Jojo Rabbit (2019)

Movie Name/Year: Jojo Rabbit (2019)

Genre: Comedy, Drama, War

Length: 108 minutes

Rating: PG-13

Production/Distribution: TSG Entertainment, Piki Films, Defender Films, Czech Anglo Productions, 20th Century Fox Argentina, 20th Century Fox Brazil, 20th Century Fox, Big Picture 2 Films, Forum Hungary, Fox Searchlight Pictures, Odeon, Press Play Pictures, Twentieth Century Fox, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

Director: Taika Waititi

Writer: Taika Waititi, Christine Leunens

Actors: Roman Griffin Davis, Thomasin McKenzie, Scarlett Johansson, Taika Waititi, Sam Rockwell, Rebel Wilson, Alfie Allen, Stephen Merchant, Archie Yates, Luke Brandon Field, Sam Haygarth, Stanislav Callas, Joe Weintraub, Brian Caspe, Gabriel Andrews, Billy Rayner, Robert East

Blurb from IMDb: A young boy in Hitler's army finds out his mother is hiding a Jewish girl in their home.

Selina’s Point of View:

After watching this film, I’m more convinced than ever that the controversy was unwarranted.

It’s easy to see the words ‘World War II’ or ‘Holocaust’ and get pissed off when they’re paired with words like ‘comedy’ – but making any definitive statement about a work of art before consuming it is simply ignorant.

Yes, there was comedy in this film. There were bright colors, jokes, and a ridiculous depiction of Hitler. Still, this is one of the most disturbing movies I’ve ever seen.

The beginning of Jojo Rabbit made me feel like I was living in an alternate reality where Germany won World War II. It was horrifyingly like a director from that reality created a comedy. Good was bad. Down was up. It was insanity. People were laughing all around me as the jokes and awkward situations fell upon the brainwashed 10-year-old German boy on screen.

It was almost easy to miss the threads of truth woven into the jokes. From the moment I saw those threads, I knew what Taika Waititi (What We Do in the Shadows, The Inbetweeners, Thor: Ragnarok) was trying to portray.

The movie wasn’t just from the point of view of a fly on the wall watching Jojo. It was directly from his perspective, despite not being in first-person.

It started out bright and funny, though twisted. Just about a 10-year-old living his life after being exposed to a propaganda machine since birth. After finding the Jewish girl in his home, however, Jojo began to see the truths of his world. Colors became more muted. The funny parts became cringy and absurd.

By the end, the horrors of war were inescapable. And, at one point, the humor ended completely until the moment that Germany lost, when people could be free again.

It’s true that different people are going to take away different things from Jojo Rabbit, but what I saw was intense. It was a point of view I have never seen before and it put an emphasis on a pain experienced by people I’ve never considered.

From the trailers it’s easy to expect something that makes light of the war and/or the Holocaust, but that’s not what the movie is.

Jojo Rabbit was intense, bizarre, and mental. It was aesthetically beautiful, hard to look at, bitter, painful, and – yes, at times – funny. But it didn’t shy away from anything.

I loved it. I paid to watch it, and I have no regrets.

Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score – 80%

Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score – 95%

Metascore – 58/100

Metacritic User Score – 7.0/10

IMDB Score – 8.0/10

CinemaScore – None

Trust the Dice: Selina’s Rating – 4.5/5

Movie Trailer: