The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is a movie about the friendship shared between two eight year old boys. One boy, is the son of a prominent figure in the German army, while the other boy lives a life full of hardships behind the confinement of a barbed wire fence of a Nazi concentration camp.
The German boy, Bruno, is brought up in a good home, and has led a privileged life. After his father is promoted, Bruno and his family are forced to move to the German country side, where his dad will be closer to the concentration camp. While Bruno is not thrilled about having to leave his friends behind, he is excited when he sees some “farmers” outside of is bedroom window. Bruno did not realize until later that these “farmers” were actually people confined within the local concentration camp.
Every now and again, Bruno would notice the columns of smoke leaving the chimneys of the concentration camp, and without knowledge of what it was, would complain about the stench.
In the movie, Bruno’s mother as well as Bruno and his sister, have no idea what is going on inside the concentration camps. I have heard that many Germans didn’t realize what was going on inside the camps until after the war was over, but to actually see that portrayed in a movie was kind of weird for me. It was hard to believe that people could be so clueless as to what was going on right in front of them.
While exploring land beyond Bruno’s house, he comes across a boy in “striped pajamas.” After Bruno makes several trips to and from the barbed wire fence that has become the meeting place of the Jewish boy and Bruno, they form a unique friendship.
One day, Bruno’s friend expresses his distress over the fact that his father went to work somewhere in the camp, but never came back. Bruno volunteers to help the Jewish boy find his father, and so sneeks into the concentration camp. While inside the camp, the boys, as well as many others, are herded into a gas chamber, and killed.
I have seen holocaust movies before, but Im not sure that I’ve ever seen one from the perspective of the Nazi side of the war. I thought the idea behind this movie was really good, and gave good insight into what life was like for a German soldier’s family during the war.



*The previously used picture was taken from the following web adress:
http://blog.newsok.com/bamsblog/files/2009/03/boy-in-striped-pajamas-dvd.jpg