Jojo Rabbitt (2019)

The Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tL4McUzXfFI

Before seeing or even really talking about 'Jojo Rabbit' I would highly recommend first watching it's trailer, it could be difficult to get much of a grasp on what this movie is without seeing some footage. While the movie is adapted from a novel by Christine Leuens called 'Caged Skies' I would be curious to know how much it actually resembles that source material, it has such an idiocentric autor vibe about it. Adapted and directed by New Zealander Taika Waititi ('What We Do in the Shadows', 'Thor: Ragnarok') it might be helpful to know that the man is part Jewish. Set in Germany in the final year or so of the second World War the story centers on 10 year old Jojo (Roman Griffin Davies, quite good) who lives alone in a small village with his mother Rosie (Scarlett Johansson, also quite good, is this the first time she's played a mother?), his father having disappeared fighting in the war, and his older sister semi recently dead, though to my memory the movie never really explains how she died, which I thought an interesting choice. Jojo is a naïve boy, quite gung ho about the Nazi's (the film opens with a creative musical montage that likens pro Nazi enthusiasm among naïve young Germans to later Beatlemania.) but he has a sincere kind heart. Largely shunned by the other kids, with the exception of his good friend Yorki (Archie Yates), Jojo's 'best friend' is a comic, imaginary version of Adolph Hitler (played by director Waititi).

There is a lot of broad comedy in the film, though the tone gets more reflective and even somber as it progresses, the ending even gets pretty darn melancholy. The plot development that inaugurates this shift in tone is when Jojo discovers that his mother is hiding a young Jewish girl named Elsa (Thomasin McKenzie) a friend of her late daughters, in the walls of the house. The two young people enact an uneasy truce, Elsa afraid if Rosie finds out Jojo knows about her she will make her leave, and Jojo afraid that if he tells anyone he knows his mother will be arrested. This often comical though tense situation gradualy grows into a mutual understanding, and Jojo's insulated view of the world slowly grows into a more realistic and understanding one.

Waititi's instincts here are admirable, and the films anti-hate message of ridiculing the absurdities of hate is a disappointingly relevant one for the world of today. Though reasonable people can disagree as to the effectiveness, and even the appropriateness of  that tone given the subject matter. I thought for the most part the humor worked, it is sometimes laugh out loud funny, though do to the juxtaposition at the heart of the film, their are even some seemingly lighter moments were I wasn't quite comfortable. I enjoyed the good cast, including Sam Rockwell, Rebel Wilson and Stephen Merchant, the movie has a nice look to it and a creative choice in its music. It is the heir, to various degrees of earlier Nazi mocking films like 'The Great Dictator', 'To Be or Not to Be', and even 'The Producers'.  The movie takes risks, makes you think, and is pretty sharp and depressingly current satire. Not for all tastes, but take a look at the trailer and you will know if you are up for it or not. ***1/2