Jojo Rabbit | Review
Taking place during the Second World War, Jojo, a lonely German boy finds that his mother is hiding a Jewish girl in their home. Jojo must overcome his blind national fanaticism and discover the difference between good and evil, all while have an imaginary friend, Adolf Hitler.
Upon first hearing about this film, I was very excited. Director Taika Waititi is one of my favorite filmmakers and when seeing that he was doing a satire-comedy with himself playing Imaginary Adolf Hitler, I knew it was going to be interesting to say the least. Coming off the back of “Hunt For The Wilderpeople” and “Thor: Ragnarok”, I was curious as to what Waititi was going to do next and after seeing “Jojo Rabbit”, I was beyond entertained.
As I said, Taika Waititi is a brilliant filmmaker and he handled such a delicate subject with great sensitivity and light-heartedness. The Cast were all incredible giving unforgettable performances. Roman Griffin David as Jojo in particular for me was a highlight. He carried this film with his great charm and at parts brought tears. Scarlett Johansson, Thomasin McKenzie, Sam Rockwell, Rebel Wilson, Archie Yates, and many others, all delivering performances of great joy and true emotion. Taika Waititi treated the role of Adolf Hitler with a great amount of weight that made fun of and made light of how insane of an individual Hitler was and how outrageous his agendas were. Not one time do you ever feel sympathy for him.
The Cinematography was also very well done. As the film progressed and as the Nazi’s were losing the war, the more desaturated it became and more dreary. The lighting choices to do so were well executed bringing an amount of weightiness to the film throughout. In the end, after the war ends, the world finally becomes more bright and fully restored to its peaceful state.
Something that I’ve seen a lot of people make the assumption of is that this is a Nazi-Sympathizer film and let me say, that is far from the truth. This film not only makes light of the ridiculousness and the stupidity of the Nazi’s, but elevates the Jews. A quote from the movie by Esla Korr, played by Thomasin McKenzie, who is a Jew in the film says, “We are Gods chosen people. The ones who wrestled with angels and slayed giants.” This brings the
Jews to a place of power and authority and that theme goes all the way throughout the film.
The comedy and humor is of course something that I have to touch on. In a film that you have to be so sensitive about how you joke about things and what you joke about, it handles itself with a great sense of understanding. This film takes place through the eyes of a 10 year old boy. A child. So when jokes are made about other nations and what the Nazi Regime made the public believe, you realize how absurd what they believed was. Doing so through a child who is so innocent makes for a great laugh to say the least!
An incredible thing for me is that in thinking about this film and writing this review, I can’t think of one thing I didn’t like. It has a great element of family as well as love and hate. It’s a very relevant film when some people are trying to say that the Holocaust never happened. We must never forget those who were lost and continue to fight the hatred that fills our earth and pray for the ones who have been deceived by such hatred. If you’re interested in seeing this film, go give it a watch. You’ll have fun!
I’ll give Jojo Rabbit a 5/5.
