When Jojo Rabbit won a bunch of awards last year I looked it up and frankly it didn't look like anything I wanted to see. The Nazis aren't funny and neither was World War Two. It just looked weird.
Well, last week I watched it, and its great.
It's also nearly indescribable.
Set in the very last days of the Third Reich, the film takes a look at those times in a German town or small city through the eyes ten year old Johannes Betzler. Betzler is an enthusiastic member of the Hitler Youth whose father is absent in a somewhat mysterious fashion (we know that he was a German soldier, but we don't know what became of him. . . he's missing in Italy but we don't know exactly what that means). He lives with his mother in a nice apartment/house on an archetypical German street. He has an imaginary friend, with that figure being Adolph Hitler through the eyes of a ten year old who really doesn't know the true Hitler. Hitler is vivid to him.
Things soon begin to take an odd direction. Betlzer acquires the name "Rabbit" when he can't kill a tame rabbit at a Hitler Youth training session ran by sadistic fantastic teenage boys. Soon thereafter his Hitler Youth organization is taken over by an unhinged alcoholic German army Captain played perfectly by Sam Rockwell who has been assigned that role as he's lost an eye in combat. Captain Klenzendorf is assisted by a League of German Girls leader who has completely lost her moral compass, played perfectly by Rebel Wilson. Jojo is wounded in training in an accident with a hand grenade, but his mother, played by Scarlett Johansson, puts him back into the organizations service seemingly to give him something to do, or perhaps to divert his attention from her own activities. In the meantime his best friend, Yorki, goes from being a member of the Hitler Youth to being a boy soldier.
And, on top of it all, it turns out that his mother has been hiding fifteen year old Elsa, a Jewish girl who was the friend of Jojo's sister, who has died, in the walls of his sister's old room.
None of this sounds like it would be funny, but it is strangely funny and tragic at the same time. Jojo discovers Elsa and doesn't know what to do. Largely on his own for large hours of the day, and around adults who are either opposed to the Nazis, such as his mother, or completely unhinged, such as his youth organization leaders (Captain Klenzendorf is not only drunk most of the time, and clearly mentally unbalanced, he's extraordinarily cynical), he struggles with what to do with his discovery, which he learns could result in his mother's execution. Moreover, in interacting with Elsa, he falls in love with her.
To go beyond this would be to reveal plot details, so I won't, but the entire thing is masterfully done. In retrospect its really easy to forget that the average German didn't really realize that the war would e completely lost until January, 1945 and for young people it must have been extraordinarily confusing. For somebody in hiding, such as Elsa, the lack of knowledge must have been often complete. For junior military officers who had seen combat, the last days must have been surreal.
Some things done with the film would seem to be unlikely to work, but in fact work really well. The opening soundtrack recalls that of
Valkyrie, but with the German language cut of
I Want To Hold Your Hand by the Beatles, for instance, which actually really works well. Lots of humor in the film is incredibly dark, but genuinely extremely funny.
Usually in these films we depart from conventional film reviews and look at the material and historical detail. We would have expected to cut this film a lot of slack in that regard but it turns out, we don't have to. Material details pertaining to the Germany army, SS, Volksturm, American Army and Red Army are incredibly accurate. Probably the only departure in this context is the all black business suits and overcoats of the Gestapo, but at this point in time that's such a stock portrayal that a departure from that would have been unwise. The Hitler Youth has been depicted before in various films but details such as the significance of Hitler Youth knife have not. They are here. The League of German Girls has almost never been depicted in film, but it's very weird associations with procreation have not been. They are here.
This film is really good and, even for a fan of serious historical movies, it's a must. It depicts something unique that is worth watching.
.jpg)
