Le garçon au pyjama rayé

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is an incredibly devastating movie which will leave you as an emotional wreck by the end... trust me. Even so, it is one of the sides of the war which is rarely shown in cinema and as a result, is a very important view and should be watched by everyone. I originally watched this movie in Secondary School when i was no older than 13 (my English teacher must enjoy watching kids cry). It has stuck with me ever since, and still to this day it leaves me speechless.

The story is told from the perspective of 8 year old Bruno, which provides the audience with a different perspective to the war that isn't seen too often. From an innocent mind. This only helps to make the movie's ending so much more powerful. Without giving anything away, this movie will stick with you for a long time.

The movie itself has been created beautifully. The cinematics, sound and editing is amazing and really helps create the perfect picture. I want to mention separately how good the actors were though. Some of these scenes wouldn't have been anywhere near as effective if it wasn't for the acting. 10/10. Makes me so proud of the British film industry :')

I highly suggest you watch this movie. Just have some tissues ready.

I can't speak for other people, but for me The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas is a film that can be seen once and once only because the impact is so shattering. Not even a stone statue can be not moved by this film, this child's eye view of the Holocaust.

Bruno is an 8 year old German kid whose father David Thewlis is an officer in the Wehrmacht. They're living a nice life in the beginning of World War II in metropolitan Berlin. Thewlis gets orders however shipping him to a command in a nice rural area of southern Germany, presumably Bavaria. Like any other kid he's upset at being dislocated from his friends and his school, but he certainly hasn't much to say in the matter.

So the family is uprooted to a lovely pastoral area where Dad's been put in charge of a concentration camp. Not one of the bigger ones like Auschwitz and Dachau, but a small one that his superiors expect Thewlis to run efficiently.

Young Bruno has absolutely no one to play with and he wanders over to the camp. His parents feel he's way too young to understand about these things and he makes friends with a kid on the other side of the barbed wire, a young Jewish boy named Shmuel who wears those funny striped pyjamas like everyone else in the camp.

Two things struck me about The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas. When I did a review of The Diary Of Anne Frank, the biggest impression I got out of the film was the ordinariness of that small group of Jews hidden in that attic. Who could possibly think these people were any kind of threat to civilization simply for being and believing in their faith? We get to see the other side of the looking glass here, a view of this very average German family, besides young Bruno and Thewlis, there's mother Vera Famiga and daughter Amber Beattie. Famiga is not happy one bit with her domestic situation and it's slowly dawning on her that the politics and policies of the Third Reich is the root of her concerns. As for Beattie, she's really buying into the whole Nazi thing, partly because she's going through puberty and a young and handsome aide to her father played by Rupert Friend is stirring up those first womanly feelings.

But to all intents and purposes this is your average German family, not too much different than the Frank family in that attic, but that this regime of hate has made Thewlis a death merchant.

The second thing that struck me and it's what gives hope to this crazy world is what passes between Asa Butterfield as Bruno and Jack Scanlon as Shmuel. If all we are as humans are reflections of our parents prejudices there would be absolutely no hope for mankind. But we do grow, we do question, some of us just don't accept everything that's fed to us. We don't see Shmuel's world of the camp until the very end, the boys mostly have contact with a barbed wire fence between them. But we see Bruno and his sister being now home schooled in Nazi teachings and his innocent contact with that kid on the other side of the fence makes him question what's going on.

The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas is one of the best films of 2008. You will not forget the performances of Butterfield and Scanlon and the adult cast members. The end will shatter your mind, but the film's depiction of friendship growing in the worst possible circumstances is also a message of hope.

Although it starts of slow,you soon get wrapped up in the story and feel as if you are there. It's amazing to see the different points of view and the acting is so believable you feel as if it is all happening there and then. I have cried at films in the cinema before but this is the only film that has made me want to sob. When it finished and the credits started rolling, no one moved from their seats or said anything. We were all shocked, and when people did start to get up an leave the cinema, still no one said anything. It is the best film i have ever seen and recommend everyone sees it.

Sophie x x x

I read the book "The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas" after coming across it in the library almost a year ago, and it amazed me. The unique approach taken by Mr Boyne put the subject matter across in a fresh and, if it is possible, even more heart-wrenching fashion. When I heard they were making the book into a film, I was very anxious, as I thought that they couldn't possibly convey the book onto the screen appropriately.

I am delighted to say that I was entirely wrong. I have just this minute returned home from seeing the film and I am absolutely stunned. The film is practically identical to the book, which was wonderful to see, and I thought that the acting was superb. Vera Farmiga and Asa Butterfield were, I thought, exceptional. The film was handled fantastically and I believe that the feel of the novel was not lost in the translation to screen.

Seeing the film was a lot more intense than reading the book and, even knowing what was coming, I found myself sobbing at the end, as were my father and step-mother, the latter of whom had never read the book, and was utterly shocked. This is the first film I have ever seen in which the whole audience were silent from beginning to end, and then, when the film ended, not a single person moved for a long time afterwards.

The film is an incredibly powerful, moving story, told superbly well by a stellar cast and crew. I would recommend it immensely to everyone.

I'm a man's man, and it takes something really exceptional to break my emotionless machine persona. This film ripped me apart and reminded me (and my partner) of humanity inside even the most hardened man.

Perfectly weighted film in every way, from pace to acting and all framed with a wonderful score. The subtlety of the looks passing between the actors and a finale that ensured silence until the final credit rolled, makes this one of the best films i've seen in a long time.

This is the first review I have never written and i cannot think of a better way to have opened my account.