The other night I watched ‘The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas’, which I bought for a fiver on Amazon – bargain! It’s a film based on a novel by John Boyne and tells a story from the Holocaust from the eyes of an 8-year old German boy.
The boy Bruno, is the son of a German soldier, recently promoted, unknown to the rest of the family as the commandant of a concentration camp. The truth is revealed slowly as Bruno starts to go exploring. There is a certain charm to the ignorance and naivity of Bruno as he thinks this camp is a farm, and finds it strange that the farmers wear pyjamas, and play a game with numbers on themselves.
Bruno forms a friendship first with Pavel, “a doctor who gave it up to peel potatos”, and then with Shmuel an 8-year old Jewish boy. There’s some interesting thoughts on friendship, betrayal, a the innocence of childhood. Good film.
Check out Wikipedia for more info about the film, and the book.
