Jojo Rabbit (Taika Waititi, 2019): Czech Republic | New Zealand

Reviewed by Kaio Farkouh.

The movie that sells itself as “the satire of the year” has the first joke when writer-director Taika Waititi who is Maori — indigenous peoples of Polynesian — and Jewish made a film making fun of the Nazi regime and also plays Hitler, himself.

Waititi who is known for films “What We Do In The Shadows” and “Thor: Ragnarok,” seems to be one of the most creativities minds in Hollywood right now. In his new movie, the writer-director gives one of the funniest and yet beautiful touching films of the year with “Jojo Rabbit.” The story follows a german boy called Jojo, played by Roman Griffin Davis. The boy has a great enthusiasm for the Nazi regime and his imaginary best friend is Adolf Hitler. Jojo needs to fight his most difficult challenge as he finds out that his mom, played by Scarlett Johansson, has been hiding a Jewish girl in their house called Elsa, played by Thomasin McKenzie.

The movie indeed does an amazing job of telling a unique and inspiring story about this little boy through satire. Jojo delivers a very good performance as a boy who has a lot of fears. He is trying to find himself in something that he is not, something cruel and inhuman. His lack of confidence is much more than a boy who is just afraid of going to war and killing people, but instead someone who cares for humans’ feelings, as he faces this challenge of having a Jewish girl in his house.

Jojo tries to find confidence in his imaginary friend Hitler to be someone that he is not, as he attends a Nazi training camp. Waititi does not lose the opportunity to mock generals and types of training through the camp, and the humor here works very well. Waititi knows exactly how to make good use of humor in situations and characters.

Even though the movie knows how to use the humor, the best thing about it, it is not the humor. Rather the human relationship and the boundaries that are broken in this story. The Nazi regime and Hitler himself represent the rage and oppression of a society that views them better than the others, making them dumb enough to not recognize the value in other societies and cultures. Jojo decides to write a book about the Jewish girl, in which he would reveal the secret of her identity. At first, he portrays Elsa as a monster because that’s what she was for Jojo. But as they start to spend more time together, he sees how good of a human she is, and due to the consequences of war, the catastrophic events reflect on them.

The screenplay is smart enough to recognize that the fear and the judgment do not only come from one side, rather from both. It makes Jojo and Elsa embrace this journey where they have to accept their differences and their past in order to fully recognize that we are all humans.

However, Waititi fails to convey his message throughout the whole movie. During the third act of the film, the war finally hits Jojo’s small community. Through two-thirds of the movie, the director presents to us this friendly, funny scenario between Jojo and Elsa. But when the war hits them, it brings you back to what it was like to live in that sad and dark reality without hope.

Thanks to his imaginary and hopefully mind, Waititi delivers one of the best films of the year with great performances. A film that makes you dream and even sees light in a period marked by darkness. Even though “Jojo Rabbit” fails to end the movie on a high note, the movie contains more than enough lightness to make you have a good time.

 

GRADE: 4/5

 


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