Eye Candy #295 - "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas"

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas:  Based on the children’s book of the same name, we’ve got the story of a young German boy Bruno who befriends a Jewish child Schmuel who is prisoner in a camp run by Bruno’s father (played by David Thewlis).  Shortly after arriving at the camp, Bruno discovers the “farm” behind his family’s house and the “farmers”.   Left mostly to his own devices, he meets Schmuel, not knowing how he is supposed to treat Jews.  They spend days talking from opposite sides of the fence, as Bruno learns more and more about who the prisoners are, why they are kept there, what is done to them, and his father’s part in it.  At the same time he is tutored by a propaganda-spewing professor, needled by his propaganda-swallowing older sister, and adrift from his mother, who is emotionally in the same boat as Bruno but can’t articulate it to him.  On the eve of his family’s departure from the camp, Bruno offers to help Schmuel find his missing father in the camp, necessitating his sneaking into the concentration camp and dressing like a prisoner, setting into motion events that can pretty well be described as “the worst ending you can think of.”  You know what I’m talking about.  Think of the movie “Se7en”, the worst possible ending is Gwyneth Paltrow’s head in the box.  You could have any other characters’ head in the box but hers and the audience would have felt better.   This film ends just like that. No hope.  No silver lining.  Nada.  It’s a well made film and well acted, even though the supporting characters are painted in broad swaths and the conclusion is completely expected if you’ve been paying attention for the first hour of the film.  The last 20 minutes of the film seems slapped on prematurely (the film clocks in right at 90 minutes, making it possibly the shortest movie ever to deal with the Holocaust), and the ending is abrupt.  Woodchuck sez, “Worth a look.”