THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PAJAMAS

FILM STUDY

By Kristen Watson

SYNOPSIS

Young Bruno lives a wealthy lifestyle in prewar Germany along with his mother, elder sister , Gretel and SS Commandant father, ralph. The

family relocates to the countryside where his father is assigned to take command a prison camp (Auschwitz). A few days later, Bruno

befriends another youth, strangely dressed in striped pajamas, named Shmuel who lives behind an electrified fence. Bruno will soon find out that he is not permitted to befriend his new friend as he is a Jew, and that the neighboring yard is actually a prison camp for Jews awaiting

extermination.

Childhood is measured out by the sounds and smells and

sights, before the dark hour of reason groups -John Betjeman

Economic Comparisons

Bruno lived in a stately house with 5 floors

Bruno had never felt hunger, because his parents could afford food.

Shmeul lived in an apartment above his father’s watch store

Shmuel is starved in the internment camp

BRUNO VS SHMUEL

Bruno Shmuel

ARRIVAL TO AUSCHWITZ

Bruno Shmuel

SH

MU

EL’S

D

AD

“He is a watchmaker, but now most of the

time he just mends boots”

-Shmuel

Sleeps alone

Clean bed

Own room

Sleeps with several others

Dirty clothes, dirty blankets

Shares a room with hundreds of people

ZZZ TIME COMPARIONS

Bruno Shmuel

“They are not pajamas. They took all of our

clothes away.” -Shmuel

INACCURATE

“The aim of the Jew is to become the ruler of humanity. The Jew is not creative but

destructive. He is the enemy of culture. Thousands of Germans have been made poor

by the Jew.”

-Gretel (reading from a book)

Social Comparisons

INACCURACY

Bruno and those around him on the “greener” side of the

fence are suppose to be German… Yet they have

British accents in the movie. Shmuel would not have been German, but spoken a form of a Yiddish dilect or polish.

INACCURACY

The relationship Bruno and Shmuel have is very

inaccurate considering children sent to camps were almost immediately killed as they were not strong enough

for such intensive labor.

SOLDIERS

How Bruno saw them How Shmuel Saw them

TREATMENT

How Bruno’s Family Was Treated How Shmuel Was Treated

HUH? POLAND?

Poland must be very far from Germany

Good try Bruno! ;)

“You and I are suppose to be enemies. Did you

know that?”

WHAT TO CHOOSE?

EVEN A SANDW ICH CAN BE INACCU RATE

Religious Ideology Comparisons

Gretel (reading from a book)“The Jew slandered us and incited our enemies. The Jew corrupted us

through bad books. He mocked our literature and our music.

Everywhere his influence was destructive, the eventual result of which was our nation’s collapse.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLAGPnE6jPA

“They smell even worse when they burn, don’t

they?”

THE FENCE

Shmuel: “It is to stop people from getting out!’

 

Bruno: “Why what have you done?”

 

Shmuel: “I am a Jew”

DEGENERATE

H T T P S : / / W W W. Y O U T U B E . C O M / W A T C H ? V = O Q K K J V L G F E W

“I saw a film about the

camp and it looked so

nice!” -Bruno

Political Comparisons

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqKkJVLgFew

INACCURACY

Sneaking into a concentration camp would be

next to impossible as

the camps were heavily guarded

GERMAN BOY KNOWING NOTHING ABOUT GERMANY? In the book Bruno has

never heard the word Jew before. In the movie the director presents him to completely unaware of what has happened in Berlin… The CAPITAL of Nazi Germany. Tee hee

not that Bruno…

HE

WO

UL

D H

AV

E

SE

EN

TH

IS..

Means for Aryans only

AND THIS…

Jews being denied

streetcar access

AND THESE

The 1938 Kristallnacht or “Night of Broken Glass”

YAY HITLER?

IN THE MOVIES AND IN REALITY

Movie Reality

PROPAGANDA

Movie Reality

OUT WITH? NO AUSCHWITZ!

No th sound in the

German Language

ACCUR ACY / INACCURACY O F CL O THIN G

Commandant Lieutenant

WHAT IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN

Commandant Lieutenant

UNDERLINING REASON FOR THE

INACCURACY

The film as is the book are meant to be a fable. Telling the holocaust perspective from a point of innocence. Childhood symbolizes this.

This is why John Boyne chose to see the holocaust through both Bruno and

Shmuel’s eyes.