The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

My Response:
At first I did not know what to expect but I had been told that it was sad. The beginning of the film depicts, what seems like a usual neighborhood in Berlin, Germany. As the city street comes into view I could see three big nazi flags (The importance of the number 3). There is a group of young boys running in the streets. The costumes of the actors represents an era around the 1940s. With the dialect of the actors I could tell that they spoke with a British accent. When the main character, Bruno, got home he discovers that his family is going to move to the countryside because his father, a nazi general, has been promoted. When they arrive at the home I could tell that it was a military type house, with fences and guards. The director makes very beautiful use of stripes. The stairs have stripes, the windows have stripes, and the trees are in a striped pattern. There is a very pivotal scene when he arrives at the new home and he looks out of his window and sees what he believes is a farm, its actually a concentration camp for Jews. The whole time he is oblivious to what is happening on these "farms". Because Bruno is so innocent he does not know the situation that surrounds him and how the Jews are being persecuted. The film does a beautiful job in demonstrating how Bruno as the adventurous and innocent young boy that he is. The director uses another powerful scene in which a bunch of dolls are stacked up. This is a powerful scene because it is a depiction of the mass murders of the jewish people. As the film progressed the relationship between Bruno and Shmuel gets stronger. There is a this feeling that we know things that Bruno doesn't know. A very disturbing thing that we know is that the smoke he sees and the smell that he smells is the burning of jews. The director uses head shots to show when Bruno has moments of doubt and when he realizes things. The relationship grows so much that before leaving Bruno decides to enter the camp, not through the gate but under the fence and dress as a jew so that he can help his friend find his dad. This is the most heartbreaking part because when they enter the hut, the nazis begin taking them to the gas chambers. The sad part is that the boys are so innocent that they don't know what is about to happen. As they are all pushed into the chamber the door is shut and the lights go out (darkness means death). Then a small opening in the roof opens and at that moment the two friends hold each others hands and the nazi dumps the poison in.