The massacre of a people during the Second World War and the harm inflicted on countless families are indelible scars in human history. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas takes place in this era, when bruno, the son of a German officer in a concentration camp, forged a pure friendship with A Jewish boy on the other side of the camp's barbed wire, Smuel, but was also tragically doomed.
The film does not focus on war scenes, but uses the childhood of children to reflect the harsh reality of darkness. The strong contrast magnifies the tragedy after the beautiful being torn apart. This is also the cleverness of this film's performance method.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="4" > "they're not human at all."</h1>
Berlin in 1940 did not seem to have been affected by the war. At the beginning of the film, the streets of Berlin are full of pedestrians of all kinds, and Bruno and his friends run freely in the streets under the sun, their arms outstretched like chicks with open wings. Set against the backdrop of a relaxed melodious soundtrack, the safe and carefree breath of life is transmitted to the audience in front of the screen through the calm lens.
Life will always experience a forced separation again and again. With his father's promotion, the Bruno family is about to move to a country house. On the day of departure, Bruno looked around the house for the last time before turning to leave. He opened his arms in the car with his farewell friends, only this time, he went alone into the distance.
Unlike the cozy old house, the new house has a tall gray brick wall, a black wooden staircase, and a serious soldier who does not say a word... All that they saw made Bruno and Maria unconsciously lower their voices as they spoke.
Bruno's sight of the "farm" not far away through the small window of the house with its iron railing, where farmers and children in striped pajamas, strange to him, also made his mother feel a little nervous when he saw them come to the house for the first time to deliver food.
"Why are they wearing pajamas?" The child has endless questions, and for this innocent question, the father tells him: "They are not human at all." In the eyes of his father, a Nazi officer, the people who held the children's so-called "farms" were Jews, but they could not be called human beings, they were sinful.
Lies are sometimes the best way to cover up cruel truths as a way to protect innocence. In contrast to Ralph's blunt answer, the mother gave a more gentle "lie" about Bruno's inability to play with the children: they are different from you, and you will make other new friends, but not on the farm.
In fact, the German officer hid a truth from everyone: the camp next door was the killing factory, Auschwitz.
After that, you can see that the small windows of the farm are sealed. Bruno's new life became more and more boring, and he could only play against himself in a sigh. In the courtyard, the little boy kept circling around alone with open arms, and outside the courtyard were tightly locked iron doors and indifferent soldiers with handsome military dogs.
However, children are always full of curiosity. The small doors that open in the courtyard attract Bruno, who wants to explore, and the people in the "striped pajamas" who appear in the house also attract his attention from time to time.
Bruno's first close encounter with the "pajamas" was Pavel, motivated by a bored child's whim wanting a swing.
"Hurry up! fast! In the midst of rude and tough commands, Pavel ran over with trepidation, took Bruno to pick out the tires, and helped him make a swing. Unexpectedly, Bruno was accidentally injured during play, his parents were not at home at that time, and it was Pavel who came to help him bandage.
Pavel's movements were professional and patient, and it was then that Bruno knew his name, and that he was originally a respected doctor, not just a potato cutter.
In his exchanges with Pavel, Bruno did not look down on his father because of his father's admonition that "they are not human at all", and the conversation was equal. For the unknown object, Bruno's direct questions reveal Pavel's past for the audience.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="18" > "We're friends, right?" </h1>
Escaping from the shackles of the cold wall, the child's childish fun grows wildly in the lushness.
Bruno still "escaped through the window" of the house behind the small door. He ran freely in the forest, jumped over a small river, came to the beginning of his tragic fate, the concentration camp surrounded by barbed wire, and met The muer, a child sitting alone by the net.
Looking at the numbering on Shmúel's striped pajamas, the naïve Bruno even felt at that moment that life was unfair, that he was trapped in the house, while Shimuel could play games with his friends outside.
When Shimuel had to lift the cart back to the whistle, they said to each other, "It's nice to see you." "In the world of children, there is no racial difference, and there is no distinction between high and low status. From the moment they began to exchange names, they were sincere and equal.
Bruno began to sneak up on Shimuel with food. They chatted about their stories together and gradually discovered that they had different perceptions. Through this story, the film also reveals that the striped pajamas are a metaphor for the imprisonment and persecution of Jews in concentration camps.
Bruno liked the military because they made everyone's life better. He thought they were wearing pajamas, and that the barbed wire was a shield against animal injury to people in striped pajamas, and that they were free to choose to go home with themselves for dinner.
Shimuel, on the other hand, told him that he did not like soldiers. Their "striped pajamas" were the only clothes the soldier had taken away everything, and the barbed wire was so that they could not accept his invitation to eat at home so that they could not accept his invitation to eat at home.
"You can't go out? Why, what are you doing wrong? ”
"I'm Jewish."
The young Bruno did not know how to respond for a moment, and the friendly chat suddenly stopped, and he hurried away. In his mind, mistakes were the reason for being locked up, and being born a Jew was not what he thought was wrong. Race should not be a reason to be punished, much less to be judged by right or wrong.
The tutor taught Bruno and his sister that the Jewish people had brought about the decline of a country and that there was not a good person among the Jews. Bruno could not understand his malice toward the Jews, and even asked rhetorically: "Are there good people among the Jews?" He began to think in such a teaching, and the rhetorical question to the teacher was also a question in his heart at this moment.
Bruno still secretly took football to play with Shimuel in confusion, but Shimuel, who liked football, could only tell him with a disappointed face that he could not play here. In that barbed-wire camp, people had no freedom and rights, children had no childhood, and play was a luxury wish for children who were Jewish.
Her sister, who was deeply poisoned by Nazi thought, also told Bruno: "The Jews deserve it." She spoke a lot to Bruno, who was curious about the camp, and she said that the Jews were there because they couldn't do anything, they were evil, they were enemies. The sister's words undoubtedly brought bruno greater doubts about understanding reality.
Perhaps, in the face of threats, people instinctively choose to protect themselves. Bruno saw Shmüer at his house again, helping to clean the cups. For the two, they are friends. Bruno then handed the dessert to Shimuel, who happily accepted.
However, in the face of the German soldiers' loud rebuke when caught stealing food, Shmuel simply replied that "we are friends", but Bruno did not have the courage to admit that they were friends, admitting that he had brought him food, and the punishment fell on Shmüel.
War is undoubtedly terrible, he makes soldiers ruthless, but also makes children afraid. Bruno, who is only 8 years old, values his friends and is also cowardly, he does not dare to resist, and he does not have the courage to bear the severe punishment that may occur.
Bruno would still run in the forest, sometimes using the racket as wings, sometimes holding a beautiful toy airplane, and sometimes sitting alone outside the barbed wire. In the period before he saw Shmuele again, he was anxious and remorseful.
"We're still friends, right?" Schmuel listened to Bruno's apology, just nodded silently, and then put his hand out of the barbed wire and shook Bruno's outstretched hand.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="37" > clenched hands are the last moments to give each other courage</h1>
In the days that followed, they continued to talk through the barbed wire, play chess, joke, and get closer together. The atmosphere in Bruno's house grew more and more tense, the parents' quarrels grew, and the quarrels of the night made the siblings curl up and snuggle up on the cot.
As time went on, Bruno was moving away again, and although he already had friends and was no longer as desperate to leave as he had been, his father was still strong.
He told Schmuel the bad news, naively thinking that in the future Shimuel could go to Berlin to find him and they could see him again. To make up for it, Bruno decides to use his last time to do something for Shmuel, offering to help him find his father who is missing in the camp.
Two children treat each other as good friends, simply believing that their ideas are feasible, but unable to predict the consequences of doing so.
"Do you really want to?"
"I want to do that."
"Do you really dare?"
"I want to help you find your father."
The next day, Bruno hid his sandwich as usual to find Smuel, and ran to the camp with the shovel used to dig the hole.
For them, it was just an adventure to find their father. Bruno changed into striped pajamas, disguised himself as a Jew in the camp, and climbed into the barbed wire to smile at Shimuel.
Bruno, who had witnessed the reality of the situation in the camp, hesitated, but forgot his timidity because he wanted to help find his father's promise. Here, he saw a very different world.
Darkness crowded the dormitories of people, people on the way, everything became more unbearable and sad in the sudden thunderstorm. Bruno mingled in the crowd and was driven to the gas chambers with the other Jews, never to come out again.
The helpless Bruno and Shimuel clasped their hands in the darkness, which also became a deeply touching audience and imprinted in their hearts.
The two children did not realize in the end that they were victims of the war. A sincere and simple friendship became the most valuable harvest in their short lives.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="52" > the cycle of tragedy, the lament of fate</h1>
War may change a person's disposition, impose prejudices that hurt a race, and affect a nation, but the innocence of a child may be the only remaining stability in a turbulent situation. Despite their completely different circumstances, both Bruno and Shmuel firmly believe that their father is a good person to be proud of. In their hearts, affection is simple and pure love.
In germany in the war environment, the policy of the state, the knowledge taught by the teachers, the father's military philosophy, and the living environment all had a huge impact on Bruno's growth.
His father, a German officer, was in charge of the entire camp, mercilessly punishing and killing innocent lives. But he did not expect that in the end, it was his men who took his son's life in the camp of countless Jews who were imprisoned. The fate of Bruno, who has always remained kind, is doomed to a tragic end from the moment he meets the equally naïve Smuel.
There are no bloody shots in the whole film, but the language of calm shots is a powerful indictment of the cruelty of war. The war, which brought together two fates that had no intersection, ended the tragedy in the most brutal way.
The two children who never left the camp again can be said to be the epitome of the real society under the entire war era, which not only allows us to see the innocence and beauty being snuffed out, but also to experience the great harm of war to everyone in that era.