“The Boy in the Striped Pajamas,” a recent release on DVD is a sad and emotional story that takes place during World War II and the Holocaust. It tells a story of love, hate, and friendship.Bruno is a typical eight-year-old boy, who has lots of friends living in the city. His dad is a soldier, and they have to move because of an order from the army. Bruno is sad because he has to leave his friends.
I know how sad he feels because I was his age when I moved to Ohio. It’s a sad feeling to have when you move and leave your friends, but just as I did Bruno accepts the fact and gets on with his life, though it is hard for him.
When the family moves into the new house, it is very suspicious to Bruno because he is told the place he can see by the woods is a farm, but it is actually a concentration camp.
Bruno likes to explore and never listens to his mom about not going into the woods.
He goes up to the “farm,” where he discovers a boy sitting on the other side of a fence. Bruno meets another eight-year-old dressed in a black and white striped jail suit. The boy’s name is Shmuel (pronounced schmool). Bruno and Shmuel become friends, and the more Bruno knows about Shmuel, the more curious he becomes. He finds out Shmuel is Jewish and is forbidden to leave the camp.
Bruno is playing on his tire swing one day and sees black smoke coming from the camp and asks his mom about the nasty smell he was wondering about. The black smoke is coming from the burning of the bodies of the Jews. Bruno’s mom comes home from town a few days later and notices the same smell.
One of the soldiers who brought her home said “they smell worse when they burn!” This began a fight with Bruno’s parents.
Bruno asks his sister about this, and she says nobody can have a friendship with Jews because they are hateful and mean, and she claims there is no such thing as a friendly Jew.
Shmuel tells Bruno about his dad and Bruno has the idea where he gets a set of matching “pajamas,” and they try to find his dad. Bruno’s family is looking for him at this point and the scent dog leads them to the camp.
The end is the saddest part of the entire movie. This journey takes the Jews to the chamber. As you see the soldiers leading the Jews into the chamber and telling them to strip, you know what the plan is. When Bruno’s family gets to the camp, it’s too late. The Jews have been gassed to their death.
This was a very sad story that made me cry, and by watching this I got more of a history lesson. This was a story of two friends of different religions/backgrounds and their journey together makes this a touching movie.