Thursday, May 27, 2010
A ballad of friendship, love and innocence
How long have we taken the peace and security around us for granted? “The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas”, directed by Mark Herman, jolts one out of his comfort zone, challenging humanity and morality at their fundamentals and forcing the audience to reflect about the countless fights for lost causes. Through the portrayal of man’s struggle for survival of innocence amidst an age of dark conflicts and betrayal, the harsh brutality and cold cruelty of the world at its evilest echoes deep into one’s heart and one cannot help but question: can a perfect fairytale ending ever exist?The movie was adapted from a bestseller novel of the same name written by John Boyne. Set during World War 2 in Germany, the story is unfurled through the naïve eyes of a son of a German commandant of a Jewish extermination camp, Bruno and relates the forbidden friendship between Bruno and Shmuel, a young Jewish inmate. Between spurts of childish joys and enjoyments shared by the duo lie an unspoken message of ultimate doom and despair as Bruno begins to gain cautious snippets of understanding. Bearing witness to violence perpetrated against some kind Jews, Bruno starts to question the Nazi doctrine of hate that is constantly being preached to him as well as his undying love and respect for his father’s profession. With a twist of fate, he forms an outrageous plan with Shmuel to find Shmuel’s missing father, culminating to the movie’s devastating climax.
The gloomy backdrop of the movie is further augmented by the heavy message it is conveying. Even with a muted emotion palette, the haunting reality is still near suffocating. Undeniably, the subtle undercurrents of internal turbulences and secrets evoke much emotion and generate a series of thought-provoking questions that invade the audience’s mind. Being children entangled in a web of adult lies and falsehoods, subjected to the critical surveillance of society, when will the war truly end? As Robert Ebert from Chicago Sun Times aptly pointed out: “It is about a value system that survives like a virus”—an epidemic of propaganda and ill-faith.
The complex and sensitive nature of the issue is handled with impressive grace and intelligence, with a pivotal balance of two contrasting perspectives. Disgust at the inhumanity of Bruno’s father is neutralized by sympathy for his protective paternal instincts. Similarly, pity for Bruno’s family grows, especially at sights of the mother breaking down at the awful revelations. It is indeed rare for a film to cast the spotlight on both the perpetrators and victims so successfully and managing such poignancy in 90 compact minutes is nothing short of miraculous. The film is often the subject of comparison with other war-dramas like “Life is Beautiful” where there is a parallel denotation of sugarcoated tragedy.
Asa Butterfield put up a convincing performance as the wide-eyed Bruno. Herman revealed that “his lack of understanding of the Holocaust made his acting even more authentic… and we were careful to keep it that way.” Whether it is deliberate denial or pure naivety; his numerous seemingly innocent questions like “What do you burn in those chimneys?” would break many hearts. Butterfield’s acting strikes all the right chords, burning with feverish curiosity and accurately portraying Bruno’s harrowing cluelessness of the gravity of the situation. However, the over-cluelessness to the state of oblivion may not work out that well with adults who may view it as a form of insulation from the actual hard realities.
Vera Farmiga, with her chameleon quality that had previously caught the attention of directors like Martin Scorsese, captured the moral ambiguity well and instilled humanity to the role of a commandant’s wife (Elsa) who was kept in the dark about her husband’s job-scope, casting new light on the Nazis, allowing the audience to view them as human beings and not mere annihilating monsters. Elsa’s character, with her initial indifference, apathy and ignorance, is reflective of the state of mind people assume and compel people to reflect.
The original music compilation composed by James Horner ended the orchestra of mixed emotions in staccatos. At one time disdained by film music aficionados, he gave the film a lovely melodic score such as “The Funeral” and “The Strange New Clothes” that plays on the audience’s emotions with an ominous hint of foreshadowing. Scores of such supreme quality are rare in these times where commercial music scores are often created and packed the final punch to the movie.
This war-drama is worth 8 out of 10. While it may not be an entirely accurate historical representation, it proved to be a powerful lesson to both adults and children alike and the deadly silence which more than half of the audience fell into at the end of the movie preview explained it all.
7:21 AM By xuannnn :)
