The Boy in the Striped Pajamas - A Review

Last night Jessica, Rashaad, Elizabeth, and I went to see "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" at The State Theatre. I had very low expectations for this movie, and I was pleasantly surprised that it was not terrible. I would not describe it as amazing, life-changing, or awe-inspiring, but it was OK. There was just something about it that fell short. It was a pretty decent looking movie (the cinematography was fair), and I cannot really say that the acting was poor. What bothered me the most was that it was very, very predictable. Take for instance the scene where Bruno falls off of the swing and scrapes his knee. As soon as the Jewish man from the Nazi death camp who worked in the house begins bandaging Bruno's knee, I said to my self, "Before he was taken away to this death camp, I'll bet that man was a doctor." I'm no soothsayer, but I was right!

Although the movie had a message that I have heard before (Nazis are evil) and the story could have been told in a 25-minute short film, I'd give it a C+ almost strictly based on the suspenseful build-up to the "surprise" ending .