The Boy In the Striped Pajamas

Last weekend I saw the movie "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas." It was very interesting because it presented a different view on the Holocaust. The view was from an 8 year old boy who was the son of a Nazi. He was taught that his father, who was in charge of the concentration camp nearby, was a good man who was saving Germany by getting rid of all the evil. He and his sister even had a tutor come teach them about the glory of the Nazi government and the evil of the Jews. The problem in this though is the boy, Bruno, had already made friends with another Jewish boy in the concentration camp who was also his age. They played games together and became friends and had a lot of fun. Bruno couldn't understand what the Jews did wrong. Then he saw one of his father's soldiers beat up the old Jew that worked in their house. A significant point in the movie was when Bruno asked the Jewish boy if he was proud of his father and if he thought he was a good man, the Jewish boy nodded. When Bruno was asked the same question, he couldn't answer it because he wasn't sure whether or not he was proud of his father after seeing the old Jewish man being mistreated. I feel this is significant because it shows how children can observe the world around them and slowly come out of their experiences being able to make their own judgment. Not just listening to what people, like his father or his tutor, tell him.