 14, 2009

The result isn't a deep film, but rather a profound one.

Full Review | Original Score: 5/5 | May 13, 2009

We are left in no doubt about the brutality of what's going on there but it's almost entirely off-screen. Still, the film is terribly confronting.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | May 1, 2009

This writer can't remember witnessing a harder-hitting kids' movie denouement than the one that closes this microcosm of middle-class German family life in WWII.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/6 | Apr 24, 2009

Much of the film depends on our ability to suspend disbelief and see the world as Bruno sees it. It has a finale designed to shock.

Full Review | Apr 24, 2009

You may get halfway through and wonder why it's getting so heavily recommended here. Once you've experienced it in its entirety, you'll know why.

For me, the pluses far outweighed any misgivings I had with this ultimately very moving film.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 24, 2009

• Cast & crew
• User reviews

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

Through the innocent eyes of Bruno, the eight-year-old son of the commandant at a German concentration camp, a forbidden friendship with a Jewish boy on the other side of the camp fence has ... Read all Through the innocent eyes of Bruno, the eight-year-old son of the commandant at a German concentration camp, a forbidden friendship with a Jewish boy on the other side of the camp fence has startling and unexpected consequences. Through the innocent eyes of Bruno, the eight-year-old son of the commandant at a German concentration camp, a forbidden friendship with a Jewish boy on the other side of the camp fence has startling and unexpected consequences.

• Mark Herman
• Asa Butterfield
• David Thewlis
• Rupert Friend
• 589 User reviews
• 147 Critic reviews
• 55 Metascore
• 7 wins & 7 nominations

• Lieutenant Kotler
• (as Zac Mattoon-O'Brien)

• Berlin Cook

• Palm Court Singer

• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

More like this

Did you know

• Trivia Bruno's parents are named Ralf and Elsa, but in the credits of the film they are listed as "Father" and "Mother." This is a tribute to the novel, in which the narrative focuses solely on Bruno's point of view.
• Goofs At Auschwitz, (and other camps) there were double fences, 3 meters apart, around the compound. Too much distance for an outsider to touch an insider.

Shmuel : I wish you'd remembered the chocolate.

Bruno : Yes, I'm sorry. I know! Perhaps you can come and have supper with us sometime.

Shmuel : I can't, can I? Because of this.

[points the electric fence]

Bruno : But that's to stop the animals getting out, isn't it?

Shmuel : Animals? No, it's to stop people getting out.

Bruno : Are you not allowed out? Why? What have you done?

Shmuel : I'm a Jew.

• Crazy credits Quotation displayed before the opening titles: "Childhood is measured out by sounds and smells and sights, before the dark hour of reason grows - John Betjeman"
• Connections Featured in Siskel & Ebert: Quantum of Solace/Madagascar 2/Soul Men/Repo! The Genetic Opera/The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (2008)
• Soundtracks Rhythm For You Written by Eddy Christiani and Frans Poptie Courtesy of APM Music

User reviews 589

• Sep 13, 2008
• How long is The Boy in the Striped Pajamas? Powered by Alexa
• Is "The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas" based on a book?
• How do Bruno and Shmuel meet?
• If the movie is set in Germany, why do they have English accents?
• November 26, 2008 (United States)
• United Kingdom
• United States
• arabuloku.com
• Official Facebook
• Chú bé mang pyjama sọc
• Kerepesi Cemetery, Budapest, Hungary
• Heyday Films
• See more company credits at IMDbPro
• $12,500,000 (estimated)
• Nov 9, 2008
• $40,416,563

Technical specs

• Runtime 1 hour 34 minutes
• Dolby Digital

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• DVD & Streaming

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

• Drama , War

Content Caution

In Theaters

• Asa Butterfield as Bruno; Jack Scanlon as Shmuel; Vera Farmiga as Elsa; David Thewlis as Ralf; Amber Beattie as Gretel; Rupert Friend as Lieutenant Kotler; Jim Norton as Herr Liszt; Richard Johnson as Grandpa; Sheila Hancock as Grandma; David Hayman as Pavel

Home Release Date

• Mark Herman

Distributor

• Miramax Films

Movie Review

Ah, little boys. They’re impish, curious, messy and daring. Most mothers of boys have at least a few gray hairs because of their sons’ escapades. Sometimes boys really can stop fidgeting at the table and squirming during church. Sometimes they can even resist the temptation to torment their sisters. Rarely, though, can they ignore the all-consuming urge to explore—and this thirst for excitement can get them into trouble.

Enter 8-year-old Bruno, an inventive young German who loves to read adventure books and investigate whatever is outside. When we meet him in the early 1940s, his father, Ralf, a high-ranking military officer, has just accepted an important position within the Nazi war effort. The family packs up their city home in Berlin and moves to a country house located near what Bruno thinks is a strange farm.

Naive Bruno doesn’t fully understand what’s happening in his new world, including why his 12-year-old sister, Gretel, suddenly spurns a treasured doll collection and decorates her bedroom with Nazi youth posters. He can’t comprehend why old Pavel, a “farmer” who works in the kitchen, gave up being a doctor so he could peel potatoes. Nor can he fathom why Pavel and all the other “farmers” wear striped pajamas.

Bruno especially struggles with his mother’s order to stay inside their very uninspiring, walled-in front yard. After all, he thinks the “farm” just beyond the woods out back must be full of fun, food, animals and potential playmates.

So, when his tedious tutor, Herr Liszt, and the lackluster life indoors become too much for him to tolerate, he begins to sneak off. He runs through the trees to the “farm,” where he meets Shmuel, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas who lives behind a huge electrified fence.

[ Note: The following sections contain plot spoilers. ]

Positive Elements

Bruno’s mother is reasonably patient with his disappointment when they move, but she isn’t silent, either. She tells Bruno that sitting around being miserable won’t make things any happier. In response, for a while he tries his best to be content.

Despite the adults around him who demean Jews, Bruno ultimately learns to see Shmuel and Pavel through the lens of his own positive, firsthand experience with them. While his friendship with Shmuel wouldn’t necessarily be called courageous (Bruno is bored and unaware, and Shmuel is the only friend available), it does reveal the beauty of innocence, which underscores the wickedness of the adults’ cruelty. And while Bruno is at first intimidated into siding with his father’s and the surrounding soldiers’ hateful opinions of his Jewish friends, he realizes that something is very wrong, and he questions his dad’s moral goodness.

One day Shmuel’s father goes missing at the “farm.” Bruno offers to help his friend search for him, saying, “It will be like an adventure!” Shmuel gets a pair of spare “pajamas” for Bruno so he won’t draw attention, and Bruno digs a (precise and impossibly large) trench under the fence. Until he comes face to face with the horror inside the wire, Bruno seems to just be having fun. But when he sees enough to become frightened, he gathers himself and makes a clear decision to face his fear in order to help his friend.

This act is redemptive, in a way, since Bruno turned his back on Shmuel a few days (weeks?) earlier. In that circumstance, he lied in such a way that Shmuel is thought to be a thief and is subsequently beaten by soldiers (offscreen).

Elsa’s ignorance about what’s going on in war-torn Germany is much less excusable than her son’s, and it seems she chooses to remain oblivious regarding what occurs at the “farm.” But when she finally realizes how grave the situation is—that her husband is in charge of mass exterminations—she begins to justly rail against him, demanding that he immediately quit. She’s also alarmed by Gretel’s growing vehemence against Jews.

While raising questions about where duty to one’s country ends and conscience and morality begin, the film winds these themes together to teach a powerful lesson about human equality. Prejudice is rightfully shown to be based on lies and hatred. And it’s reinforced that every one of us has a responsibility to choose rightness and truth, even when the tide of a society is utterly against us.

Spiritual Elements

Bruno says a bedtime prayer with his father, thanking God (in Jesus’ name) for His protection. It’s a sweet children’s rhyme that seems real to the boy, and its candid trust feels oddly situated against Nazi hatred. A preacher says another prayer at Ralf’s mother’s funeral service.

Sexual Content

Precocious Gretel holds twentysomething Lt. Kotler’s forearm in an adoring way and is embarrassed when Bruno publicly reminds her that she is only 12.

Violent Content

Oblivious to the real-life awfulness they’re mimicking, Bruno and his young friends in Berlin act like fighter planes and pretend to shoot machine guns. In a different play scene, Bruno runs through the woods flailing a stick and shouting, “Die! Die!” A little blood shows up when he falls out of a tire swing and skins his knee.

Nazis shove Jews onto wagons while dogs nip and bark. When inky black smoke rises from the furnace at the “farm,” Lt. Kotler quips, “They smell even worse when they burn, don’t they?” Later he and Ralf yell at Pavel, and Kotler beats the old man to death. We see the lieutenant grab Pavel’s head and hit him, and we hear yelling and more powerful blows after Kotler drags him into another room. The next morning, Maria scrubs the blood from the wood floor where Pavel lay.

Kotler also yells at Shmuel and Bruno. We don’t see the officer hurt Shmuel, but it’s clear that he does when the boy disappears for days and finally returns with a badly beaten face.

Ralf calmly announces his mother’s death. We’re told she died in a bombing, but circumstances could be viewed as suspicious because she’d stridently opposed the Nazi party line even when Ralf warned her not to. Similarly, Lt. Kotler talks himself into a corner one night by casually mentioning that his father emigrated to Switzerland before the war. Ralf reminds the lieutenant that he must report his father as a defector, and Kotler is disciplined for his oversight by being moved to the war’s front line.

And then we arrive at the final minutes of The Boy in the Striped Pajamas : Nazi soldiers herd men and boys into a gas chamber. We see their terrified expressions as they’re jammed against one other in the dim room. A soldier wearing a gas mask rains down poison through a rooftop opening. And prisoners howl until there is silence.

Crude or Profane Language

In making its righteous points about prejudice and racism, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas resists the temptation to brandish epithets, but does include anti-Semitic remarks. Ralf claims that Jews “aren’t really people at all.” Gretel calls them “evil, dangerous vermin.” Liszt teaches his pupils that Jews are a destructive enemy of culture that cost Germany the first world war. He also tells Bruno that if he finds a “nice Jew” he “would be the best explorer in all the world.”

Bruno calls his mother “stupid.”

Drug and Alcohol Content

The adults have champagne at a going-away party and later drink wine with dinner. Ralf smokes cigarettes, sometimes in front of his kids.

Other Negative Elements

Bruno and truthfulness share a strained relationship. He frequently lies to his mother about his whereabouts, disobeying her rules. He fibs about the contents of his book bag. And when he lies to Lt. Kotler, saying Shmuel stole food, his selfishness costs Shmuel dearly.

Elsa and Ralf argue loudly about his role in the war, causing Gretel and Bruno to huddle together for comfort. Elsa calls Ralf a monster whose own mother couldn’t love him.

Crowds of Jewish men and boys are forced to strip naked. Huddled together, and with the camera looking on mostly from above, only their upper torsos are seen.

Set against the horror of the Holocaust, Bruno’s naiveté and investigative spirit look that much more innocent. The boy’s inability to comprehend prejudice and killing, and his instinctive, uncomplicated ability to see Jews as real human beings starkly contrast Nazi cruelty, brightly illuminating the viciousness and irrationality of the bloodshed.

A significant plot twist—which is one spoiler I’ve tried very hard to keep out of this review—demonstrates with breathtaking force how the consequences of evil behavior eventually affect all those involved, perpetrators included.

Beyond this, Elsa’s role may serve as sobering testament against complacency. After she blindly follows Ralf to his new post, she struggles with her own attitude toward Jews but does nothing significant to help them, even as she begins to recognize their unjust fate. Her conformity should remind us of our own apathy in other situations, and it challenges us to question situations until we fully understand them, fight for what we believe in and stand up for those who cannot defend themselves.

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas , which is based on a book by John Boyne, also illustrates how powerful words and images are. Bruno, who likely represents thousands of his contemporaries, doesn’t always know what to make of his father’s job. That is, until a propaganda film he sees calls the death camp—the “farm”—a wonderful place with “hearty, nutritious meals,” and the camera shows seemingly happy Jews smiling and waving. After the film, Bruno proudly hugs his father.

It’s often said that if history is forgotten, it’s likely to be repeated. So perhaps the most profitable thing about the film is the fact that—without including any of the gore and explicit violence seen in similar films—it reminds us about our global history of brutality. We must recall and keep recalling the Holocaust and other atrocities like it. And never overlook the millions who have needlessly died at the hand of hatred and greed.

Heartbreaking and soul-rending, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is, then, one more piece of the puzzle that ultimately forms the picture of who we were, who we are and who we don’t want to become.

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The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (2008) Review

This article was written exclusively for  The Film Magazine   by Bethen Blackabee of Films at Focal Point .

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (2008) Director: Mark Herman Screenwriter: Mark Herman Starring: Asa Butterfield, Vera Farmiga, Cara Horgan, Amber Beattie, David Thewlis, David Hayman, Jack Scanlon, Rupert Friend

It takes a truly incredible film to make an audience physically and emotionally react without intention, something that Mark Herman’s The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas does with ease. This ingenious piece of work combines a heart-warming narrative of friendship and childhood with a factual documentation of mass murder and politics, using a variety of canny visuals to create conflict both within the film and within ourselves. Based in World War II Germany, this 2008 release follows the story of a young boy, Bruno, after he and his family relocate as a result of his father’s promotion. Bruno is aware of his father’s work as a soldier, but his innocence shields him from the horrific reality of his father’s role within the Nazi party. Whilst exploring the surrounding areas of his new home, Bruno meets Shmuel, a boy who is trapped within the walls of a barbed wire fence. Though Shmuel understands most of his and his family’s situation, Bruno has no knowledge of the true nature of the farm he sees before him; the basis of a challenging friendship.

What makes this film stand out is the way in which it approaches each narrative beat from a child’s perspective. Bruno’s positioning at the forefront of most scenes means that he dictates the tone, his innocence a key factor regarding how the situation is represented and how we are led to view it. Several impactful moments of background action (relating to Jewish discrimination and genocide) coincide with shots of Bruno’s everyday life as a child, where he appears oblivious to the terrifying realities surrounding him. Fiction films often mask factual events as stories through the association of cinema and narrative by the audience, suggesting that some action is added for cinematic impact, but while Bruno and Shmuel’s friendship is not based on a true story, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas continuously references historical context to remind each of us of the horrifying reality of what we are seeing elsewhere in the frame. Some spectators believe that the entirety of the film is based on truth, expressing the true capabilities of Herman as a director and the talent of the cast.

There are several fantastic examples of cinematography relating to these moments, as well as the use of symbolic props and placement to increase the power of the image. A mountain of bare dolls, an empty concrete room, a barbed wire fence; these are all examples of how simple set design has led to some incredibly chilling visuals, encouraging the association of the image with history. Colour also plays a huge part here, juxtaposing the rich with the neutral to contrast the locations, people and situations. Darker colours suggest wealth, power and health, whereas bland colours (such as beige, brown and white) connote the opposite, comparing the two boys’ lives and the destiny of each group in a wider war-time context.

The contrast of (diegetic) noise and pronounced silence is a fantastic addition to the structure of the film, creating a devastating yet stunning final image. Pronounced silence has become a widely used technique in films with important messages, often paired with stunning cinematography to allow spectators to digest the action. When constructed effectively, just as Herman has done here, it can leave its audience shaken to the core, the message embedded deep inside the mind. With such an incredible final sequence, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas has done exactly this. It will leave you speechless, and for once not wanting to know more.

The film’s persistence and focus upon character development builds up to this moment, each and every character given important personality details to provide a wider spread of identifiable individuals. This is further supported by some incredible acting, creating a seemingly accurate line of events that suggest a level of realness that few films successfully portray. Credit must go to Asa Butterfield (Bruno), Amber Beattie (Gretel) and Jack Scanlon (Shmuel) in particular, the child actors each exhibiting an incredible level of performance and empathy for such young talents. Each of their personalities are convincing and, despite holding some negative traits, invite empathy and a relatability to their view of the world. Vera Farmiga also provides a heart-breaking performance as Bruno’s mother, her slow deterioration of mental health and love for her husband delivered to perfection. The final sequence shows Farmiga and Beattie’s full potential as actresses, a heart-wrenching moment to watch as their emotions explode in a state of anger, fear and hurt. With the additional talents of the likes of David Thewlis, Rupert Friend and David Hayman each involved in prominent roles, the entire collection of performances within The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas has a hugely positive impact on the overall execution of the story, controlling the power of each and every moment, thus creating a deeper empathy and understanding regarding the topic at hand.

Overall,  The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is a true credit to Herman’s filmography as a screenwriter-director. Such a hard-hitting and emotional narrative, presented to the realistic and powerful extent that Herman has achieved, deserves endless recognition. Though many films are memorable, this is one of the few that can be said to have left a mark on millions of individuals, as evidenced through the instant recognition that is expressed whenever it is mentioned in conversation. Like a small handful of cinema’s most impactful moments, this film has you fully engaged as a constant, receiving an obvious physical reaction through its continuous suspense and ever more impactful narrative beats. With a powerful and scarring ending that will be ingrained into the memories of all who see it, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is a devastating piece of delicately handled and incredible cinema; a film that will likely become a deserved classic for future cinephiles.

Written by Bethen Blackabee

You can support Bethen in the following places:

Blog – Films at Focal Point Instagram – @bethen.film Twitter – @Bethen1999

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What it's about.

You've probably watched and heard about enough Holocaust films to expect a formula, but you might want to put all that aside going into The Boy in Striped Pajamas. Bruno, the son of a WWII Nazi commandant forms an unlikely friendship with a Jewish kid his age in his father's concentration camp. The film is World War II told through Bruno's eyes, and while you might not get why this movie is so highly praised in its first scenes, the twisting and profound second half will have you recommending it to everyone in need of a moving story well executed, or quite simply a good cry.

It’s a heartwarming story of two children on opposite sides of the fences in a Nazi concentration camp. Just be prepared to cry. I’ve warned you.

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The boy in the striped pajamas.

The home life of the Nazi commandant of a World War II concentration camp appears bizarrely serene in Mark Herman's grave and powerful drama "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas," but the innocent are bound to suffer when humanity is abandoned.

By Ray Bennett , The Associated Press September 10, 2008 9:00pm

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Opens: Friday, Sept. 12 (U.K.) (Disney)

LONDON — The home life of the Nazi commandant of a World War II concentration camp appears bizarrely serene in Mark Herman’s grave and powerful drama “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas,” but the innocent are bound to suffer when humanity is abandoned.

The Bottom Line Empty

A fine adaptation of John Boyne’s novel, which was aimed at children, the film is more adult in its approach, though its stern message remains important for youngsters. Set for a Miramax release Nov. 7 in the U.S., it’s a tough-minded lesson for those who would perpetrate genocide, and it should register strongly with a long afterlife on DVD.

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Boyne’s tale is starkly cautionary, and writer-director Herman handles a difficult topic with great sensitivity, drawing splendid performances from his young actors with David Thewlis and Vera Farmiga and the other grown-ups reliably efficient.

It’s a tale about the unlikely friendship between two little boys. Bruno (Asa Butterfield) is the sheltered and entirely self-absorbed son of a Nazi officer (Thewlis) living in innocent luxury. Shmuel (Jack Scanlon) is a Jewish boy living behind barbed wire in the direst state of hunger and fear.

Bruno and his family — impressionable sister Gretel (Amber Beattie) and their gentle mother (Farmiga) — have just moved from Berlin to the countryside, where strict but loving Papa has taken up his new command running a prison camp.

The naive and scatterbrained Bruno sort of knows that his father is a Nazi officer but has no clue what it means. At the new house, Pavel (David Hayman), a shuffling and obedient servant brought in from the camp, cowers before brutal adjutant Lt. Kotler (Rupert Friend), but Bruno barely notices, while Gretel develops a crush on the explosive young Nazi.

Bruno is deluded about what life is like at his father’s camp because faked videos showing its inhabitants happy and well-fed have been screened at home for visiting dignitaries and Red Cross inspectors.

Lonely and curious, he slips away from the house and finds Shmuel lurking in desperation by the fence. Deeply ignorant of the truth of Shmuel’s circumstances, Bruno adopts him as friend. It’s a friendship that leads to shocking revelations and a powerful conclusion that may cause many viewers to seriously question their assumptions.

Production: Miramax Films, Heyday Films. Cast: Asa Butterfield, Jack Scanlon, Amber Beattie, David Thewlis, Vera Farmiga, Rupert Friend, David Hayman. Director-screenwriter-executive producer: Mark Herman. Producer: David Heyman. Executive producer: Christine Langan. Director of photography: Benoit Delhomme. Production designer: Martin Childs. Music: James Horner. Costume designer: Natalie Ward. Editor: Michael Ellis. Sales agent: Miramax Films. Rated PG-13, 94 minutes.

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Movie Review | 'The Boy in the Striped Pajamas'

Horror Through a Child’s Eyes

By Manohla Dargis

• Nov. 6, 2008

See Bruno (Asa Butterfield). See Bruno run. See Bruno see a farm. See Bruno see “farmers” in “striped pajamas.” See Shmuel (Jack Scanlon). See Shmuel at the farm. See Shmuel run because men are yelling. See Bruno run to his new house. Come home, Bruno, said Mother (Vera Farmiga), in a British accent. Come, Bruno, come. See Bruno and Shmuel meet across an unguarded barbed wire fence. See Bruno and Shmuel laugh, perhaps because there are no soldiers guarding this fence, even though, in John Boyne’s allegorical children’s novel on which this film is based, the farm is Auschwitz. See Bruno, whose blue eyes and dark hair tend to make him look like a Nazi moppet, eat the food he said he would give to Shmuel. See Shmuel look even sadder than usual. See Bruno learn that the farmers are Jews.

See Bruno ponder the kind of false paradoxes that only an authorial contrivance, like the artificial naïf, would face: Jews are supposed to be bad, and yet Shmuel is nice. See Bruno tunnel, with astonishing rapidity, into the camp. See the film’s director, Mark Herman, take his camera into a gas chamber where naked men and children huddle, and two little hands clasp before the film cuts to black. Do not see the blood and excrement on the walls or the dead piled on the floor. See Mother howling outside the camp in the rain as the camera hovers over her. See Father (David Thewlis), realizing that his son has been swept away by the Nazi death machine he himself helps run, look horror-stricken. See the Holocaust trivialized, glossed over, kitsched up, commercially exploited and hijacked for a tragedy about a Nazi family. Better yet and in all sincerity: don’t.

“The Boy in the Striped Pajamas” is rated PG-13 (Parents strongly cautioned) for some mild violence.

THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PAJAMAS

Opens on Friday in Manhattan.

Written and directed by Mark Herman, based on the novel by John Boyne; director of photography, Benoit Delhomme; edited by Michael Ellis; music by James Horner; production designer, Martin Childs; produced by David Heyman; released by Miramax Films. At the Cinema 1, 2, 3, Third Avenue at 60th Street, Manhattan. Running time: 1 hour 33 minutes.

WITH: Asa Butterfield (Bruno), Jack Scanlon (Shmuel), Amber Beattie (Gretel), David Thewlis (Father), Vera Farmiga (Mother), Richard Johnson (Grandpa), Sheila Hancock (Grandma), Rupert Friend (Lieutenant Kotler), David Hayman (Pavel), Jim Norton (Herr Liszt) and Cara Horgan (Maria).

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Review: 'The Boy in the Striped Pajamas'

A young German boy befriends a Jewish boy in a nearby concentration camp, unaware of the enormity of the horror going on behind the fence.

• By Peter Rainer

November 8, 2008

In " The Boy in the Striped Pajamas ," the unspeakable atrocities of the Holocaust are glimpsed through the eyes of a 9-year-old boy, and somehow this makes them seem even more unspeakable. Bruno (the marvelous young actor Asa Butterfield ) is the son of a high-ranking Nazi officer, Ralf ( David Thewlis ), who moves his family from Berlin to a remote countryside home that is walled off from a "farm" in the far distance. In fact, what is being walled out is a concentration camp, with Ralf acting as its commandant.

Bruno's mother Elsa ( Vera Farmiga ) is kept in the dark for a long time about her husband's murderous duties. When she learns, she snaps. Not so scrupulous is Bruno's elder sister Gretel ( Amber Beattie ), who is enamored of a sadistic young Nazi lieutenant ( Rupert Friend ) and adorns her bedroom walls with Hitler Youth posters. Isolated and uncomprehending, without pals to play with, Bruno is bored stiff. One day, although forbidden to do so, he ventures beyond the wall. Running up against the barbed-wired camp enclosure, he befriends a Jewish boy his own age, Shmuel ( Jack Scanlon ).

Bruno's innocence, like Shmuel's, prevents him from perceiving the enormity of the horror. He wonders why Shmuel can't leave the "farm" and play. Scruffy and starving, Shmuel replies matter-of-factly that he can't because he's a Jew.

It took me a while to adjust to the mostly British-sounding cast standing in for Germans, but at least it's a time-worn convention. Writer-director Mark Herman, adapting the novel by John Boyne , is careful to stage the film almost entirely from Bruno's point of view. This makes for a far creepier experience than if the story had been told straight. It's as if we are watching the ritualistic sacrifice of an innocent.

Bruno is the darling of his family and his father is quite tender with him. The audacity of "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" lies precisely in Herman 's decision to portray Ralf as a loving father. Thewlis's performance is so layered that we can believe this man is capable of a monstrousness equal to his familial devotion. And yet the great conundrum of the Holocaust is that it was perpetrated by human beings, not monsters. Few movies have rendered this puzzle so powerfully. Grade: A (Rated PG-13 for some mature thematic material involving the Holocaust.)

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‘The Boy in the Striped Pajamas’: movie review

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The film’s PG-13 rating is a good indicator of the appropriate age for younger audiences, although older viewers should brace themselves, too. Even though it unfolds almost entirely through a child’s eyes and contains no on-screen violence, “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas” packs as devastating a punch as an adult-oriented drama about the subject. Its concluding five minutes are almost impossible to watch.

But that, of course, is the point of the story, which begins in Berlin in the early stages of World War II, when wide-eyed, 8-year-old German boy Bruno (the remarkable Asa Butterfield) learns his military father (David Thewlis) has received a promotion that requires the family to move to “the countryside.”

The family’s new home is remote and drab, almost fortress-like. Bruno complains about not having anyone to play with except his sister (Amber Beattie), and she’s no fun. And when he asks his mother (Vera Farmiga) about the nearby “farm” he can glimpse from a corner of his bedroom window — a farm where everyone wears striped pajamas — she immediately tells him to forget about all that and forbids him from ever going near there.

But a child’s curiosity cannot be stopped, and soon Bruno is spending his afternoons talking through an electrified wire fence with a little boy named Shmuel (Jack Scanlon), who lives on the farm with his father, wears the same odd pajamas and is constantly asking him to bring back some food.

Director Herman rarely pulls us out of Bruno’s naive view of the world, which adds a layer of unsettling ominousness to scenes such as the one in which Bruno asks his father what that horrible smell coming from the farm’s chimneys is. (“They burn rubbish there sometimes,” his dad replies.)

Despite its focus on children, “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas” shrewdly keeps us apprised of how the adults in the story are responding to their new environment. The better he does at his job, the more short-tempered and emotionally distant Bruno’s dad seems to become, illustrating how many Nazi soldiers lost their perspective — and their souls — as the German army’s power grew.

Bruno notices his mom’s increasingly nervous, restless moods, and he’s struck, too, by how his sister has started covering the walls of her room with Nazi paraphernalia and Hitler posters. But mostly Bruno just concentrates on finding new ways to play with his friend. By maintaining its focus on its child protagonist, “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas” lulls you into the false security of an innocent’s worldview, helping its finale achieve its pulverizing power.

The movie might result in some difficult questions from children about the Holocaust, but they are conversations well worth having.

“The Boy in the Striped Pajamas”

Rating: PG-13 (for some adult themes) Cast: Vera Farmiga, David Thewlis, Rupert Friend, David Hayman and Asa Butterfield Director-writer: Mark Herman Running time: 1 hour, 34 minutes

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The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

Dove review.

This is a powerful movie that will move you emotionally unless you have a heart of stone. The atrocities of Nazi, Germany led by Hitler and his commandants are realistically portrayed in this well-made film. The performance of the child actors, Asa Butterfield as young Bruno, and Jack Scanlon as Shmuel, are right on target and emotionally charged. Although there are no overly violent moments on the screen, the emotions which the story elicits warrants a two in our violence category, as such images as smoke rising from a gas chamber carry an emotional impact.

This picture brilliantly portrays the fact that when one person or people harm innocent people, that inevitably their own innocent people will be touched or harmed in some way. The interaction of the two young boys, both age eight, give characterizations that will draw the audience in. It is a bit depressing to watch at times; for example a former doctor, a Jew, now has the task of peeling potatoes for Bruno’s family. He is also badly mistreated by a soldier who frequents the home.

This film is dramatic in every respect and realistically reveals the horrible realities of the time, and the viewer may well forget it is fictionalized. This movie is well worth viewing and the value of life is markedly stated on the big screen. We gladly award our Dove “Family-Approved” Seal to this film.

Dove Rating Details

Boys fake shooting each other with imaginary guns; a boy falls and skins his knee and just a little blood is seen; man beaten off screen; a young boy shows visible signs of being beaten; the emotional drama of knowing the violence being committed at the war camp.

Just a "God forbid" and a girl prays in Jesus name.

Drinking at dinner party; wine served with dinner; brief smoking.

The men and boys are forced to disrobe in chamber and there is mild rear nudity.

A boy sneaks away from home thereby disobeying parents; children are brainwashed by a tutor who agrees with Nazi propaganda; a reference to burning Jews and man's wife disagrees with this policy; a boy in fear denies knowing his friend.

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The Boy in The Striped Pajamas: Movie Review and Critique

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The boy in the striped pajamas: summary and analysis, the boy in the striped pajamas: movie review (essay), works cited.

• Boyne, J. (2006). The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. Random House.
• Crowe, D. (2008). The Holocaust in the eyes of children. The English Journal, 97(4), 25-31.
• Edelman, L. (1995). The Ghetto Fights. Holocaust Library.
• Finkelstein, N. G. (2003). The Holocaust Industry: Reflections on the Exploitation of Jewish Suffering. Verso Books.
• Gilroy, A. (2011). Ethnic and racial studies. Between camps: Race and culture in postmodernity, 34(3), 458-469.
• Gleeson-White, J. (2011). Double vision: The Holocaust and representation. Australian Humanities Review, (50), 89-102.
• Roth, J. K. (2006). Teaching about the Holocaust: essays by college and university teachers. University Press of America.
• Snyder, T. (2015). Black Earth: The Holocaust as History and Warning. Crown/Archetype.
• Wistrich, R. S. (2003). Holocaust and genocide studies. The long road back: Jewish intellectual refugees in post-war Europe, 17(2), 180-199.
• Zuckerman, M. (1999). A dream undone: The integration of soldiers in World War II. University of California Press.

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Innocence and Ignorance: Discuss how the themes of innocence and ignorance are portrayed in the novel and how they are central to the story's impact. The Holocaust and Inhumanity: Analyze how the novel [...]

In the New York Times Bestseller novel, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, a tragic story of the World War II Holocaust is described. A German boy and his family moved to Poland for their father’s new job. The boy is never told [...]

Boyne, J. (2006). The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. Oxford: David Fickling Books.Herman, M. (Director). (2008). The Boy in the Striped Pajamas . Miramax.Boyne, J. (2006). The Boy in the Striped Pajamas: A Fable. TeachingBooks.net. [...]

George Orwell’s ‘Animal Farm’ is an allegorical fairy tale which is profound in its condemnations of totalitarian regimes. The novel explores the concepts of propaganda, totalitarianism and tyranny impacting on the oppressed [...]

Anthony Burgess’s A Clockwork Orange is a novel pervaded by a multifaceted and intrinsic musical presence. Protagonist Alex’s fondness for classical music imbues his character with interesting dimensions, and resonates well [...]

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Movie Review: “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas”

This movie is based on the novel (historical fiction) by John Boyne. Set in World War II, the Holocaust drama relates the horror of a Nazi extermination camp through the eyes of a young boy. The movie revolves around an eight-year-old boy whose father has just been promoted to commandant of the German army. Hence the family moves from berlin to the residence near a concentration camp of which his father was in charge.

The movie “The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas” is based on the novel (historical fiction) by John Boyne. Set in World War II, the Holocaust drama relates the horror of a Nazi extermination camp through the eyes of a young boy. The movie revolves around an eight-year-old boy whose father has just been promoted to commandant of the German army. Hence the family moves from berlin to the residence near a concentration camp of which his father was in charge.

The boy, Bruno was quite unhappy and lonely because of separating from his friends and school. On the very first day in the new house, while chatting with the maid who was unpacking his stuff he shared his misery but the maid being quite positive exclaimed “sitting around miserable all day won’t make you any happier.”

The little boy meant it and started to explore fun and happiness in the things around him. Although he was quite unsuccessful in the starting as there were restrictions too, especially, from his mother as she doesn’t want her child to be exposed to the surroundings, in other words, to the state-sponsored persecution and murder of millions of Jews which his own father was also a part. His repetitious schedule in the first week made him answer to his father rather in this way.

Father: “What have you guys done today?”

Bruno: “Same as yesterday”.

Father: “And what have you done yesterday?”

Bruno: “Same as the day before”.

A few days later, the unhappy and lonely boy Bruno while wandering in the garden discovers a way out to the camp, which he mistook for a farm. As he reaches closer to it, met a Jewish boy, Shmuel of the same age. Although the two were separated by a barbed-wire fence, begin with a forbidden friendship oblivious to the real nature of their surroundings. The surroundings in which a human was seen through the cast of his religion and was been denied the basic right to live. But it does not affect these two as they were still too young to understand the basis of discrimination and only see that some things are inappropriate in the first place as there is no fitting logic or reason behind doing them.

The movie showcases the innocence of these two children and the influence of politics (the political culture and socialization) on their lives. How people are being denied to be considered even as human and how people outside do not object to the maltreatment or ill-treatment caused to a whole community including the inhumane activities leading to ethnic cleansing.

Moreover, the intrusion in the education system and framing of the mindset of the next generations that has the motto to sow the seed of hatred in the heart of people towards another community was the most horrible thing which was shown in the movie. Basically, we can find that antisemitism i.e., the hatred of or prejudice against Jews was the foundation of the Holocaust and was the basic tenet of Nazi Ideology. The mass murder of nearly two out of every three Jews was done using deadly living conditions, brutal mistreatment, mass shootings & gassings and specially designed killing centers.

The few instances from the movie are as mentioned below:-

– The servant named, Pavel was found to be a doctor who was then forced to work as a domestic helper. Also, the scenes of him being killed although heart-breaking were the evidence of the treatment the Jews get that time.

– The condition of Shmuel i.e., being denied food, clothing, housing, even jobs, separated from the family members, and shaved off hair. Their humanity was first questioned and then denied. Their freedom was stolen, crippled and starved. The question for them was – do they have the right to live?

The complex emotional issues of evil and the holocaust depicted in the movie raise the question about the nature of man and spark a great moral discussion. We all can find ourselves in the place of the child who loves to explore and have both the things in front of his eyes i.e., the thing which his parents, sister, teacher, and the leader of his country wants him to see and the thing which he himself explores. And the impact of the former was so strong that he was not able to believe the things which he himself has seen with his eyes. He was not able to trust himself or maybe he was not able to believe that all his loved ones are wrong. But while exploring which is true or reality, he himself was crushed in that mill. At last, he figured out the truth by experiencing it. 

The boy committed treason of being innocent and believing his own self; his dream, interest or his passion to explore things was disloyal to the state. If we see the current situation, I found myself exactly in the same place as the boy who although have many sources of information but is stuck between whom to believe and whom to not? Like the point of view of a nine-year-old German boy, who only learned about the reality of his situation in bits and pieces.

The recent situations in India including the 2020 Delhi riots, 2022 Karauli riots, and bulldozing houses in MP & Delhi, make us stand in the same place as ‘there are always two sides to every story’ and understanding is a three-edged sword, your side, their side, and the truth in the middle. So, we must get all the facts before jumping to the conclusions and we have to explore on our own and can’t just rely.

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