The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas

Who’s in It: David Thewlis (Harry Potter), Vera Farmiga (The Departed), Rupert Friend

The Plot: Eight year-old Bruno is the sheltered son of a Nazi officer whose promotion takes the family from their comfortable home in Berlin to a desolate area where the lonely boy finds nothing to do and no-one to play with. Crushed by boredom and compelled by curiosity, Bruno ignores his mother’s repeated instructions not to explore the back garden and heads for the ‘farm’ he has seen in the near distance. There he meets Shmuel, a boy his own age who lives a parallel, alien existence on the other side of a barbed wire fence. Bruno's encounter with the boy in the striped pyjamas leads him from innocence to a dawning awareness of the adult world around them as his meetings with Shmuel develop into a friendship with devastating consequences.

What We Think: The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas works incredibly well as a fable intended to provide a unique perspective on the effects of prejudice, hatred and violence on innocent people, particularly children, during wartime. Seen through the eyes of a fanciful, eight year-old German boy who is largely shielded from the realities of the war, we witness a forbidden friendship that develops between Bruno and Shmuel. It is the blossoming of this friendship and the amazing performances of newcomers Jack Scanlon and Asa Butterfield that impress most.

Rating: A-

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