The dream is no longer to simply write the Great American Novel. Now we also want our Great American Novel to be adapted into a movie which will go on to be successful and make us even more famous. But the vast majority of books suffer a great decline in quality when they become films. And some of them simply shouldn’t be told a movie and they become cheapened in a way. Now one of those stories is available on DVD and it’s ready right now.
Starting this March 10th, now available on DVD from Miramax Films and Heyday Films comes a touching tale of one of the most unlikely and strange friendships of all time. The Boy In The Striped Pajamas is ready to come right out of your television screen and bring a world of surprise and friendship into your living room. Bring home this Holocaust drama today!
In World War II in Europe and the German family of Rolf, Else, Gretel and Bruno have just moved to the countryside. Rolf is a Nazi officer and the family has just happened to move into the same woods as a concentration camp where Rolf will be in command. Bruno is eight and can’t leave the house or garden and because of this, he doesn’t like the new house. Then, looking out his window, he sees a fence with people wearing striped pajamas behind it. He goes down and meets a young boy behind the fence named Shmuel. They become friends and their friendship progresses through the movie all the way to a breathtaking and heartbreaking ending you will find hard to forget. This movie is based off of the bestselling novel of the same name by John Boyne and stars Vera Farmiga, David Thewlis, Rupert Friend, Asa Butterfield and Jack Scanlon.
The special features included in this DVD are a selection of deleted scenes, a featurette about this friendship once the fence came down and an optional audio commentary from director Mark Herman and author John Boyne.
First of all, this was an excellent film. The book was great and I expected the movie to be just as great. I guarantee that you will enjoy this movie. Yet, although the quality and vision of the film were superb, I still believe that this movie would have been better off not being made. Here’s the reason why – we make too many movies about the Holocaust. I know it’s something we should never forget and we should all be dedicated to preventing an evil of the magnitude from ever occurring again. I stand just as firmly against genocide as anyone else. But we all know the Holocaust was evil and each movie cheapens that tragedy in slight ways. It’s a popular topic in movies because it’s very emotional and makes the film an automatic contender for the Oscars and other awards. You can’t say that a movie about the Holocaust was bad or else you just might be anti-Semitic. But maybe we should find better ways to remember than by schlepping four or five movies to the big screen each year.
Give this Boy a home!
This DVD is available at Amazon.com.
3 users commented in " Movie Review: The Boy In The Striped Pajamas "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackI am watching this tonite…Heard it was great
I saw this film for the first time a month ago and I still cannot shake the intense sense of sorrow and sadness that resulted from its climax. Every time I look at my six year old son, MAtthew, his innocence brings me back to the final scene and I become very emotional.
Apart from the impact it had on me, this was an excellent movie. It is a prime example of how acting and a directors’ skill at setting a mood can have a greater impact than mega special effects.
I am getting emotional just thinking about this film. It was incredible,
The book is way better because in the film they leave stuff out like Bruno getting his hair shaved off! 🙂 🙂 😛
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