One of the main ideas in the film The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas directed by Mark Herman is that friendship breaks all barriers, no matter the circumstances. This is conveyed through the characters Bruno, a naive Christian boy who loves exploring, and whose father is a head officer in Hitler’s army. And his unexpected friend Shmuel, a Jewish boy who lives in a concentration camp on the opposite side of the forest that Bruno and his family live at. This is a very unusual friendship as it can be related to other holocaust novels such as “Number the Stars by Lois Lowry”, but because of the two boy’s naive and kind hearts, they physically and emotionally break every barrier in their way that stops them from being best friends.
In this Film it begins with Bruno and his family living securely in Berlin, happy and surrounded with good friends. Which quickly escalates to his core family moving to “out-with” ,a town with barely any people, and his house is highly secured with guards at the front, day and night, who were not keen on Bruno’s wondering habits. This meant no freedom. This meant no exploring. His whole life had suddenly been turned upside down. This was very unfamiliar to him. This left Bruno lonely, and depressed. One day Bruno had enough of not exploring, and took his ambition to the next level. He jumped the fence at the back of the house, and ran through the forest. This is when he saw a thin, bald boy wearing pyjamas, sitting facing a massive fence with his head down. This was the beginning of their long friendship, the idea of the two boys being born on the same date, and the idea of Shmuels life on his side of the fence compared to Bruno’s, kindled both boys curiosity, which then ignited into a trustworthy and loyal friendship between the two boys. Despite their completely different backgrounds, and the slight knowledge of their forbidden friendship, they continue to be friend’s and look past the complications. This