The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

Offering another perspective on the Holocaust, director Mark Herman's The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is told from the point of view of eight-year-old Bruno (Asa Butterfield), whose father (David Thewlis) is a German SS officer stationed at a death camp. Despite being uneasy about the family's proximity to the camp, Bruno's mother (Vera Farmiga) allows him to wander, and one day Bruno happens upon the wire fence marking the facility's outer boundary, where he meets a young Jewish boy named Shmuel (Jack Scanlon), and the pair strike up a friendship. While the acting is fine—the two youngsters deliver surprisingly mature and accomplished performances, and Farmiga is characteristically excellent—this too-earnest BBC production will exhaust many viewers with its heavy-handed juxtaposition of the innocence of youth with the horrors of Nazism. A well-intentioned drama that nevertheless pales in comparison to the many exceptional Holocaust films released over the years, this is not a necessary purchase. [Note: DVD extras include audio commentary by writer-director Mark Herman and author John Boyne, the behind-the-scenes featurette “Friendship Beyond the Fence” (21 min.), five deleted scenes with optional commentary (8 min.), and trailers. Bottom line: a decent extras package for a disappointing film.] (E. Hulse)[Blu-ray Review—July 19, 2011—Lionsgate, 94 min., PG-13, $19.99—Making its first appearance on Blu-ray, 2008's The Boy in the Striped Pajamas sports a solid transfer with DTS-HD 5.1 sound. Blu-ray extras are identical to those on the standard DVD release, including audio commentary by writer-director Mark Herman and author John Boyne, the behind-the-scenes featurette “Friendship Beyond the Fence” (21 min.), five deleted scenes with optional commentary (8 min.), and trailers. Bottom line: better looking in Blu, but not a better film.]