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Jan 29, 2020
You know what goes together, mustard and pretzels. You know what else goes together, a New Zealand Polynesian Jew and master of the third reich. Surprisingly! This 2019 satirical black comedy is one that is surprisingly effective in balancing the innocence of childhood during one of the darkest periods of human history.
Johannes Betzler (played by Roman Griffin Davis) is a 10 year old kid living through the peak of World War II in Germany just trying to navigate his way through life. It is assumed that he was influenced to be part of Hitler Youth from a younger age. He doesn’t seem concerned much for the German army, all this kid wants is to be part of a group despite how extreme their beliefs are. This explains his motivations for not being able to snap a rabbit’s neck, which gives him the nickname, “Jojo Rabbit.” To cope with the feeling of unwelcomeness, he creates an imaginary friend who is lonely based off Adolf Hitler, who is ridiculous and an embarrassing version of the former German leader played by the director himself, Taika Waititi. While this can be viewed as indecent and a major turn off to some audiences, sometimes the right way to remove that fear from a real-life villain is to humiliate them. But still recognizing their own inconsistencies.
While all of this is happening, Jojo finds out that a Jewish teenager girl Elsa (played by Thomasin McKenzie) has been living in the walls of his deceased sister’s room. Because of his beliefs, he is really against keeping her around but he still very insecure that he can’t follow through with it. While the story continues, he lightens up to her while also developing feelings for her. This pisses off Hitler and he tries to stop it. This only worsen when Jojo realizes his mother (played by Scarlett Johannsen) who has been caring for him and Elsa since his father left for war, was hanged because she was involved in the revolution against the Nazis. But by the time the war ended completely, the imaginary Hitler had no more power over Jojo. Which symbolizes his freedom from extremism. While he power kicks him out his window! Since Jojo is scared Elsa will leave him and never return, he lies at first. But makes her understand what he feels. She slaps him after they step outside. Well deserved after lying. But they soon become comfortable enough to dance to a German version of David Bowie’s Heroes. Which in of itself was based off the tearing down of the Berlin Wall. So the tear down of dividing walls for everyone is always a good thing!
This film exuded a balance of comedy and drama when needed. When I first watched this film, I was devastated what happened to his mother. The second time while not as shocking was still heartbreaking. While not perfect by any means, it is still an amazing film for its ambitiousness of being original, funny, heartbreaking, reverent, and enlightening all within its runtime. It’s what many creators should strive for.
Jojo Rabbit is a film under the ownership of Searchlight Pictures and Twentieth Century Studios, a division of the Walt Disney Company.
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