'The Boy in the Striped Pajamas': Lessons Too Important to Ignore

The film The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is just out on DVD this week, and I confess I was eagerly anticipating its release, having missed its run in theaters. I rented it and watched it Wednesday evening.

Based on the children’s novel of the same name by John Boyne, it tells the story of eight-year-old Bruno, whose father is a high-ranking Nazi. Dad is transferred from his post in Berlin to head a work (read: final solution) camp, and the family is uprooted to the countryside. Bored out of his skull after a few weeks of little to do and no one to play with but his older sister, Bruno defies his mother’s orders to stay in the front yard and sneaks out back to explore. He comes upon the camp, which he thinks is a farm (Bruno is sheltered from the realities of his father’s work) and meets Shmuel, a boy his age on the other side of the fence, wearing what Bruno thinks are “striped pajamas.” Despite being separated by electrified barbed wire, the two boys strike up a friendship that holds fast despite the obvious adversity and future problems that arise.

I hesitate to tell too much for those who have not seen the film or read the book, but suffice it to say it is very moving and a poignant reminder that children do not automatically inherit the prejudices of their parents – those prejudices must be taught. All I’ll say here is that if you do watch it, have a box of tissues handy.

Amazingly, Harvey Weinstein of Miramax Films felt compelled to defend the “glut” of Holocaust movies that were released at the end of 2008. Critics complained that the topic was too “gloomy” for the festive season. (What season is this, I wonder? It couldn’t be the Christmas season, because we don’t talk about that. Must be the Holiday season I hear so much about.) Why on earth should he have to defend these films? No one feels the need to defend the glut of slasher and teen smut films on the market, which have little or no cultural value.

In light of the increase of anti-Semitism around the world, combined with a lack of knowledge about what really happened during World War II, I think it’s important that films like this are made – yes, even films targeted at children. Our president has suggested that kindergartners be taught about sex in an “age appropriate” manner. If children that young are old enough to learn about sex, surely those who are a little older can learn about a human catastrophe that, heaven forbid, could happen again if Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his ilk have their way?

A recent survey in Britain of more than 1,000 schoolchildren aged 11-16 about the death camp Auschwitz revealed that: a quarter still did not know its purpose.

Of those, about 10% were not sure what it was, 8% thought it was a country bordering Germany, 2% thought it was a beer, the same proportion said it was a religious festival and a further 1% said it was a type of bread.

Perhaps this isn’t surprising, considering some schools in that nation are dropping Holocaust studies because they’re afraid of “offending” Muslim students. Yes, the same nation that wouldn’t allow Geert Wilders in because his film Fitna, according to Foreign Secretary David Miliband, contains “extreme anti-Muslim hate and we have very clear laws in this country.”

Meanwhile, anti-Semitism and attacks on Jews in the UK are on the rise. Wonder what Miliband thinks about that?

Another question I have is why The Boy in the Striped Pajamas didn’t get any attention here during the Golden Globe and Academy Awards blitz? Great acting, fabulous costumes, great screenplay. I don’t claim to know anything about the nomination process, but I’m guessing that a film about the horrors of Jewish genocide might make too many people uncomfortable.

No, better to keep releasing films that make our troops look bad – although that might stop now that Obama the Magnificent has “inherited” Iraq and Afghanistan. Big Hollywood’s John Scott Lewinski notes that “since a Democrat is president and it’s safe for Hollywood to support America’s wars again, there’s reason to hope for such a comeback” of heroes in American films.

In the meantime, I suggest you watch The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, and if you have children, have them watch it with you. It contains a lesson that none of us can afford to forget.