Midday Movie

[polksaladallie]

Midday movie, in Brisbane anyway, is The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas.  Very good movie.  Worth recording if you can't watch it live.

The story of a forbidden friendship between the son of a Nazi commandant and a Jewish boy held captive in a concentration camp.  

[debra9275]

I've watched that a couple of times Polks,  it is a great movie...... need to be prepared for lots of tears

[j*oono]

I haven't seen it but I have heard of it.

I'm not sure I could handle that movie, or if I did I'd have to watch it by myself so that I could blubber away to my heart's content.

[sandypas]

We've got that on an old VCR tape and my OH has just watched it again.  Brilliant movie.

[julie-in-oz2]

I watched it a few years ago a total tear jerker.

[happyroo_bunji]

The book is much better than the film.  However I think the film is well done and have watched it a few times.

[the_great_she_elephant]

Interestingly, when the book came out if copped a lot of criticism for not being 'authentic' enough. Critics said it couldn't really have happened like that, that the portrayal of the camp (which they assumed was meant to  be Auschwitz) was inaccurate and that the boy would not really have been able to befriend one of the inmates. What they failed to understand was that the story was never intended to be factual and was more of a fable than straight  historical fiction.  (Unfortuntely some literary critics think their academic opinions  are what really matter in literature rather than what the  authors wrote and how that writing affected their readers )

[happyroo_bunji]

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@the_great_she_elephant wrote:

Interestingly, when the book came out if copped a lot of criticism for not being 'authentic' enough. Critics said it couldn't really have happened like that, that the portrayal of the camp (which they assumed was meant to  be Auschwitz) was inaccurate and that the boy would not really have been able to befriend one of the inmates. What they failed to understand was that the story was never intended to be factual and was more of a fable than straight  historical fiction.  (Unfortuntely some literary critics think their academic opinions  are what really matter in literature rather than what the  authors wrote and how that writing affected their readers )

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I borrowed the audio book from my local library and at the end they had an interveiw with the author.  From my (rather bad) memory he said it was never intended to be accurate.  He wanted to write a book so children could understand it. The holocaust is very hard to explain as is the Third Reich,particularly in how pervasive it became, so anything that can help it explain is a good thing

[tasfleur]

Yes, exactly.  You have hit the nail right on the head.  It was a parable with a poignant and important message for the whole world, built around what friendship really means.

I remember being involved in that thread, and how hateful some were because they didn't understand what the movie was aiming at, or how it could be interpreted.

[icyfroth]

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@the_great_she_elephant wrote:

Interestingly, when the book came out if copped a lot of criticism for not being 'authentic' enough. Critics said it couldn't really have happened like that, that the portrayal of the camp (which they assumed was meant to  be Auschwitz) was inaccurate and that the boy would not really have been able to befriend one of the inmates. What they failed to understand was that the story was never intended to be factual and was more of a fable than straight  historical fiction.  (Unfortuntely some literary critics think their academic opinions  are what really matter in literature rather than what the  authors wrote and how that writing affected their readers )

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Yes but the point is, many people watching the movie wont' know any different and will think it's based on what could have actually happened.