Jojo Rabbit (2019, PG-13)

This movie intrigued me as soon as I first heard about it, and as soon as I saw the first trailer, I was 100% onboard and not-so-patiently waiting for it to come to my general area. I finally had a chance to get down to the Cities and see it, and it is just so, so good (premise spoilers.)

Jojo is a 10-year-old boy living in Nazi Germany toward the end of the war. A devoted Hitler Youth, he believes every bit of propaganda his country has taught him about Jews and daydreams about joining Hitler’s personal guard. When he discovers a Jewish girl hidden in his attic, he takes it upon himself to write a definitive guide on Jews but is perplexed when the girl, Elsa, isn’t as he expects her to be.

I enjoyed Thor: Ragnarok a lot, but even though this is only the second Taika Waititi film I’ve seen, I get the sense that this is much more undiluted Waititi. The film is so excellently put together, an incredible mix of audacious humor, savage satire, and piercing drama. Waititi knows just how far to push it with the jokes and when to pull back and get real. The opening sequence, in which Jojo cheerily runs down the street yelling, “Heil Hitler!” to passersby while a German version of “I Want to Hold Your Hand” plays over Hitler appearing at rallies to Beatlemania-esque shrieks, feels like such a succinct depiction of what it was like to live in that place at that time.

This is hardly the first film that looks at the horrors of the Nazis through the eyes of a child, but the perspective we get here is really intriguing. As a young boy, Jojo trusts what the adults in his life tell him, and everyone except his mother is telling him that Jews are monsters, Hitler is somewhere between a superhero and a god, and there’s no greater honor than dying in battle for the Nazi cause. He doesn’t think of it as ideology – to him, it just is. It isn’t until he actually comes face-to-face with a real live Jew that he starts to see the cracks. It’s an interesting way to explore white supremacy and facism.

As Jojo, young Roman Griffin Davis carries the film with surprisingly-steady shoulders, and his peers Thomasin McKenzie (as Elsa) and Archie Yates (as Jojo’s friend Yorki) also acquit themselves well. They’re surrounded by an able adult cast, many of whom are asked to juggle both extremely-dark satire and earnest drama and handle both deftly. I especially want to highlight Scarlett Johansson as Jojo’s mom Rosie and Sam Rockwell as Hitler Youth instructor Captain K. And of course, I can’t leave without mentioning Waititi’s own performance as the imaginary Hitler in Jojo’s mind. In Waititi’s hands, imaginary-friend Hitler is petulant, dumb, and ridiculous, but at the same time, he carries a menace that flashes out when Jojo least expects it. Plus, there’s just something so satisfying about a buffoonish Hitler being played by someone who’s both Jewish and Maori.

Warnings

Strong thematic elements, language (including anti-Semetic insults,) drinking/smoking, violence, disturbing images, and irreverent humor about an intense subject.