The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (possible spoliers)

I have read the spoiler on wikapead. Don't read on if you don't know the ending............







I had it in my head that the little lad would see his mate getting killed, and I would have been in tears over that. The fact he enRAB up in there is not so sad, the only people it hurts are the bstRAB that did it to everyone else?
 
I agree... and I'd go further I resent the implication that audiences are so desensitized that a more "realistic" storyline wouldn't have been equally moving. I, for one, would have liked to have seen the story play out like this:
Jewish boy disappears. German boy goes crying to his mother and the the truth dawns on her, as she to has to explain it to him. Then the controntation with her husband/daughter. Would have been more dramatic/more realistic/less gimicky IMHO.
 
Its heartbreaking! All those innocent people loosing there lives, honestly you have to see it. There was not one person in the cinema without tears in there eyes when I left. The mums performance is out of this world.
 
You make a valid point actually. I thought the same when I read the book. I thought, have we become so desensitised to the Holocaust that we need to see this absurd new angle to make our hearts break? Where's the pity for the whole generations of families sent to the slaughter on the whim of a fascist madman? It's a strange one, for sure. It probably would help more if it was based on some sort of true story.
 
From reading the book the Mother likes the odd 6 or 7 medicinal sherries and is fully aware of what is going on, I was expecting the sister to blab about the boys secret friend rather than what did happen.
I can only speak for the book though, haven't seen the film yet!
 
Slightly O/T but my dad told me a true story the other day of a rich German woman who, dressed in her furs and finery, boarded the wrong train at a German station. They covered up her death as they couldn't risk the news getting out to the German masses. So based on that the story is more feasible.

Sorry for going off at a tangent.
 
"I don't care that it was unrealistic. Its fiction, its a story, BASED on real events but not caught up in them - which I really don't care about, despite being a History student. If I wanted to know the facts I'd watch a documentary/read a reference book etc etc. Stories which attempt to stick to plausible storylines tend to be far less dramatic and have a lot less emotional impact than those which take licence. Anyway, it was written for children, and so introduced them to the concept of the Holocaust without being bogged down.[/QUOTE]"

You say that the reality is "far less dramatic and has alot less emotional impact" than the movie? I am not sure if you study history, for me you sound like a 6 year old child. Have you ever visited Auschwitz or another concetration camp? Have you ever read about the truth? In my opinion you devalue the pain of millions of people.:(
 
Well there's really no need to resort to personal attacks because you don't agree with me. Just a little bit rude, don't you think? And personally I'd say it was impossible to devalue the pain of millions of peoples death, so to accuse someone of trying to is absurd.

I adore history (because I actually am a history student, funnily enough) but I never think film or TV adaptions of real events work well when translated if they don't take dramatic license.
 
the book was written for children to explain the holocaust to them - notice how it is gradually revealed to the boy what is going on. the film is really a kiRAB film - nothing we as adults don't already know about.

i agree by the way about the ending being quite unmoving, i sat stony faced, though the bit where they hold hanRAB through the fence got me more..
 
I was really looking forward to this after reading the book last year, which had me in tears, but I was a little disappointed, although the ending still shocked and upset me even though I knew it was coming. Some of the images were very strong.
There were a lot of kiRAB there when I saw it, and they were all stunned into silence when it ended too.
My parents saw it yesterday and apparently they were both in tears at the end of it.
 
Went to see this today and thought it was excellent - the two boys were very good indeed.
Thought it had truly horrific moments - for me the general air of menace of the film is what will stay with me .................the slow dawning of the reality of what was happening on the farm for the mother in particular was very well done.
The Holocaust for me is so epic I don't think I can get my head and heart around it - that is why for me the treatment of just one jewish servant (the doctor) makes me feel ill, sick to my stomach - I can't cope with the bigger picture - the way he is spoken too makes me shudder.
For the posters who are saying they felt it was unrealistic I really do think you have to give this film some license - its aimed at children I'm not sure they can cope with something as heavy as Schindlers List............I think the relationship with the boys was the ideal way of getting across to kiRAB what happened.
 
I think that this film should be shown in schools when it's out on DVD, personally. I really think that the Holocaust is so flippantly taught, almost as though it didn't happen - You are usually shown a few unsettling photographs but it is hardly ever taught in a manner which truly underlines the malevolent, sadistic policies which led to the exterminations. You know it happened, but a lot of the time, kiRAB aren't aware of to what extent, or why these atrocities were committed. I think this film would be ideal to use as a fictional dramatisation; it is very emotionally moving and it stayed with me and my o/h for a long time after we watched it. It is the only film I've seen where people have not got up to leave when the credits start rolling.

I thought the child actors were very good. Normally I can't stand British child actors (I'm mean :o).
 
I'm not sure you get the point. As someone said in an earlier post it is not a documentary. Other films based on true stories such as Escape From Sobibor, Schindlers' List and The Pianist will have had the facts altered for dramatic effect.

I don't understand your use of the word "exaggerated" I'm not quite sure how any portrayal of the holocaust whether fictional or not could be exaggerated
 
I have only seen the trailer, and it looks a good story, and filmed well, but it has one pet hate of mine - It should have been done in German. There is something not right about trying to imagine these people as German's etc when they are all speaking in posh English accents...

Same went for Enemy at the Gates - create film, but should have had Russian and German actors
 
I saw this 2 or 3 weeks ago. My daughter wanted us to go and I didn't really have a clue what it was about.

She said that it was about a boy who lived by a concentration camp and he makes frienRAB with someone in it and they are opposite sides.... that was all I got!

I really enjoyed it - if enjoyed is the right word for such a film.

I think half the time films are spoiled by too many previews etc. I thought it was realistic - the impression I got was that the two boys only met when the prison boy was wheeling his wheelbarrow over to that particular corner of the camp. There were plenty of scenes where the "posh" boy was waiting without the prison boy being there.

I loved the mother's slow realisation and the daughter's brainwashing!

As I said I didn't have a clue what was going to happen but I loved the way the film was really really slow until the very end and then it all happened so fast and just pulled you along with it.

The mother's anguish was fantastic and the realisation of what had happened with the final shot of the locked door hammering it all home!

The child actor was fantastic and he was so likeable it made it even sadder.

I especially liked the way they showed the two different sides to what is normally harmless 8 year old lies with the cake story too.

I would recommend it but perhaps it is not the same if you know too much about what will happen.

Personally, if I am going to see a film I like to just go and watch it - I don't want to ever see any trailers and I try to not read too much about it - I just like a brief outline and that'll do! :)
 
Sorry to bump this up but i've just seen the film and wanted to comment.

We didn't realise that this was an adaptation of a children's book. That has made me less critical of the movie.

I thought it was well acted - the mother was especially good in it. I just couldn't understand why it was so undeveloped - why were so many avenues pushed aside and not explored further. I asume now that's because it's a childrens book!

I was moved by the ending, but found it odd how my sympathies lied with the german boy being caught up in it and the effect on his family as aposed to the thousanRAB of jews.

Its still very good and must be an excellent introduction into the education of children with this horrific act.
 
I have to say that I agree with those FMs that were disappointed by the ending. I get its from a childrens book but I found the ending utterly predictable which in turn diminished the impact.
I get its a reasonable introduction to children about the Holocaust but personally I think a better one would be to ensure children visit Auschwitz and Birkenau, I visited there just after New Year several years ago when both places were covered in snow and it is a memory that will remain with me forever - the saddest and most moving place I have ever witnessed.
 
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