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Boy in the Striped Pajamas, The
Miramax Films


7.9

based on 28 reviews
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based on 30 votes
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MPAA RATING: PG-13 for some mature thematic material involving the Holocaust

Starring David Thewlis, Vera Farmiga, Rupert Friend, Asa Butterfield, and Jack Scalon

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is a powerful fictional story that offers a unique perspective on how prejudice, hatred and violence affect innocent people, particularly children, during wartime. Through the eyes of an eight-year-old boy largely shielded from the reality of World War II, we witness a forbidden friendship that forms between Bruno, the son of Nazi commandant, and Shmuel, a Jewish boy held captive in a concentration camp. Though the two are separated physically by a barbed wire fence, their lives become inescapably intertwined. The imagined story of Bruno and Shmuel sheds light on the brutality, senselessness and devastating consequences of war from an unusual point of view. Together, their tragic journey helps recall the millions of innocent victims of the Holocaust. (Miramax Films)

GENRE(S):	Drama
WRITTEN BY:	Mark Herman
DIRECTED BY:	Mark Herman
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: March 10, 2009 Theatrical: November 7, 2008
RUNNING TIME:	93 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	UK \| USA

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer

And yet the great conundrum of the Holocaust is that it was perpetrated by human beings, not monsters. Few movies have rendered this puzzle so powerfully.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

Even though it unfolds almost entirely through a child's eyes, and contains no onscreen violence, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas packs as devastating a punch as an adult-oriented drama about the subject. Its concluding five minutes are almost impossible to watch.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is not only about Germany during the war, although the story it tells is heartbreaking in more than one way. It is about a value system that survives like a virus.

USA Today Claudia Puig

Viewers should know that the film's resolution, though admirably restrained and unsentimental, is devastatingly sad. Parents should take this into account. This beautifully rendered family film is told in a classic and old-fashioned style, in the best sense, providing poignant and powerful teachable moments.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Tasha Robinson

The film has any number of chances to exploit the setting and Butterfield's wide-eyed innocence, but instead, it mines a vast, eerie tension by keeping both boys in the dark.

Portland Oregonian Marc Mohan

Turns out this is a thoughtful, well-acted film that manages to view this most inconceivable of travesties through the eyes of child without being childish itself.

The Hollywood Reporter Ray Bennett

Boyne's tale is starkly cautionary, and writer-director Herman handles a difficult topic with great sensitivity, drawing splendid performances from his young actors with David Thewlis and Vera Farmiga and the other grown-ups reliably efficient.

Variety Derek Elley

Opening half-hour has some of the best stuff in the movie, walking a precarious line between black irony and showing the war from a totally German viewpoint, without tipping over into gallows humor or parody.

Village Voice Chuck Wilson

In adapting Irishman John Boyne's acclaimed young-adult novel, writer-director Mark Herman (Little Voice) draws beautifully modulated performances from his two child actors, who navigate a full range of emotions from wonder to betrayal to guilt.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

In key ways, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is like Guillermo del Toro's "Pan's Labyrinth": a child, caught in the waking nightmare of one of history's ugliest times, confronting the horrors of a grown-up world, and dealing with them as best he, or she, can.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

The power of this Holocaust tale sneaks up and floors you.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

Told from a different angle than any other Holocaust film I've seen.

Boston Globe Ty Burr

Because its gaze is so level and so unyielding, it stands as one of the better dramatic films made on this subject (although it's not nearly as fine as Louis Malle's "Au Revoir les Enfants."

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen

The result isn't meant to be an historical document transmuted into fiction; instead, it's fiction turned into a fable, a dark fable.

Los Angeles Times Sheri Linden

The film's two levels -- metaphoric and nitty-gritty -- don't mesh until the devastation of the closing sequence, which both indulges in and transcends melodrama.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas should be heartbreaking, but it isn't. The muted quality of its impact is the result of narrative shortcuts and a desire to keep the images from being too startling.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker

Herman's intentions are admirable, but his results are unsettling in the worst ways.

New York Post Kyle Smith

The bulk of the movie consists of scene after scene coyly setting up the same ironic juxtaposition, in the exact same way, about innocence vs. Nazism.

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

The film succeeds to the degree that it does -- partially, but honorably and sometimes affectingly -- because it was made as well as it was.

Austin Chronicle Josh Rosenblatt

True artists will risk sacrificing audience goodwill for truth and sentimentality for cold historical reality, but Herman doesn't want your respect; he just wants your tears.

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

I found the movie impossibly basic and sanitized as a "never again" parable of the Final Solution - and simply wrongheaded as a story about children.

Washington Post John Anderson

Although it's a far less objectionable Holocaust revision than, say, Roberto Benigni's "Life Is Beautiful," Herman's The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is yet another attempt to revisit a sorrowful event in history that should never be forgotten or used for entertainment.

NPR Bob Mondello

The faux-naive point of view probably worked better in the novel; the literalness of film renders certain of the story's conceits overly precious.

TV Guide Nathan Southern

Herman fails to journey beyond the surface-level realities of his central perspective, which makes his film feel half-developed and poorly conceived, and drives it into sensationalism.

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

Watching The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, it struck me that weaving a touching little tale about a death-camp friendship is actually a pretty bad way to teach kids about the Holocaust.

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

An appalling, jaw-dropping movie that will cause serious nightmares.

The New York Times Manohla Dargis

See the Holocaust trivialized, glossed over, kitsched up, commercially exploited and hijacked for a tragedy about a Nazi family. Better yet and in all sincerity: don't.

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

This might have had some potential as a German exercise in self-examination, but as a tony BBC Films production, with the actors all speaking British-accented English (including Jersey girl Farmiga), it reeks of self-righteousness.

The average user rating for this movie is 7.9 (out of 10) based on 30 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Pete T gave it a1:
Awful, awful, awful. I'm not heartless. Parts of it are touching of course, but it's terribly done. It's like Shindler's List for kids, expect I'd never show it to kids (and I'm a teacher).

mauricio l gave it a9:
Very goood movie, really sad and kept me really interested through out the hole movie.

Eric C gave it a10:
Beautifully done! It made me cry twice.

Jay H. gave it a7:
Beautifully made and acted. The story is a bit familiar and it's pretty easy to see where the film is going. Still, it's very poignant. Excellent cinematography. It's a fine film overall.

Ann D. gave it a10:
I thought the movie was wonderful. A poignant tale involving the bigotry of the adults and the innocence of the children. The ending was heart wrenching but necessary for the punch!

Cynthia C. gave it a10:
This was the best film I've seen this year, for acting, cinematography and content. Very powerful.

gary s gave it an8:
The movie builds slowly but effectively to one of the more gripping 15 minutes of film I've seen. There are certain conceits: how poorly guarded is the camp's perimeter, primarily; also, how no one misses little Bruno during his visits, though seemingly so closely watching him. The ending leaves mixed emotion. The father's "punishment," but at such a price.

Boy in the Striped Pajamas, The Miramax Films

Boy in the Striped Pajamas, The
Miramax Films