Boy in the Striped Pajamas

What is the Film about?
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is all about a young boy called Bruno who moves house from Berlin to the country side. He moved because his Father gets a new job in the country.
From Bruno’s bedroom window, he sees a ‘farm’; well that is what he thinks it is. But in actual fact, it is where his Father works. It isn’t a farm; it is a concentration camp for Jews. All of the Jews are wearing striped clothes. Bruno thinks it is their pyjamas. Later on during the film, Bruno sneaks out of their new house round the back and he goes through the woods and to a fence which is part of the camp. A little boy called Shmuel is sitting on the floor hiding from the guards. They both become friends, and Bruno goes to visit him nearly everyday. Then Shmuel realises that his Father is ‘missing’; and asks Bruno to help him look. Bruno digs a hole underneath the barbed wire and climbs through carefully. He wears striped clothes and a cap. He thinks that the concentration camp is still a farm. When is in the camp, he runs to find Shmuel’s Father, but is then taken into a ‘shower’. At the end of this, Bruno’s family realises he is missing and knows exactly where he has gone. They are all worried and at the end of the film, Bruno has been gassed through the gas chamber. Bruno and Shmuel have died.
What can you learn from the film about the Holocaust?
The film gives a good insight of the Holocaust through the eyes of the child. It shows that the holocaust was very horrible and frightening. It wasn’t fair on the Jews at all. The Jews were killed for no reason. Only the fact that they were Jewish, which is really unfair. The Germans were the enemy here, not the Jews.
In the film, Bruno and his sister, Gretel, were taught to be with Hitler. Gretel was a girly girl when they first moved to the country, but then all of a sudden, when she was being home schooled, she chucked all of her dolls away, and started putting up posters of Hitler. The children had been brainwashed. The children had been told to go against the Jews and that they were the enemy, which wasn’t true. Hitler was.
How accurate is the film?
There was some historical accuracy (as there was a real concentration camp called Auschwitz). However, it would have been impossible for Shmuel to have lived there as they usually gassed or killed those who were not old enough to work. Also, the camp was surrounded by an electric fence. Therefore, Bruno would not have been able to crawl under it without being electrocuted.
What shocked you the most?
What shocked me the most were a few things. First reason being, when the Father didn’t say the truth about the camp to the children. Secondly, the fact that the children were brainwashed into liking Hitler. Thirdly, the fact that all the Jews were prisoned and killed for no reason.
Would you recommend the film to others?
Yes, I would recommend it to others. You really learn a lot about the Holocaust in this film. It is really interesting, but very terrifying.