The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas

We went to see the film ‘The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas’ at the weekend. It is a well made movie (adapted from the book by John Boyne) and showed how the innocents can be caught up in nightmare scenarios such as the holocaust. The intimate personal nature of the film enthralled the audience in a way that a big noisy blockbuster can not. The effect was most pronounced at the end when, along with the rest of the audience, my expectation as to how the movie would end was proved wrong. The stark simplicity of the ending had a profound effect on the audience. Quite a lot of the credits had rolled before the first person stood up. It seemed almost disrespectful to move given the ending and total silence pervaded the theatre. I don’t think even Schindler’s List had the same effect despite being a much ‘bigger’ film.

http://www.thefilmfactory.co.uk/boy/