The Boy in the Striped Pajamas Parent Guide

In 1940s Berlin, eight-year-old Bruno (Asa Butterfield) enjoys a simple life full of playtime with his chums until he is informed that his military father (David Thewlis) has received a promotion requiring the family to move to the country.

Bruno’s sorrow over having to say good-bye only increases after he arrives at the cold, grey stone residence. The first rule of their new house is he must stay within its fenced front yard. Although he follows these orders for a time, the incredible yearning to find a companion his own age (along with a curiosity about a “farm” he can see from his bedroom window), drives the boy to explore the woods in the back of his home.

Arriving at the enclosure, he discovers another eight-year-old living on the other side of the electrified boundary. Shmuel (Jack Scanlon) is covered in dirt and wearing what Bruno believes to be striped pajamas. Too innocent to understand the truth of their situation, the German and Jewish youngsters begin a friendship through the barbwire. While Bruno is busy secretly bringing gifts of games and food, his father becomes further entrenched with his official duties as the commander in charge of the extermination camp. Meanwhile his mother (Vera Farmiga) remains unaware of what is really happening at the compound and why its large chimney is constantly belching a putrid smoke that billows overhead.

A purely fictional account of what it might have been like to be the child of a Nazi Commandant during the Holocaust, this movie tries hard to present a new angle on this horrific piece of history. Obviously, it deals with some disturbing topics. This is usually done verbally to avoid showing visually explicit images, but there are still plenty of suspenseful and perilous situations. For example, a Jewish man who works as a servant in a German household is beaten (off screen) and dies from his injuries. In another scene, people are ordered to disrobe (no explicit nudity is shown) before they are herded into a “shower room” and gassed to death. And because the audience has had the opportunity to emotionally bond to these characters, these abuses are upsetting even without graphic depictions.

The problem with all that is that fictional accounts of history are typically flawed. In this case, several major Holocaust research centers and academics have condemned The Boy in the Striped Pajamas for it’s deeply inaccurate portrayals. In 2020, the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum condemned the book on which the film is based, saying that it ““should be avoided by anyone who studies or teaches about the Holocaust.” This is a film which has been found to be fundamentally misleading to students, and which even a brief internet search will quickly show to be fraught with serious controversy. It should not be used as an educational tool, especially not in an introductory capacity. This is a film to be generally avoided, or at least, viewed by an audience that understands the underlying reality which the film so casually ignores.

About author

Rod Gustafson

Rod Gustafson has worked in various media industries since 1977. He founded Parent Previews in 1993, and today continues to write and broadcast the reviews in newspapers, on radio and (of course) on the Internet. His efforts also include writing and researching media in all its forms and observing how it effects society and culture. He and his wife Donna have four children.