JOJO RABBIT: (written by JK)
THE BASIC PLOT:
A young nazi fanatic called Johannes (often nicknamed Jojo) with Hitler as an imaginary friend who discovers a young Jewish woman
living in his family attic. Although initially scared and hesitant due to propoganda, he starts to befriend her and realize that
Nazis are not great like he first thought.
CHARACTERS:
Jojo (portrayed by Roman Griffin Davis in his debut acting role) is hinted from the start that he’s kinder than the other children
despite his fanatism. His development feels fairly realistic.
Elsa (portrayed by Thomasin McKenzie) is quite likable, seems quite cool and has several great lines. She makes the best of her situation,
and is one of the standouts to me.
Jojo’s mother Rosie (portrayed by Scarlett Johanson) is hilarious and steals the show in her scenes, with an outrageous combo of caring single mother
and immature parent, with quite a few interesting hidden depths to her.
Imaginary Hitler (portrayed by Taika Waititi himself) is also quite hilarious and although he seems quite goofy and flamboyant to
start, but as Jojo’s perspective begins to change, becoming more like the real thing…
The other characters are also quite funny for the most part, until the story requires it, where the dark colors begin to show.
Interestingly, this movie also shows that despite all the propoganda and training, not all of them really wanted to be racist, violent killers.
STORY:
Jojo is a happy young Hitler fan who’s training to become a Nazi soldier, but he’s too kindhearted to cut it – earning the name “Jojo Rabbit”
when failing to kill an innocent Rabbit. After an accident trying to prove himself, he ends up scarred and during his recuperation, he discovers
his mother has been keeping a young Jewish woman in their attic. Initially believing the ridiculous lies told to him, he fears Elsa.
While he’s trying to find his place in the army, he feels more conflict as he grows closer to Elsa, gradually realizing she’s a normal human like him.
As his views start to turn, his supportive Imaginary Friend Hitler gradually become more unhinged – turning closer to the real thing. Though there’s a
scene later on that provides a grim reminder of just what kind of place Jojo lived in, which is handled quite well (making all the lighthearted scenes more
necessary and making the punch hit harder)
SETTING:
The setting will be a bit unsettling for some as it takes place during one of the worst periods in history, but they still have a variety of different
places visited (with one place in particular featuring hanging bodies being a grim reminder of where this actually is). As the big whiplash in the latter
part of the movie occurs, we see more of the darker aspects, with much more rubble, dust, smoke, basically what you see during war.
SOUND:
The acting is pretty good, even the main character and his best friend who both make their acting debut in this film.
The music and sound are good enough too.
CONCLUSION:
This movie was quite entertaining, and despite being a comedy, the Nazis were still portrayed as a threat. The light-hearted moments are necessary, and
wouldn’t work nearly as well if the whole movie was a comedy. It feels like 2 different movies, and works it into an advantage to make you feel closer to
our main characters. It’s also a pretty good satire on propoganda and although some of the themes are quite silly in the first half, the movie doesn’t make
the Nazis sympathetic (considering the creator of this movie is Jewish himself, it would be weird if it didn’t).
Though if the subject matter is too troubling for you, you might give this a miss. Otherwise, it’s a great movie to check out.
NOTE:
This review is the opinion of one individual and doesn’t equal fact or the opinions of others, as every opinion is unique.
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