A young boy in Hitler’s army finds out his mother is hiding a Jewish girl in their home.
It’s my freshman year at The Alamo Drafthouse’s infamous genre-film festival: Fantastic Fest. Expect coverage of the fest to come but day one happened and Taika Waititi’s new film “Jojo Rabbit” screened for audiences. With Waititi and Stephen Merchant in attendance, the screening could be described as nothing short of raucous and entertaining. The movie itself drew significant laughter. “Jojo Rabbit” delightfully appeals to the ten-year-old in all of us as it hilariously illustrates a profound lesson on the human need for acceptance.
Roman Griffin Davis plays Jojo Betzler, Hitler’s most loyal fan. In the final throes of World War Two, Jojo and his imaginary friend, Adolf Hitler (hilariously played by Taika Waititi), suffer a terrible grenade-induced accident. Jojo stays home on medical leave working for the Hitler youth camp director Captain K, Fraulein Rahm, and Finkel (played by Sam Rockwell, Rebel Wilson, and Alfie Allen). Jojo discovers his mother’s hiding a jew in his closet.
This film illustrates the ludicrous distortions of propaganda as well as humanizes those who believe it. Jojo, like all of us, just wants somewhere to belong. He tells Thomasin McKenzie’s character at one point “no one likes ugly things.” Clearly referencing himself. The tenderness underlying the film helps steer the ship away from too much parody and there are genuine emotional stakes. I don’t want to ruin the movie for you but be prepared for a gut punch or two. It laughingly capitalizes on Nazi ideology’s perversions but retains the human cost of World War Two.
Even if “making Nazis cute” seems a bit juvenile to you I recommend you go for the laughs. There’s pure joy to be found, especially in Archie Yates’ character Yorki. At one point the entire audience ‘aah’ed when he announced he needs a cuddle from his mum. The kids in the film carry this movie on their back and they do it like champs. Taika capitalizes on Roman’s childlike innocence.
He stated directly in the Q&A he looks for children who embody the role they’re playing or he changes the role for them. Jojo’s earnest belief in party propaganda takes the sharp edge off the disgustingly ignorant lessons these children learn. His eyes slowly widen as his fellow ten-year-olds join the war effort, traitors bodies hang in the square, and he gets left behind. Taika’s said before the movie’s not about humanizing the Nazis it’s about humanizing children.
His version of Hitler was never meant to be accurate, it’s meant to be a parodic child’s version. The few times Taika steps into full-on Hitler mode it’s scary and alarming and you don’t trust the things he’s saying. Yes, Taika Waititi made a movie where the Hitler Youth look like a fun summer camp but he also made a movie where propaganda about Jews seems implausibly ridiculous. We know it. The adults in the movie know it. Jojo knows it, but nobody seems to dispel the rumors.
The movie leans into all its sight gags, puns, and gleeful anarchy. Some may say it’s a project that removes the sting off Nazism but I would argue it skewers Nazis so thoroughly one would be hard-pressed to justify any of their actions. This movie lovingly takes down the characters it needs to take down (Stephen Merchant’s Gestapo officer terrifies at first then breaks down into a total goofball.) It never waits long enough for us to be concerned.
I’d argue everyone go see this movie! I laughed. I cried. I laughed some more. I will quote this movie around my friends for years to come. It even serves as a reasonable entry point for younger audiences to engage with World War Two topics such as the Holocaust, Nazi propaganda, and the mental subjugation of the German population. It’s bonkers, to begin with, gut-punching in its execution, but delightful in its finale. By the end, you’ll feel a complex range of emotions so powerful you didn’t know you could feel them.
P.S. To any Taika fans in the room this movie plays a lot like Boy but set in Nazi Germany. I suspect that absent fathers and immature adults are strong tropes in Taika Waititi films and I love it.
“Jojo Rabbit” is currently playing at Fantastic Fest and will hit theaters October 18th
