The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (2008)

Telling a Holocaust story through the eyes of a camp commandant’s eight-year-old son is a risky choice, and it’s both this film’s strength and its biggest problem. Bruno is curious and sweet, and Asa Butterfield plays him with total innocence. Through him, the movie shows how a family can live beside something horrifying and decide not to look. Vera Farmiga is the standout as his mother, slowly understanding what her husband’s work really is, and David Thewlis is chilling because he’s so ordinary at the dinner table. The problem is Shmuel. Jack Scanlon is good, but the boy behind the fence gets far less of a story than the boy in the garden, and the British accents make wartime Berlin feel like a stage set. Critics were split, with a 65% on Rotten Tomatoes, while audiences were deeply moved. A 6.6 because it’s sincere and hard to shake, even as it simplifies a history that deserves great care. $143.44 says you finish it and hug someone in your home without explaining why.

What works: Vera Farmiga and Asa Butterfield are excellent, and the film quietly shows how ordinary people can choose not to see what is happening next door.

What doesn’t: Shmuel gets far less of an inner life than Bruno, and the story simplifies the history of the camps in ways many critics found troubling.

Who it’s for: Families and older students ready for a serious conversation about the Holocaust, ideally watched together and talked through afterward.