Jojo Rabbit

Jojo Rabbit follows 10 year old Jojo, a kid who lives in Nazi Germany, raised under the ideals of the Nazis. Jojo's imaginary friend is Adolf Hitler, who inspires a large majority of his decisions. When Jojo is at a Nazi training camp, in a moment of passion, he accidentally blows himself up with a grenade. He's brought to the hospital and returns home with many stitches and a limp in his walk. One day when home during his recovery, Jojo hears a noise upstairs and goes to investigate, finding Elsa, a young Jewish girl his mother had been hiding. Elsa threatens to take his family down with her if he turns her in, and Jojo isn't willing to take that risk. The plot of the film follows Jojo's journey of discovering the humanity and the reality of the Jewish people. He begins to realize that they are people just as much as he is. Despite being a satire about World War II, the film is more than this, and brings you on the same journey that Jojo faces, and shows the humanity that everyone shares, no matter their nationality or background. Taika Waititi uses the innocent eye of Jojo perfectly to bring in the visceral severity of the war. The whole film is viewed in a humorous way, because Jojo is a child and doesn't recognize the violence and the severity to his day-to-day life, and he doesn't recognize that he is a rabbit in a violent world. Jojo spends the whole film trying to be something he doesn't fully understand, and once he faces the reality of his dreams, he's forced to make his own decisions. The comedic perspective is taken completely seriously by Jojo, so it becomes normal for the viewers. This allows the viewers to experience Jojo's anagnorisis alongside him, as if they were seeing the Nazis for the first time.

This film is all about exploring the human character. About the humanity behind each and every one of us. The film does this in a way that doesn't force it on to you, nor does it take it lightly despite it being a comedy. The satirical comedy doesn't take anything away from the message, but adds to it. For example, Jojo believes that Jews are literally monsters, who have horns and eat humans. This is a parallel demonstrating how ridiculous many stereotypes are, despite people believing them. When facing such a serious topic as stereotypes and Nazi Germany, it's risky to create a comedy around this topic. Taika Waititi took this risk and was successful in just about every way, and created a comedic masterpiece, while still maintaining the emotion associated with the Nazis.

Roman Griffin Davis played Jojo, and did so extremely well. Roman’s facial expressions, tone of voice and comments were well executed to demonstrate the character behind Jojo. He played the role of the innocent child well. All his actions seemed thought out, but not by him, but by the ideals he was raised under. Taika Waititi played Hitler, and was very contradictory to any other portrayals of Hitler, which in this case was a positive, and all the light-hearted demonstration of Hitler's character accented Jojo's transformation as shown in a sudden hostility towards Hitler and his thoughts and plans. The actors around Jojo acted in a way that it felt like looking through The eyes of a child as it was supposed to be. The audience feels like they are Jojo and see the violence in a humorous way for most of the film. The comedic manners that the Nazis approached their awful plans magnified the significance of Jojo's recognition. He realizes that the war isn't all he thought it was, and the audience experiences the same recognition.

When it comes to the shots in the film, many of the shots are to demonstrate authority or a lack thereof. When investigating JoJo's house, Stephen Merchant's character, Deertz is standing on a stool, looking down at Klenzendorf, demonstrating his authority and power. We also see JoJo often looking up towards those around him, showing a lack of power and authority. Furthermore, when JoJo first meets Elsa, she forces him into a wall and threatens him with his knife. During this scene, all the frames are very tight, adding suspense and giving the same claustrophobic feeling that Jojo has.

As mentioned in my notes, Jojo's moment of anagnorisis best captured the film, as it showed an immediate transformation from Jojo's casual composure to a recognition of vulnerability as he saw people all around him dying. His mother’s death brought out Jojo’s vulnerability, and set him up for this tragic recognition, as we see his vulnerability and fear in the scene. We see his friend Yorkie run out into the battlefield completely unprepared. He's placed in a position of vulnerability, and once we see the explosion, we assume he likely died. Despite later discovering he survived, Jojo still recognizes the reality of the violence of the war, and how people are dying all around him. This film is well executed in all aspects, from acting, to camera work, to comedy, and even the serious emotional scenes. This film is a must watch, and a clear 4.629/5 (Because I can).