The Boy in Striped Pajamas is an anti-war satire film, which is adapted from the novel of the same name by British director Mark Herman.
In this film, he uses extremely deep humanistic feelings and rich and delicate lens language to start from the perspective of children.
This paper tells about the "different" experiences of Aryan boy Bruno and Jewish boy Schmuer after establishing friendship, expressing sympathy for Jews and criticizing Nazi Germany.
Bruno, an eight-year-old Aryan boy, followed his father, a Nazi officer, and his mother and sister to a farm in rural Berlin.
He can't contact his former playmates any more, and he is moping all day.
What surprised him even more was that one or two servants in striped pajamas often appeared in their new home. Their behavior is timid and respectful, and they are completely called by the officers to move things.
Naturally curious, Bruno became interested in these people and often went to chat with them when they were helping in the kitchen.
Bruno's behavior made his mother very worried.
By chance, while the adults were busy, he found a farm surrounded by wire along the path behind the door and met another boy-Schmohl in striped pajamas.
Bruno started secretly chatting and playing chess with Schmohl. He often secretly takes out delicious food from home and gives it to the little boy to taste. The two men have established a profound friendship.
Knowing that Schmohl's father was also in this barbed wire farm, Bruno decided to help his friend find his family, secretly put on striped pajamas and walked into this "farm" surrounded by barbed wire with Schmohl. ...
In many movies with the theme of "reflecting on World War II and satirizing Nazis", the atmosphere is different, either solemn or heavy, or relaxed and humorous, or bizarre.
Many directors tend to render the cruelty and tyranny of the Nazis from the perspective of "modern people" with the mentality of "justice conquers evil", and it is inevitable to fall into the stereotype of "facepainting" the Nazis.
Compared with other works on the same subject, Herman's film is not really like a "reflection on Nazi" film.
There are no large-scale bloody scenes, inhuman war scenes and fanatical "Nazi slogans" in the film.
The only thing you can see is the immature children everywhere.
Their smiling faces are more and more innocent against the blue sky, white clouds and trees.
The little boy Bruno is like a little detective who is eager to explore. He flew with open arms, immersed in his own world, unaware of his happiness, which was given by "Aryan descent".
Next, I will combine the plot of the film, from the historical background, children's perspective, Nazi persecution of human nature and other aspects, to lead everyone to appreciate this good film.
Christianity believes that after Jesus was betrayed by his disciples, the people who crucified him were the Jews in power.
Because of this religious language, the idea of "anti-Semitism" spread in Europe from 1 1 century to12nd century.
Because Jews have always been known as "smart and good at doing business", they have accumulated great wealth and social fame for centuries.
During Weimar * * and the Republic of China (19 18 to 1933), German cultural and artistic circles were full of talents.
At that time, Jews operated important galleries and cultural and artistic exchange centers, and almost held the right to speak in all fields such as opera, drama, music, art and book review.
Most excellent films and dramas in Germany are created by Jews. In addition, Jews also influence newspaper publishing and film and television media.
The achievements of Jews did not make them welcome the respect of European nations under the "scenery".
On the contrary, because of great wealth and outstanding artistic creation, it was envied and hated by all ethnic groups in Europe, which aroused the hatred of Germans against Jews.
Around 1920, the first capitalist economic crisis broke out in the world, which quickly spread to Germany after the defeat;
Due to the long-term payment of war reparations after German defeat and the national financial losses caused by years of wars, serious inflation and currency crisis broke out in China.
The devaluation of the ruble is like waste paper, and the wealth accumulated by several generations of the middle class has rapidly depreciated and shrunk overnight.
Ordinary people suffer more, and the elderly, retirees, workers and staff often have to endure hunger and poverty.
The middle class became penniless, and the mainstream class lost everything. When the people were tortured by the economic crisis, some German Jews made a fortune:
They control minerals, factories and real estate, and their value has soared because of the devaluation of the currency. Because of the devaluation of the currency, they paid off their loans easily, and because they bought bonds, they were able to live a luxurious life.
Angry Germans blame Jews for their sufferings, and "anti-Semitism" in Germany is on the rise.
Just then, a young man found the right time and began to publicize his view that the Jewish people are inferior.
Under the social atmosphere that the German people generally hate Jews, the young man's thoughts will be easily accepted and spread, and he will quickly accumulate his reputation with the help of "anti-Semitism".
He successfully participated in the election and was elected as the German head of state and Nazi leader by the people. He is Adolf Hitler.
Under Hitler's helm, Germany, a huge state machine, finally opened its fangs and began the inhuman persecution of Jews.
Before the arrival of dark reason, childhood was measured by sight, hearing and smell-John Beshi Mann.
At the beginning of the film, I quoted the original author to tell the audience that the film is to render the atmosphere and interact with the plot from the perspective of children!
In the film, the director deliberately avoided directly describing how Nazi mobs persecuted Jews, hiding scenes of bloody violence.
But even if many situations are not deliberately emphasized, as an audience, it is easy for us to follow Bruno's perspective and smell the deep-seated emotions that the director wants to express from the vivid lens-depression and sadness:
Eight-year-old Bruno still doesn't know what his father's promotion means, let alone the reason for his father's promotion, but he vaguely feels that his father's job transfer due to promotion will make him lose several playmates.
At the Nazi father's celebration dinner, he saw the "congratulations" blurted out when everyone congratulated his father, and the psychology of losing his playmate was even heavier.
Bruno followed his father to his new home in the suburbs of Berlin. He doesn't understand why the soldiers at the gate are always fierce and his mother doesn't allow him to go out.
I don't understand. When he found a new interesting "farm", the window of his room was sealed immediately.
He is also curious about the "servant" in his new home. Later, after he fell from the swing, the servant bandaged him.
Only then did I know that this scrawny and dusty "striped pajamas" servant used to be a doctor.
Bruno doesn't know if all this is normal. He doesn't know why a doctor should be a servant peeling potatoes and picking vegetables in the kitchen instead of a noble and comfortable medical career.
Even though the servant is humble, he will still be beaten by soldiers. Maybe one day, this servant will disappear from the world and become a pungent black smoke in the chimney.
Although the lens is not clear, we know that the pain is hidden in the perfunctory of Nazi father, in the reprimand of mother and in the Nazi poster of sister.
What impressed Bruno most about his life in his new home was the distant farm and striped pajamas.
Because of his mother's broken glass, Bruno was interested in these things because of his curiosity.
Bruno found the right opportunity to "explore" in the backyard and successfully found his "secret base": a farm surrounded by barbed wire.
He found a little boy of the same age here-Schmuer, and Bruno regarded him as his first good friend in his new home. Their friendship has deepened since you came to me.
The servant in striped pajamas disappeared after being beaten by police officer Kurt, and soon another servant in striped pajamas came to his new home. When Bruno saw his friend Shimer coming out of the house, his heart was mixed with excitement and fear.
He was very excited because he didn't expect to meet good friends at home. What he is afraid of is that Bruno has realized from the conversations around him that he and the Jews should not be "friends".
The two friends spent a short time together, and their friendship was quickly ruined by Nazi officers!
When Kurt, his father's guard, asked him hysterically if he knew the little boy, Bruno chose to lie in order to escape punishment.
Bruno, who consciously betrayed his friends, felt uneasy. When he saw his good friend from the fence of the wire farm again, Schmuer's face was covered with swollen wounds, and even if it was cured, it would leave ugly scars.
The film compares the situation of two little boys from the perspective of children's narrative:
From the wire fence to the new kitchen, two people who had nothing to do with each other met and mapped each other because of Bruno's adventure.
British thinker robert owen once said, "Man is the product of environment. That is, he believes that people's quality, feelings, beliefs and behaviors are the products of innate organizations and the products of the environment in which people live, especially in the process of development. "
Bruno and Schmohl, who had no world experience, did not hate Aryans or Jews in their hearts, nor were they influenced by Nazi theory. They established a friendly relationship the first time they met.
Accordingly, influenced by Nazi theory, her sister Gleiter abandoned her favorite doll and replaced it with Nazi posters and war posters. Her increasingly "anti-Semitic" thoughts made Bruno more and more unfamiliar.
And Bronaugh's Nazi father, in order to make contributions, also with enthusiasm for the motherland, committed all kinds of evil deeds of killing "Jews".
The film shows the audience in front of the screen how a normal person was bewitched by Nazi thoughts at all stages of his life and became the executioner who hurt the Jewish nation.
Eight-year-old Bruno should have received the most correct life education and run under the blue sky and white clouds.
But because of the war, I can only be locked in a courtyard with a high wall and study German history or Mein Kampf all day.
No one has taught him the correct view of right and wrong, and no one will explain all this.
For Bruno, the servant in striped pajamas is not a person, but a happy and leisurely life on a distant farm. His father is doing something loyal to his country and his sister is becoming a soldier. The only mother who wants her to know the truth has also gone crazy.
Everything around him is like the world in the mirror. Although it is still familiar, it is refracted and twisted to be very scary and weird.
This kind of speech and state are all over Nazi Germany. Children who grow up in this atmosphere can easily accept the setting of "Jews are guilty", which in turn affects their personal values.
Perhaps after the total defeat of the Nazis, the Germans in Conan's dream gradually woke up, but the consequences caused by their blindness and fanaticism have been planted. Who can bear the psychological guilt and self-blame for them?
There are no absolute good people and no pure bad people in the world.
If the director sets up the images of Nazi father and Nazi sister, which represents the extinction of Nazi humanity in Germany, then Bruno's mother and grandmother are the only embodiment of Nazi Germans' conscience.
When Bruno's father advanced to the party, his grandmother looked at her son in a straight military uniform with mixed feelings. What she wants is for her son to take up the responsibility as a soldier, or to defend his country and kill the enemy.
However, what the Nazi officer did was not a soldier at all, and he could no longer even be called a man.
He delights in killing unarmed Jewish civilians and enslaving them. The most terrible thing is that he used this unrepentant behavior to express his loyalty to the Nazi regime.
At that time, how many Germans, under the cover of national propaganda, vented their personal anger against Jews.
Bruno's mother learned that the pungent smoke was produced by burning Jews every day. She couldn't stand this physical discomfort any longer, and the suffering of her soul made her more and more crazy.
Grandma's fate is even more tragic. Even though she shared her sympathy for Jewish civilians and refused to accept the temptation of the Nazis, she was killed by a bomb because of the confrontation between the two peoples.
When the dust of the times falls on the world and every ordinary person, it is a mountain.
Bruno's grandmother, a martyr of the whole era, is also the epitome of millions of ordinary Germans in that era:
Faced with the fanatical distortion of family and friends, they can do nothing; They are helpless in the face of the enemy's revenge.
At the end of the film, two little boys crossed the farm together and entered the concentration camp for "exploration", and were accidentally driven into the gas chamber by soldiers.
At this time, the lens gradually narrowed, and the striped pajamas discarded everywhere outside the poison gas room gave us great shock.
This group of long shots also shows us that Jews are not a scourge, they are living lives.
Even though they were so abused in striped clothes, the two children did not erase their kindness and still looked forward to friendship.
Bruno, as the only person in the film who wanted to be friends with Jews, was poisoned in the gas chamber.
Rather than showing children's friendship, I prefer to interpret this scene as a hint from director Herman to the audience:
Once upon a time, Germanic Aryans and Jews were just different races on the European continent. Although their relations compete with each other, they are not regarded as enemies as they are now.
If the Nazi theory had not been adopted and absorbed by the Germans, perhaps the two nations would not have such a tragedy and the two little boys would not have paid such a painful price.
Through this lens, the director expressed his reflection on historical events and gave a profound torture to the two nations.
What is more worth pondering is that the Nazi Holocaust is not far away from us today.
When we define ourselves as "modern civilized people", we often annihilate humanity in the collective will and do something against our will to meet the expectations of mainstream values.
Even though modern Germany has apologized to the victims of the Jewish Holocaust, the international community has not learned this historical lesson.
Populism, nationalism and chauvinism are still touted by some fanatical believers, who spy on the world with evil eyes in an attempt to trigger human disputes again!
Although the Nazis have disappeared, if human beings continue to set up barriers and discriminate against each other, will they be far from the next Nazi?