The Boy In The Striped Pajamas Propaganda

The movie The Boy in the Striped Pajamas was made in 2008 by Mark Herman the director. The movie featured Asa Butterfield as Bruno, Jack Scanlon as Shmuel, and David Thewlis as Father. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is a movie that takes place in World War 2 that shows the experience of Bruno a german whose family is well off. Bruno’s father is given a promotion requiring the family to move to the countryside. Soon after their arrival Bruno discovers the “Farmers” who live next door. He asks his mother to play with them, she is confused until she looks out his window to see the concentration camp. Appalled, she quickly shuts down his request leaving him to play by himself in the small front garden. Bruno being the adventurous boy that he is
Shmuel tells naive Bruno about what really lies beyond the fence, this causes Bruno to rethink his father’s morals. All is relieved when he sees the propaganda video making him believe that the camp isn’t as bad as Shmuel made it out to be. Bruno’s father hires a tutor to teach Bruno and his sister the Nazi ways. It is around this time that Bruno’s mother discovers that the camp isn’t a labor camp but a death camp. She is repulsed and becomes distant. Shmuel is then given the opportunity to work in Bruno’s house, Bruno finds him and offers him food. A soldier appears accusing Shmuel of stealing, Bruno says he witnessed him steal, and that he doesn’t know him. Bruno tried looking for Shmuel afterwards to apologize but doesn’t find him, he finds him days later with a black eye. Bruno’s mother can’t handle the conditions anymore and decides to take the kids away to a safe place. Bruno is so upset about leaving his new found friend that he runs off. The two boys meet at the fence, Shmuel tells Bruno that he doesn’t know where his father is. Bruno offers to come and help look for him. They dig a hole under the fence and Bruno is given a pair of “Pajamas” to
This movie showed how everyone was affected in some way because it showed many different types of people and showed how the holocaust changed them. For example for Bruno the holocaust took away his childhood and forced him to open his eyes to the reality of the world around him. He showed how the jews weren’t the only ones affected even the German children were affected even if it was a miniscule amount compared to what the Jews went through. Another example would be Shmuel because he showed again how his childhood was taken from him, he also had to witness death and had to justify to himself that he was being treated like he was less than animals because he was a jew. I can’t even imagine the amount of jealousy he must feel to see Bruno living in the lap of luxury while he was beaten down day after day. These were just minor things compared to the fact that these characters showed how the holocaust killed way too many innocent lives. This movie also makes the audience feel sympathetic towards the people affected because it makes it real. Seeing two innocent young boys be killed for dumb reasons makes the audience feel deeply saddened. The whole point of history class is to understand what happened in a given event, why it happened, and what caused it. We think about history