The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

Retell: This deep and powerful movie starts off with the protagonist, a young boy named Bruno, hearing the news about his fathers promotion in the German Army. Bruno then finds out about having to move to the countryside. Upon moving into his new home he discovers a concentration camp with Jewish prisoners in the distance, or what he believe to be a farmers and playful children. Finding no other neighbors in sight he decides to sneak out and find the farm to play with the children, despite knowing his mother denied him permission to go as she said "they're strange, they're different". His curiosity leads him to find a young boy on the other side of the fence of the "farm" named Shmuel. Being clueless to who this is he continually keeps coming back to visit him. Even after learning more about Shmuel and getting a sense that they weren't supposed to be friends, his loyalty kept him coming back. He would bring him food, toys, and have long talks with him. One night he defied his Nazi identity for his close friend and tried to help him find his father by sneaking into the concentration camp and dressing up as one of the Jews. The innocent boys tried and tried but failed. By the end all the Jews get put into the gas chamber, and mistakenly even Bruno. Not knowing where they were going, both boys died.

Reflect: The message behind this movie is to show the innocence of children; to show that we are all the same and children are taught to hate. We are all born the same on the inside and this movie shows what people behaved like in the period of the holocaust. Despite knowing the superior role of his Nazi father, and being taught antisemitism and propaganda by their tutor, he could not get himself to hate Shmuel, his best and only friend, as well as the servant working in their home. The point of the story is that everyone is the same, no matter your religion, beliefs, eye colour, etc.

Both boys share the same tragic fate at the end of the movie.

Relate: This movie is based on, and relates to the real events that took place in the 1930's-1050's. The execution of nearly 6 million Jews occurred around this time. In this movie, the boys become friends despite what they were both taught to believe growing up, Although the tragic events that took place at the end of the movie, it shows what people were actually like in those days. It shows the horrific and traumatic things that would happen inside concentration camps, to Jews. Bruno had the same heartbreaking fate as his friend Shmuel.