The movie starts with following quotation "Childhood is measured out by sounds and smells and sights, before the dark hour of reason grows - John Betjeman." It is a very touching, powerful, and profound film on Nazi’s and Jews during world war 11.
A soldier, Ralf, lives in Berlin, with his wife, Elsa, and two children, a girl, Gretel, who is 12 and a boy Bruno who is eight yrs. old. The family is living happily. Bruno enjoys life with his friends. He runs around freely on streets and in the school building. Ralf is transferred to another location, in a remote area, near an extermination camp for the Jews. Ralf’s mother is not happy with his son’s activities. He tells his mother to keep her mouth shut in public.
Their new home is isolated with no neighbors and very few windows. There are many soldiers inside and outside the building.
Bruno has no friends now. Bruno states that he does not like it there and misses his old home. His Mother Elsa replies-- It will not feel like home until we make it feel like home.
In the kitchen, Bruno sees a male servant, Pavel, carrying vegetables for the family. He asks his mother- why is he wearing a striped pajama, but does not get a satisfactory explanation. Elsa instructs the servant to go out and Bruno to go into his room.
From the window of his room, Bruno sees some houses at a distance. He asks his mother if he can go there and play with other children. When Ralf hears about this, he covers and locks the windows in his room. Bruno has nothing to do. Bruno and Gretel are not even going to school. His mother tells him to read some books and draw. Ralf arranges for a teacher for homeschooling. The teacher teaches them that Jews are bad people and deserve to be killed. Bruno’s sister likes Hitler’s views and keeps his posters and books in her room.
Bruno starts passing time on a swing made out of an old tire. In his mind, he is always thinking about making new friends.
Once, Bruno falls down from the swing. Pavel, the Jewish servant picks him and does dressing of his wound. Bruno asks him if he is a doctor. He replies that he was a practicing doctor in his original place before coming there. Bruno innocently replies that he must not be a good doctor as he is now practicing potato peeling.
One day Bruno escapes through an open door and after going through trees and water, reaches an area fenced with sharp-pointed barbed wires. He sees a small boy, sitting near the fence, wearing a striped shirt and pajama and a number on his shirt. They talk to each other for a few minutes. The striped pajama-wearing boy is eight yrs. old too and his name is Shmuel. He asks if Bruno has some food for him to eat. Bruno thinks that the number on his shirt is a game. Shmuel tells him that everyone there gets a number. A whistle sounds and Shmuel runs away with his wagon. Bruno goes back to his house. He starts coming to the fenced area frequently and makes Shmuel his friend. They sit on either side of the fence and talk. Shmuel is always hungry. He is innocent and runs as soon as he hears the whistle. He tells Bruno that everyone there works and gets a number.
One day Bruno smells a horrid smell near his house and asks what that is. He does not get a satisfactory answer. Bruno's mother smells the burning of a body and witnesses black smoke near her house. Her husband tells her that this is the smell of the burning bodies of Jews. She confronts her husband and finds out that he is there for Jews elimination in an extermination camp. She feels very bad. Her husband is adamant that he is doing the right thing.
At dinner table dinner, a worker (Kotler) informs Ralf that his father did not agree with the government's view and disappeared somewhere. Ralf tells him to report this to the authorities. Kotler becomes very angry and for a minuscule mistake, he beats Pavel with boots, in front of Bruno, Gretel, and Elsa.
Bruno's grandparents were supposed to come to visit them but the grandmother does not show up. Grandfather says that she was planning to come for many weeks but then got sick at the last moment. Bruno’s mother makes a comment that probably thinking about this place made her sick.
Ralf and his colleagues watch a clip on a screen in which the Jewish camps look very clean, children are playing freely, adults are happy, and living conditions are good. Bruno watches this clip from the glass window above the door to that room.
One day Bruno sees Shmuel, cleaning dishes, in his home. Shmuel is looking towards a cake. Bruno gives him one piece and while Shmuel is eating, Kotler comes. Terrified Bruno denies that he is Shmuel's friend and that he gave him the cake. Kotler beats Shmuel.Bruno feels bad. Next time, when he meets Shmuel, near the fence he notices that Shmuel has swelling and injury to his right eye. He says sorry and Shmuel forgives him. Bruno asks for the striped pajamas and shirt and in return, Shmuel wants a sandwich.
Bruno’s mother decides that this is not a good place for children to live and she should go somewhere else, with kids. Her husband agrees but now Bruno does not want to leave as he has made a new friend across the fence. Ralf tells him that it is in his best interest to go with Elsa and even if he does not want to go, he has to.
The day they are leaving, Bruno asks his mother to play outside on swing for the last time. She reluctantly agrees. Bruno hides a sandwich in his pants back pocket and runs towards the fence. He unknowingly drops the sandwich while running. Shmuel is waiting for him at the fence. He is wearing two shirts, two pajamas, and a cap. He gives him one shirt, one pajama, and a cap. Bruno changes his clothes. As he has hairs on his head, he has to wear that cap. People inside the fence were supposed to keep their heads either bald or covered with a cap. Bruno digs a path underneath the fence and goes inside the fenced area with Shmuel. He realizes that the conditions here are not as good as he watched on the screen at his home. They both run towards the interior when they hear an announcement. Soldiers are directing all inmates to line up. They are also pushing and dragging them towards a big vehicle. Bruno and Shmuel go with the crowd. All inmates are lead to a chamber and asked to take out shirts. They think that probably they are going to get a shower. Then, they all directed into an overcrowded room. Bruno takes his cap off his head.
At home, Bruno’s mother realizes that Bruno is missing. She informs her husband and they start a manhunt to find him. Elsa and Gretel notice the sandwich on the kitchen floor and an open window. A dog takes them to the fenced area where they see his clothes and the dug path. Elsa and Gretel start crying. Ralf is running towards the area where all the inmates are. He figures out that the chamber has been gassed as soldiers outside are wearing masks and respirators. Bruno's father loudly and repeatedly says, Bruno. Tears come out of his eyes. He realizes that his dear Bruno has been exterminated with Jews.Drawbacks of the movie:
It is very hard to believe that Bruno did not know anything about Jews and Hitler. Though he was only eight, kids in Germany, particularly in a soldier's family, were aware of this and were proud of Hitler. They believed that Jews are bad people and deserve to die.Shmuel manages to sit near the fence and talk to Bruno. It is very unlikely that he had this free time. After the incident at Bruno’s house, it was strange to send him back to the same fenced area and allow him to see Bruno again.
In a soldier's house, with so many security guards, Bruno was going to meet his friend almost every day.
The movie is trying to imply that not all Germans were bad. Ralf tells his wife that he is under oath. He still thinks that his kids should not know about the extermination camp and should not see it. He agrees to send them away with Elsa. Ralf’s wife is oblivious to what he is doing and why they moved to that house which is in the countryside. His son at eight is completely ignorant about current affairs though he is always around German soldiers and his sister likes Hitler.
The movie is trying to imply that not all Germans were aware of and in favor of holocaust. Many German families also suffered, almost the same suffering as Jews were going through. The holocaust was also affecting German families and their interpersonal relations.
Jews appear as passive and ignorant. Actually, many Jews fought back.
The story mainly revolves around Bruno, the German kid, not around Shmuel, the Jewish kid.
In the end, the movie is trying to gain sympathy for Bruno and his German family, not for Shmuel and thousand’s of other Jews who were exterminated.Bharti Raizada