The Boy In The Striped Pajamas

The Boy In The Striped Pajamas was a tragic movie about the Holocaust told through the eyes of an eight-year-old boy. Bruno is the son of a Nazi officer Ralf. Ralf and his family move from Berlin to the countryside after Ralf is promoted to commander of one of the worst concentration camps of the holocaust: Auschwitz. Since the story is told from Bruno’s perspective, it takes a childlike view perspective on the Holocaust. Bruno does not exactly understand the serious political situation that was occurring during this era, because he is so young.
Bruno is not happy at this new home, because he is confined to the grounds of his family’s home. He seeks companionship and adventure, but is not allowed to leave. However, Bruno eventually cannot take the boredom and his curiosity takes over. He leaves the house through a window of an outhouse and finds the concentration camp, which he naively believes is a farm. He ends up meeting a boy there, who is the same age as him named Shmuel. Bruno ends up befriending the boy, and visiting the concentration camp frequently to deliver him food and to talk to him through the barbed wire. Bruno is eventually taught that the “farm” is really a concentration camp and that Shmuel and his family were in the concentration camp because they were Jewish. Bruno eventually begins to realize the serious situation that Jewish people in the country were facing.
Bruno and his sister Gretel have a tutor named Herr, who is constantly feeding them propaganda, and anti-Semitic stereotypes while teaching them history. His sister Gretel is greatly influenced by these stereotypes and begins to support the Nazis, however Bruno knows better. He has met Shmuel and his family and know that they are innocent people. However, during this era, and in this country, so many of the people were discriminatory towards Jews. It was horrifying seeing how cruel and heartless the Nazi soldiers and commanders were when they beat and abused innocent Jewish people, especially children.