Jojo Rabbit (2019)

 ‘Jojo Rabbit’ directed by Taika Waititi is a World War II based satire mocking the horrors that took place at the time. The fact that this film was decidedly a comedy, states that it was willing to mock Hitler, the Nazis and everything they stood for is unambiguously inadequate.

Based on the story, ‘Caging Skies’ by Christine Leunens, young Jojo Beltzer is ten year old (Roman Griffin Davis) who dreams of fighting in war and becoming Hitler’s personal assistant. This particular fantasy of his runs through his blood as he frequently talks to ‘Hitler’ (Taika Waititi), a figment of his imagination, particularly absurd in many ways, for example he had mentioned that he has bulletproof legs and while Jojo is forced to eat barely edible disposed leftovers he finds in his neighborhood’s bins, Hitler devours on a unicorn head. This satirical take on the inhuman nature of Hitler definitely took us all by surprise. Waititi took a leap of faith in himself when it came to developing this character, but frankly there is no suggestion that anything on screen remotely represents Nazism, and in my opinion this movie might be the best made but definitely the worst World War II movie I’ve watched. The fact that Waititi cast in such great actors and actresses to such a bad storyline is just mind numbingly painful to admit. Nevertheless, Roman griffin Davis’s acting was just astounding yet disappoint that ‘Jojo Rabbit’ had to be his debut in acting. Yet that kid is going to places.

Jojo Rabbit is far more problematic than it seems. It doesn’t just merely parody the Nazis, but also attempts to sympathize and humanize them. We are perhaps only a few years away from parting with our last Holocaust survivors. Soon enough, books and movies will be the source of information that we will rely on. Our future generations might at some point rely on the legacy of ‘Jojo Rabbit’, a comedic take on the Holocaust, the massacre of six million Jewish citizens and the brutal, cold blooded nature in humans to have the ability to destroy their own kind can be hard-to-digest material for Holocaust survivors who have had firsthand experience of horror and terror during World War II.

Of course, it is not abnormal for artists to create such sarcastic, satirical takes on the horror and brutality existent in the real world, but as this is possibly the first time that someone has demonstrated Hitler as a goofy, middle aged man that gives terrible advice to children, who generate him up in their imagination as an imaginary friend. Thus this may not be half as successful as any other comedy, let alone a Holocaust movie.

However the characters of Jojo’s mother, Rosie (Scarlett Johansson) and the Jewish girl, Elsa (Thomasin Mckenzie) can be appreciated. Rosie understands that her son has particular issues regarding Aryans, Jews, Nazism, loyalty and more issues rose during a conversation with Elsa when she mentioned “It took him three weeks to get over the fact that his grandfather wasn’t blonde." While Jojo’s relationship with his mother is deeply touching and as the movie goes on the poignant moments of the movie really stand out. For example, when Jojo sees the people hung at the Town Square, he asks “What did they do?” and his mother replies “What they could”. This might be the only moment in the middle of the movie that wasn’t a comedic take on Nazism.

Instead of directly confronting the horrors of war it rather makes juvenile representations of the world around them. Even though the story centers on Jojo eventually discovering the horrors of life and war, Waititi has included a few shots of abandoned shops, vandalism, evidence of arrest and murder but, it is subtly hidden from Jojo’s naive world.

Jojo is a very innocent and naive little boy who believes everything he’s told, which is in a way, hilarious but it leads the spectators to question his sanity at times. Particularly about the fact that he talks out loud to his imaginary friend and believes the nonsense Elsa strings together. Initially, Elsa can be presumed to somewhat cocky in providing Jojo with information that is rather skeptical but eventually lets Jojo discover the truth himself. The patience and capacity, Elsa has when it comes to matters such as Jojo’s loyalty towards Nazism is surprisingly enjoyable, even in a movie like this.  Consequently, Jojo realizes the brutality of the world in the last thirty minutes or so, but for a movie that lasts one hour and forty five minutes, just thirty minutes for an epiphany to take place isn’t enough, especially in a movie set on the Holocaust.

In a way, this movie can be considered as a coming of age movie given the fact that Jojo falls in love with Elsa at the end and the fact that he finally has learnt how to tie his shoelaces presumptuously demonstrate his gradual transition from his immature childhood to his lovable youth. Jojo also realizes the wrong misguidance in Nazism and in my opinion, the phrase that Jojo uses before blasting off Hitler from his bedroom window was definitely way too inappropriate for a ten year old.

In a nutshell, ‘Jojo Rabbit’ might not be that successful amongst the modern audience, as it mainly satirizes the Holocaust, Nazism and Hitler, yet nevertheless was nominated for a few awards at the Toronto film festival. However as a film for anybody who likes it, has bad taste and definitely should expand their limitations and open their way for better movies.

Reviewed by @evansand

Edited by @jackiekingroberts7

Jojo Rabbit Trailer