Jojo Rabbit

Writer/director Taika Waititi (“Thor Ragnarok”) created a Wes Anderson-esque offbeat Anne Frank-ish comedy, which won the People’s Choice Awards at TIFF.

JOJO RABBIT is set near the end of World War II. Jojo Betzler, played by a remarkable young actor (Roman Griffin Davis) who could give both Jacob Tremblay (Room) and the Stranger Things kids a run for the money) is a German 10-year-old Nazi enthusiast so zealously ready to join the Third Reich, his imaginary friend is a wacky Adolf Hitler (played by Waititi). This is Roman’s first professional role and he really seemed to understand the whole tone of the movie and how to play it straight with humor, that not easy, even for a seasoned actor.

Jojo’s is more than excited to head off to Nazi youth camp, but soon discovers his heart is too tender and independent thinking to truly be a good Nazi. First realized when asked to kill a rabbit by wringing its neck; unable to find his inner killer; it earns him the derisive moniker of JoJo Rabbit. JoJo’s mother (Scarlett Johansson) forever sporting another fabulous German, yodeler ensemble, down to the brightly colored saddle shoes (which are significant to the major outcome of a later scene.) is loving, funny, and doesn’t hide the fact from Jojo that the Nazi party line is not hers – Walking past the hanged corpses of Jews and resistance fighters in the town square, she forces him to look. “What did they do?” he asks. She replies, “What they could.” but she also accepts her son’s fanaticism at least partly because it protects him and she respects his right to find his way.

Sam Rockwell, has now played 2 racists, a womanizer, a Nazi & George Bush, he’s officially type-cast as a bad guy 😀

Making light of the atrocities of the Holocaust in order to ridicule the hatefulness, is not new, everyone’s seen it in Mel Brooks’ “The Producers” and probably best done in Roberto Bengni’s Oscar winning “Life is Beautiful”. But where that film had an escapist bent. “JoJo Rabbit’s” focuses on the absurdity that comes from demonizing others out of fear and racism.

I personally feel over-saturated by Holocaust and Slave narratives, however, like “Harriet” there’s always another angle and reason to remind people this happened and should never come close to happening again.

T&T @LAMB rating: 3.5 outta 5