Jojo Rabbit (2019): Through the Eyes of a Child

Late fall is the season when cinema aficionados (by which I mean lovers of all sorts of movies, Marty) are like pigs in clover. So many choices,  so much to see, a plethora of good films heading into awards season. I’ve already commented on a bunch of motion pictures with some awards buzz attached to them, like The Farewell, Once Upon A Time in … Hollywood, Pain and Glory, Dolemite is My Name, Harriet and Marriage Story. But this month and next there are many more coming.  My next several posts will be about a few that are now in theaters.

First up is Jojo Rabbit, the funny, yet haunting new movie by New Zealand writer/director Taika Waititi, who also wrote and directed What We Do in the Shadows (2014) and Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016), then directed Marvel’s Thor:Ragnarok (2017).  Waititi has a light touch, even when dealing with serious themes. Wilderpeople, for example, is about a foster child with a big chip on his shoulder given one last chance to bond with a foster family; it could have been a grim or somberly earnest affair, but instead is a funny, charming, entertaining tale with heart and soul. In Ragnarok, Waititi even manages to render the comic-book adventures of the titular Marvel superhero in a light, quirkily humorous way.

Johannes “Jojo” Betzler (Roman Griffin Davis, in his first professional role), is the protagonist of the new film, a dreamy ten-year-old German lad living with his mother (Scarlett Johansson) in 1944 Berlin and wanting nothing more than to join the Hitler Youth and have great adventures fighting for the fatherland. As the picture opens, Jojo is excitedly preparing to attend a Nazi youth camp, presided over by the disdainful and ridiculous Captain Kienzenhof (Sam Rockwell). Jojo is encouraged by his imaginary friend, an enthusiastic and even more ridiculous Adolph Hitler (played by Waititi).

Hitler is idiotic, of course, because he is merely the projection of a naïve wide-eyed child; and as such is a very funny, cleverly satirical device representing the madness and badness of this horribly wicked man, while somehow sidestepping what could have been quite an offensive reaction.This may be a good place to add that Waititi is himself half Jewish (and half Maori). I might also note that this goofy, satirical treatment of Adolph Hitler owes a lot to his representation in “Springtime for Hitler”, the play within the story of The Producers (1967) written and directed by another Jew, Mel Brooks.

In any event, Jojo doesn’t fare all that well at camp, because he is at heart a gentle soul, an attribute completely at odds with the essential cruelty of Nazism.  The boy is credulous, however, and hopes to redeem himself by compiling Nazi dicta about the essential otherness of Jews into a proposed book, despite having never met a Jewish person in his short life.  This project too becomes problematic, when Jojo inadvertently makes the acquaintance of Elsa (Thomasin McKenzie), a Jewish teenager in hiding – a person who meets absolutely none of the hateful, monstrous stereotypes invented by the racist National Socialists. Elsa actually gets off one of the film’s best lines, after Jojo asks her how Jews are different from Germans. “We’re the same as you, only human,” she replies.

The topics sound heavy (and are indeed at their core) but are rendered in Waititi’s inimitably sweet, entertaining style. The tone, and to some degree the visual style, owes more than a little to Wes Anderson – think of the scout camp sequences in his Moonrise Kingdom (2012), for example. Waititi’s comedic treatment of historically weighty matters also reminds me, in a certain way, of Armando Iannucci’s The Death of Stalin (2017). As an example, the Nazis’ insistence on Heil Hitler-ing each other at every opportunity, is an effective running joke.

Jojo Rabbit features some fine acting. Scarlett Johansson here shows a different side as Rosie (Jojo’s mom) and may well be an Oscar nominee in the supporting actress category; likewise, Oscar winner Sam Rockwell may get a shot at another one for his supporting performance here, as a Nazi officer with attitude, alternately daffy and wise. Thomasin McKenzie, so excellent in last year’s Leave No Trace, is just as convincing here. Our next chance to see her will be in next year’s The True History of the Kelly Gang, based on the wonderful Peter Carey novel, and I for one, am looking forward to that. Newcomer child actor Roman Griffin Davis is another one to watch. He is pretty wonderful as Jojo, and we can only hope that this promising performance will be the first of many.

With Jojo Rabbit, Waititi takes a well-worn, depressing topic like the Nazi era and renders it - and the still important lessons we must learn from it: the need for tolerance, the importance of truth in the face of disinformation, the madness of cult politics, etc.  - in a fresh way, through the eyes of an innocent child. The result is a lovely, very funny, endearing, ultimately touching film.

1 hour 48 minutes                   Rated PG 13 (take a kid)

Grade: B+

In fairly wide release.