by John Zenoni
When I heard about the film, “JoJo Rabbit”, and that it was about a young 10-year old boy whose imaginary friend is Adolf Hitler, I thought: "How in the world did a movie like this get made and why would anyone want to make it? How could you possibly tell such a story and it not be insensitive for all the obvious reasons?" Well, I have to say that it was brilliantly done. It's a dark comedy that shows how an impressionable young man begins to realize the error and evil of Hitler’s ways when he discovers that his mother has been hiding a young Jewish girl in their attic. He begins to learn about her and develop a crush on her as she befriends him. JoJo is a loner, with the exception of his mother, and is seeking some sense of belonging. It's even more clear when at one point in the film, he's told by the young Jewish girl, “You're not a Nazi, Jojo," she says, "you're a 10-year-old kid who likes dressing up in a funny uniform and wants to be part of a club."
The horrors of the war begin to reveal themselves and JoJo has to learn to adjust after certain things happen in the film. While it might be a ‘neat’ ending to some, it definitely was not to me. Any film that plays a song by David Bowie while the two central characters dance in the streets works for me!
All the acting in this movie is remarkable (Sam Rockwell is brilliant as always) and the ending is one of my favorites. I can see why this film was nominated for Best Picture this year as it's a great, thought-provoking film.
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