Faith & Film at Peace Presbyterian
Message from: David Thomas
Faith and Film Friday night, April 13, 7:00 p.m. at the church sanctuary.
Event Host: Dr. David Mullen. Feel free to bring healthy snacks to share in
the fellowship time.
Film: The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (2008, PG-13, 94 min.)
Plot summary: Set during World War II, this is a story seen through the
innocent eyes of Bruno, the eight-year-old son of the commandant at a
concentration camp. His forbidden friendship with a Jewish boy on the other
side of the concentration camp fence next door has startling and unexpected
consequences.
The theme has some resemblance to Life is Beautiful, but without the tone of
poignancy and its touches of humor. While Life is Beautiful was criticized
for leaning towards trivializing the horrors of the Holocaust for the sake of entertainment, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
cannot be nailed with that objection.
The boy protagonist, Bruno, is deeply naïve and cannot make the connection
between the lessons his highly ranked Nazi parents and his tutors try to
teach him about the evil nature of the Jews, and the people wearing the
striped pajamas in the “farm.” Bruno cannot understand why he cannot be
friends with little Shmuel through the fence.
I chose this movie for its powerful story. At the least, it shows us that
it is extremely dangerous to persist in looking at everything through the
eyes of a child. As the Christianity Today discussion questions (below) suggest, it bears sober examination to compare The Boy in the Striped Pajamas with our response to evil in today’s world.
Our choice of this movie was suggested by Frank Creneti, who says
“Everybody ought to see this film.” When Dotty posted our hosting sign-up
sheet for this year’s movies last spring, David Mullen claimed it that same
day.
This is a serious film, but not an objectionable one to view. The main
warning is: The scenes that place children in jeopardy are unsettling. It
is appropriate for us during the Easter season due to the portrayal of evil
and its consequences.
When first released, the movie received favorable reviews from the
Christian movie review website, Hollywood Jesus, and also from Christianity
Today. It’s probably not everyone’s cup of tea. The general Metacritic review
aggregate score of 55 is mixed between the critics who ranked it very
highly, and those who hated it.
Put me in the first group who rank it highly. It’s not simple, mindless
entertainment, but rather, a social text to study.
Christianity Today
questions:
Discussion starters
1.
How does seeing the story from Bruno's eight-year-old point of view affect
the way you perceive the characters, such as his father? What do we see
that is not shown
from Bruno's point of view? Why does the film let us see these things? Why
does the film not let us see other things?
2.
Who is "innocent" in this film? Anyone? Is there a difference
between ignorance and innocence? How do different characters deal with
their dawning awareness of what is happening at the concentration camp?
3.
Is innocence always a good thing? How are various characters affected by
evil because they are too "innocent" to know better? (See, e.g.,
the way Gretel becomes smitten with the Nazi lieutenant who works at their
house.)
4.
When is knowledge preferable to innocence? How do we become, as Jesus said,
wise as serpents while remaining innocent as doves (Matthew 10:16)?
5.
Have you had to "unlearn" anything that you were taught when you
were young, comparable to the prejudices that Bruno's father and tutor try
to teach him? How did you deal with the knowledge that what you were taught
was wrong? How did this affect the way you perceived your parents and
teachers?
6.
Bruno's grandmother says that Bruno's father always wanted to be a soldier,
and Bruno himself is seen playing at "war" with his friends in
Berlin. Is this a dangerous impulse? Is it a tolerable form of childlike
fantasy? Is it a problem that Bruno's father became a soldier, period, or
that he was assigned to a particular task?
