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JoJo Rabbit
Writer and director Taika Waititi has struck gold with a dangerously unapologetic satire on the insanity that was Nazi Germany called JoJo Rabbit that breaks new ground in filmmaking and effortlessly works at offending its audience with a style and nonchalance that is so enchanting that it has caught moviegoers' attention and earned six Oscar nominations.
This endlessly imaginative piece of cinema is centered around a 10 year old boy named JoJo who decides that he wants to follow his father's footsteps and become a Nazi, just like his imaginary friend and conscience, Adolph Hitler. JoJo is enrolled in a camp for boys that teaches young children everything they need to know about being a Nazi, including the art of hating Jews. JoJo's mother is concerned about her son's inclinations and tries to discourage him, but to no avail. JoJo's entire belief system is challenged, however, when he learns that his mother is harboring a young Jewish girl in their attic, a la Anne Frank.
Taika Waititi ventures into some really dangerous waters here, trying to put a human face on possibly the monstrous man in world history. He does take a slightly safer route in his examination of Hitler by presenting him as a product of this young boy's mind, but even that is pretty hard to accept initially. How can it not be troubling that this young boy has centered everything he wants to be in life around the beliefs of history's greatest criminal? Even more disturbing is the fact that we learn JoJo is far from the only child prepared to give their entire existence to serving Hitler and his cause.
Waititi's interpretation of Hitler is definitely on the unexpected side as well. Presented as an imaginary friend of the central character, he comes off as an unusual form of comic relief, almost a bit of a boob in his often varying methods of protecting JoJo one scene and ridiculing him the next. This Hitler is like no other cinematic interpretation of the man we have seen before, this guy even seems to be confused about his own jew-hating agenda ad I guess that's why we only see him as a manifestation of JoJo's mind.
This film effectively blends a look at a boy and his relationship with a maybe not so dangerous military leader with an extremely realistic look at the ugliness of the Nazi regime which JoJo is guided through by Captain Klezendorf (Oscar winner Sam Rockwell) and the other side of it by Elsa, the young girl in the attic who wants to guide JoJo to the truth but can only do so much without endangering her own life.
This film is handsomely mounted with unparalleled production values, including film editing that could definitely challenge Thelma Schoonmaker's work on The Irshman for that award. Roman Griffin Davis' star making performance in the title role earned him a Golden Globe nomination and Scarlett Johansson's stylish turnas his mother has earned her a Supporting Actress nomination. Of course it goes without saying that Sam Rockwell steals every scene he's in as does the writer/director does in his one-of-a-kind portrayal of Hitler in this one-of-a-kind motion picture that initially provides chuckles leading to a dark finale that will leave a lump in the throat.
Writer and director Taika Waititi has struck gold with a dangerously unapologetic satire on the insanity that was Nazi Germany called JoJo Rabbit that breaks new ground in filmmaking and effortlessly works at offending its audience with a style and nonchalance that is so enchanting that it has caught moviegoers' attention and earned six Oscar nominations.
This endlessly imaginative piece of cinema is centered around a 10 year old boy named JoJo who decides that he wants to follow his father's footsteps and become a Nazi, just like his imaginary friend and conscience, Adolph Hitler. JoJo is enrolled in a camp for boys that teaches young children everything they need to know about being a Nazi, including the art of hating Jews. JoJo's mother is concerned about her son's inclinations and tries to discourage him, but to no avail. JoJo's entire belief system is challenged, however, when he learns that his mother is harboring a young Jewish girl in their attic, a la Anne Frank.
Taika Waititi ventures into some really dangerous waters here, trying to put a human face on possibly the monstrous man in world history. He does take a slightly safer route in his examination of Hitler by presenting him as a product of this young boy's mind, but even that is pretty hard to accept initially. How can it not be troubling that this young boy has centered everything he wants to be in life around the beliefs of history's greatest criminal? Even more disturbing is the fact that we learn JoJo is far from the only child prepared to give their entire existence to serving Hitler and his cause.
Waititi's interpretation of Hitler is definitely on the unexpected side as well. Presented as an imaginary friend of the central character, he comes off as an unusual form of comic relief, almost a bit of a boob in his often varying methods of protecting JoJo one scene and ridiculing him the next. This Hitler is like no other cinematic interpretation of the man we have seen before, this guy even seems to be confused about his own jew-hating agenda ad I guess that's why we only see him as a manifestation of JoJo's mind.
This film effectively blends a look at a boy and his relationship with a maybe not so dangerous military leader with an extremely realistic look at the ugliness of the Nazi regime which JoJo is guided through by Captain Klezendorf (Oscar winner Sam Rockwell) and the other side of it by Elsa, the young girl in the attic who wants to guide JoJo to the truth but can only do so much without endangering her own life.
This film is handsomely mounted with unparalleled production values, including film editing that could definitely challenge Thelma Schoonmaker's work on The Irshman for that award. Roman Griffin Davis' star making performance in the title role earned him a Golden Globe nomination and Scarlett Johansson's stylish turnas his mother has earned her a Supporting Actress nomination. Of course it goes without saying that Sam Rockwell steals every scene he's in as does the writer/director does in his one-of-a-kind portrayal of Hitler in this one-of-a-kind motion picture that initially provides chuckles leading to a dark finale that will leave a lump in the throat.