A Brilliant Bit Of Everything

 Jojo Rabbit (2019) – An imaginative member of the Hitler Youth in wartime Germany, fantasizes that the Fuhrer is his friend.  He dedicates every waking moment to being his vision of the perfect young Nazi. Reality begins to crowd out the fantasies until he confronts the fact that his mother is sheltering a young Jewish girl in their home.

Directed by Taika Waititi

Starring  Roman Griffin Davis, Thomasin McKenzie, Scarlett Johansson

Why I Liked It – A brilliant combination of coming of age, war movie and black comedy.  All brilliantly done. 

Here’s another movie I guarantee will be on the end of the year “Best Movies” list. I knew nothing about it (despite the fact that it won the Oscar for Best Adapted Screen Play in 2020).  It listed Taika Waititi as the director and that was enough to pull me in.  After my brain made the adjustment about who our main character’s fascination with Nazism, the rest is sheer brilliance.

Let me start off by saying this about Jojo (Roman Griffin Davis), it is clear from the first moments that this is a ten year old boy caught in a fantasy world.  Jojo has no idea what being a Nazi means.  Like many Germans coming out of the humiliating end of World War I, Nazism held an allure in its rebuilding of national pride.  It clearly identified “enemies” and convinced far too many people that destroying these fake threats to the nation was a admirable concept.  The young man at the center of the movie has no idea of the truth behind the polished image.  Waititi creates a brilliant rebuttal to all the lies that surround various forms of fascism and authoritarianism.

Beyond that, there are so many brilliant pieces here.  The “Fuhrer” image that Jojo has created has much more in common with the one in “The Producers” than more traditional visions.  He’s not very bright, but he’s very energetic in his points of view.  The Hitler we see is very much the creation of a hero-worshiping boys imagination.  Sam Rockwell has his usual stunning character role as Captain Klenzendorf, the director of the training camp for the young men and women.  Rebel Wilson is the perfect sidekick for him.  Scarlett Johansson is at her very best as Jojo’s mom.  It’s clear she’s keeping a variety of secrets from her son.  She is beautiful, intelligent, no nonsense (as Klenzendorf find’s out),  and a loving mother.  She lives a dangerous life that her son slowly discovers.

That journey of discovery takes Jojo from childhood to the beginnings of adulthood is quick, hard steps.  There are both delightfully funny moments and profoundly tragic.  The balancing act that the production has to maintain from beginning to end is incredibly difficult and pulled off to perfection.  

This is an amazing movie.  It’s not any one thing, it’s everything a movie can be.

Rating – ***** Highest Recommendation