Credits
Distributed by
Miramax Films
(United States)
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
(United Kingdom)
Production companies
Miramax Films
BBC Films
Heyday Films
Directed by
Mark Herman
Written by
Mark Herman
Based on
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas
by John Boyne
Produced by
David Heyman
Starring
Vera Farmiga
David Thewlis
Asa Butterfield
Jack Scanlon
Amber Beattie
Rupert Friend
David Hayman
Cinematography
Benoît Delhomme
Edited by
Michael Ellis
Music by
James Horner
Synopsis
Bruno, an eight-year old German boy living in Berlin, is uprooted to rural occupied Poland with his family after his father Ralf, an SS officer, is promoted. Bruno notices a concentration camp near the back garden from his bedroom window, but believes it to be a farm; his mother Elsa forbids him from going in the back garden. Ralf organises Herr Liszt, a private tutor, to teach Nazi propaganda and antisemitism to indoctrinate Bruno and his sister, Gretel. This combined with Gretel’s crush on Lieutenant Kurt Kotler, a young colleague of her father’s, makes Gretel fanatical in her support for the Nazi agenda. Bruno struggles to adjust to the rhetoric in the teaching after Pavel, a doctor-turned-family slave, comes to Bruno’s aid after he sustains a minor injury. Bruno sneaks into the woods, arriving at a barbed wire fence surrounding the camp. He befriends Shmuel, another eight-year old boy. Both boys are completely unaware of the true insidiously horrific nature of the camp: Bruno believes the striped uniforms that Shmuel, Pavel, and the other prisoners wear are pyjamas, while Shmuel believes he is only there temporarily and that his grandparents died from an illness on the journey to the camp. Bruno meets Shmuel regularly, sneaking him food, and learns that Shmuel is a Jew who was brought to the camp with his parents. Elsa inadvertently discovers from Kurt that the smell from the camp is in fact burning prisoners; she angrily confronts her husband. Later that night, Kurt reveals his father left Germany for Switzerland to avoid national service and is berated by Ralf; embarrassed, Kurt viciously beats Pavel for spilling a glass of wine. Bruno sees Shmuel working in his home, and offers him cake. Kurt finds Bruno and Shmuel socialising and berates Shmuel. After seeing him eating, Shmuel informs Kurt that Bruno offered the cake, which Bruno fearfully denies. Bruno tries to apologise to Shmuel later, but he doesn’t reappear at the fence for several days. Bruno clandestinely sees his father and other soldiers reviewing a propaganda film about the camp’s conditions as positive. Bruno then hugs his father. Ralf informs his family that Kurt was transferred to the Eastern Front; angered, Elsa reveals the reason for his transfer was because Kurt did not initially alert the authorities about his father. Bruno continues returning to the fence and eventually, Shmuel reappears, but with visible injuries. Bruno apologises and Shmuel forgives him. In Berlin, Ralf’s mother Nathalie – who disapproves of the Nazi regime – is killed by an Allied bombing raid. At the funeral, Elsa tries to remove a wreath from the Führer out of respect for Nathalie and her beliefs, but Ralf stops her, causing them to fall out after the service. Back home, Elsa informs Ralf she doesn’t want the children living in the vicinity of the camp. In turn, Ralf then tells Bruno and Gretel their mother is taking them to live with extended family until the war is over. Bruno visits Shmuel before he leaves, and learns Shmuel’s father has disappeared after being transferred to a different work gang; Bruno decides to help Shmuel find him. Shmuel provides Bruno with a prisoner’s striped outfit and a cap to cover his unshaven head, and Bruno digs under the fence to join Shmuel, but the boys are suddenly rounded up by the guards. Gretel and Elsa learn of Bruno’s disappearance, and burst into Ralf’s meeting to alert him. A search is launched and a dog tracks Bruno’s scent to his discarded clothing. Ralf enters the camp as the prisoners are sent to a gas chamber, where pesticide pellets are poured from a hole in the ceiling, filling the chamber with toxic gas. Bruno dies in the chamber along with Shmuel, leaving Ralf, Elsa, and Gretel distraught.
Download Movie The Boy in the Striped Pajamas Movie Review/Plot In Hindi & Urdu