The Boy In the Striped Pajamas

In reviewing my past few blog entries, it occurred to me that I've been a tad maudlin lately. My sister says that I have a dark side to my personality so maybe it's that, but usually when I'm feeling this way it's a reaction to something (or someone) that's disgusting me. The news has been offending me lately, with all the book burning talk, religious intolerance, friends and family losing jobs, YouTube videos of puppies thrown in the river, Sarah Palin "refudiating," general stupidity ...all to a Justin Bieber soundtrack. (((shudder))) Of my dark mood, I deeply apologize. That's why I was reluctant to watch this 2008 movie, "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas." Of course, I knew of the book, by John Boyne, and had a vague idea of the plot. Unlike a friend of mine who has a fondness for "Holocaust literature," (fighting urge to use the word "twisted" ha ha) I do not share this seemingly bleak desire to relive this boil on the butt of human history. It would just make me angry, and like I said, I can do that by watching the nightly news. Anyway, I finally did get a chance to see this film and I was pleasantly surprised.  Unexpectedly, the movie did not make me as depressed as I thought it would. The story is about an 8-year old boy named Bruno who is the son of a high-ranking Nazi SS officer whose new job is to oversee a "camp," filled with Jewish prisoners. Bruno is unaware of the implications and horrors of such a facility and believes his father's propaganda films which show Jewish "guests" of the camp playing outside, eating at a café, all in general good health. This is confusing to the young boy, who befriends a fragile old man who works in the house named Pavel. Pavel used to be a doctor but now peels potatoes for the officer's family and is regularly a victim of casual brutality by younger Nazi officers. After spilling a wine glass at dinner one evening, Pavel disappears. Confused and ultimately bored, Bruno resorts to exploration and on one such expedition, meets a young Jewish prisoner sitting behind the barbed wire fence who happens to be his own age, named Shmuel. Through Shmuel's eyes, Bruno realizes the true nature of the camp and thus, the truth about his father's job. He struggles with the (currently relevant) question, "Why do we hate?" Is it because someone tells us to? The unlikely friendship blooms in spite of the obvious reasons it shouldn't, and the boys learn trust and forgiveness in the face of horrendous circumstances. The ending left me with mixed feelings of deep sadness tinged with an unsatisfying feeling of retribution. I expected to come away from this movie hating what evils humans are capable of. There is that, but I also came away surprised at the unadulterated kindness humans are also capable of. Perhaps this is what my friend finds when she reads so much on this subject: Despite the worst things imaginable, if we only listen to our own hearts...in the end, there is hope.