I’ve dragged my feet a bit writing this to be honest with you. You see, this is a satirical drama/comedy film about a young boy living in Nazi Germany late in WWII and I just wasn’t sure how to process the fact that a film about something so grim could be so damn funny. ‘Am I allowed to laugh at this?!’, I found myself thinking. I decided that if it was ok with Jewish people then it was ok with me but then I didn’t get round to googling the Jewish community’s reaction to the film for a few days and, in truth, I confess let it slide. But then I asked a Jewish colleague about it and he told me that the director Taika Waititi is Jewish and that settled it… laugh and be damned!
So…
Jojo Rabbit (Roman Griffin Davis) is the aforementioned young boy - a Hitler Youth member - who lives with his mother Rosie (Scarlett Johansson) and is often visited by his imaginary friend, a comical version (!) of Adolf Hitler (Taika Waititi, also the director). He discovers his mother is hiding a young Jewish woman in their home and after initially threatening to turn her in to the Gestapo, forms a bond with her.
To cut to the chase (regular readers will have to try their best to forget my Cats blog!), I thought this film was both hilarious and thought-provoking. I have an annoyingly loud laugh and was quite self-conscious about how much I was laughing in the cinema. When other people chuckled politely, I really cacked myself. Mainly at Taika Waititi’s Hitler. Truly, that guy is just absolutely sublime. WAITITI, NOT HITLER, OBVIOUSLY.
Jojo Rabbit has been nominated for Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy in the Golden Globe awards and it’s a well-deserved nomination. I’d love to see it take the win! (It also won the People’s Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival.)
This four star review in The Age encapsulates my feelings about this film more articulately than I have and gives you more details about the film and plot, if you want to read more. Then there’s this in-depth review from the ABC which examines the concerns my instincts alerted me to, if you want to read even more.
Jojo Rabbit is in cinemas now. It’s rated M and runs for 108 minutes. Trailer here.