More Reviews!

[philosoraptor42]

The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas - I thought it was good, but with strong reservations. It depends on whether you think "it's a children's movie" lets it off the hook.

Daybreakers - I liked it. For a spoiler-free explanation read on!


The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas

Now I was going to write that this was a very clever attempt to get the holocaust story to children. The problem is, firstly it’s still a 12. To be honest, I’d have been surprised if it got any lower rating than this. It not only features the Nazi Germany scenario but it also contains domestic abuse. It’s actually a pretty shocking movie in many respects. Secondly, most schools have been sent an edited copy of Schindler’s List anyway, so its not like there was a desperate need for a film to fill this gap.

That said, one of the reasons why this movie is so shocking is that makes an effort to put us on the same psychological level as a child being fed propaganda in Nazi Germany while at the same time showing us the unavoidably human element of the Jewish child in “pyjamas” which reveals how daft all the propaganda really was.

I’m not terribly convinced by the child actors, especially the one in the concentration camp. However, I don’t think the script helps them. David Thewlis is absolutely fantastic as a man juggling his role as a caring father, his sense of loyalty to the state and the absolute horror of his work with the SS. However, the film brings forward a human side of him by making him lie to his son about his work even while it is taking place next door to where they live. Here lies the problem though. Even as the son sees the concentration camp first-hand, he seems absurdly naïve about what goes on there. Even worse, however, even the Jewish boy within the camp seems to be naïve about what goes on there too! The suggestion seems to be that these characters are all in denial about what is happening and don’t want to believe things will get any worse.

In the end the problem is that it all feels contrived. An upper class German boy sitting at the fence of the concentration camp without being noticed might just about be acceptable. (It’s on the poster so it hardly comes as a surprise.) However, the naivete of the characters just prevented me from getting as immersed in the film as I ought to. It’s difficult for the child actors to seem convincing when they have to appear oddly ignorant of their own circumstances.

Also I don’t know if I’m alone in this, but the ending felt very very predictable. Some good moments, but unconvincing overall.

3/5


Daybreakers

It’s really interesting. If you like vampire movies, you'll love this. Doesn't end with quite the bang you might be hoping for and while it gives the impression that it's going to be an action movie, it's actually more of a thinky movie with gore.

Naturally “thinky” isn’t intended as a criticism. This is a very interesting fable about the brutality of human greed when resources are low. Basically the whole of human society has been replaced by a race of blood-sucking monsters, there’s a sense of lost innocence, blood-deprived lower classes are considered highly dangerous and the whole society is reliant upon cruelty towards a separate group who are kept out of site (i.e. humans). Sound familiar? The extent to which the vampire society echoes our own is haunting and the attention to detail is truly staggering. Essentially, this is exactly what we’d expect the future to be like if vampires actually won.

And Sam Neil as a corporate vampire was everything I could have hoped. Loved it!

5/5