I’ve seen “The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas” (2008).
First, the conclusion: do I recommend the movie? Yes, but it’s not an easy-to-digest movie.
Some thoughts (with big spoilers!)?
President Bush decides to take a break and go out to sit in a local bar. A guy walks in and asks the barman, ‘Isn’t that President Bush sitting at the end of the bar?’
The bartender says, ‘Yep, that’s him.’ So the guy walks over and says, ‘Wow, this is a real honor! What are you doing in here?’
Bush says, ‘ I’m planning WW III.’
Then the guy says, ‘Really? What’s going to happen?’
Bush says, ‘Well, I’m going to kill 140 million Muslims and one blonde with big tits. The guy exclaimed, ‘A blonde with big tits? Why kill a blonde with big tits?’
Bush turns to the bartender and says, ‘See, I told you, no one gives a *** about the 140 million Muslims.’(via »)
This joke pretty much synthesizes the whole movie. When asked – “Do you care about many people having died during …?”, one naturally feels the desire to say “Yes!”. Yet, the tendency is to care more about specific persons. It’s hard to care about a lot of people you know nothing about, it’s easy to care about a person.
If you look at the above joke, you might feel a bit guilty for caring for the wrong person. That’s the aim of the movie, in my opinion – to show you that a group of people is not less important than a single one.
The movie seems like a game, it’s very soft and playful up until one point when it all becomes rather brutal.
I really liked the way the actors played their roles.
I enjoyed the subtleties – the gestures, the way a thought is expressed in actions, the silence.
A 10/10 movie for me, although a rather sad movie.
