Jojo Rabbit

Jojo Rabbit(Taika Waititi, 2019)

I was a bit squeamish about this film to be honest and faced the prospect of it with some trepidation. It being a comedy, with Nazis in it. It gave me some apprehension. I remember having exactly the same feelings about It’s Life Is Beautiful (Roberto Benigni, 1997), and then being entranced by that film.

Here we have Jojo who, at the age of 10, takes his first steps towards manhood. Living in Nazi Germany this involves going to camp, of the Hitler Youth, he discusses this with his friend Adolf Hitler, played by Taika Waititi, as you do at the age of 10 (in Nazi Germany). The camp, run by Sam Rockwell, is very reminiscent of the pack in Moonrise Kingdom (Wes Anderson, 2012), with a similar amount of inappropriately dangerous activities organised for children; knife skills, killing small animals, throwing hand grenades etc, for the boys that is.

The film is really about the choices we make and who can influence those choices. Jojo’s mother, played by Scarlett Johansson does her best to be a good influence on him. Her influence and her views become apparent throughout the film, it’s all about breadcrumbs I guess.

This, though, is the last days of the Second World War and there have been plenty of cinematic examples of what happened then. It’s all played with a heavy amount of humour, which we’ve seen before as well. I was reminded though of The Book Thief (Brian Percival, 2013) with its end of day’s vibes, the German army recruiting anyone that could hold a weapon.

Although it could be argued that the film is flippant, it could be said that’s done for entertainments sake. The film does attempt to discuss weighty issues and does show the Nazis in their true light. It does as well show that not all Germans were Nazis, it shows as well that friendship and love means an awful lot and that people can change, with the right influences.