A little-seen war drama compared to some of the best in the genre is available to watch via one of the country's biggest streamers. The satirical Jojo Rabbit from director-writer Taika Waititi is an adaptation of Christine Leunens's 2008 book Caging Skies.
With a decidedly stellar performance by child actor Roman Griffin Davis, this darkly comedic WWII film follows the story of its titular character, Johannes "Jojo" Betzler, a ten-year-old Hitler Youth member, and his mother (Scarlett Johansson), who is hiding a Jewish girl (Thomasin McKenzie) in their attic in a fictional town in Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Germany.
Once found out, Jojo is faced with the existential conundrum of questioning his taught beliefs – all while dealing with the devil in his ear, or more accurately, the imaginary Hitler on his shoulder, portrayed to fanciful perfection by Waititi. His Hitler holds a comedic stance on the politics of war and puts historical events - and their very-real physical and psychological effects–into perspective, something that can be felt by viewers of the film even in the present day.
Also starring heavyweights Sam Rockwell, Rebel Wilson, Stephen Merchant, and Alfie Allen, Jojo Rabbit won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay during the 2020 Oscars and was nominated in five other categories, including Best Picture and a Best Supporting Actress nomination for Scarlett Johansson.
Taika wrote the screenplay for the highly acclaimed movie in 2011, a year after his mother told him the premise of Caging Skies. With its world premiere at the 44th Toronto International Film Festival in September 2019, Jojo Rabbit bagged the coveted Grolsch People's Choice Award during the festival and had a theatrical release in October that same year.
With a total worldwide box-office gross of $93.6million, Jojo Rabbit was received well by theatregoing audiences and reviews online echo the same sentiment since its release. One Rotten Tomato audience review said: “On second watch, I have realised that this is perhaps a work of true genius. Funny, touching, thoughtful, it really has it all,” while another reviewer said: “What an absolute masterpiece, funny, heart-warming, and historical. and I just love films like these.”
A staunch critic-favorite as well, one reviewer commented on the film’s power, saying: “The film does have the power to make you laugh and cry. At times it may not be easy to watch but at the end of the day this is a film so powerful that it deserves to be mentioned alongside great Holocaust films such as Schindler’s List.”
Another critic simply shared: “Is Waititi's film provocative? Yes. Silly? Undeniably. But it is also surprisingly tender and moving.”
Some viewers called out Jojo Rabbit for its “historical inaccuracies”, however their overall feelings towards the movie remained unchanged: “Despite the historical inaccuracies (which are to be expected you can’t find something 100% accurate) this movie is perfect in every way. The jokes, the writing, and especially the costumes.”
One Tomatoer lauded the “unusual” director of the film and was all-praise for the young Roman Griffin Davis, commenting: “It is feel-good and heart-breaking. It has comedy and tragedy. It is an outside-the-box, brilliant film from the unusual Taika Waititi. The kid is brilliant.”
Another reviewer felt the war satire was “a unique take on the holocaust and Nazi Germany” and expressed: “Never before seen in any media ever, a sweet warm movie with a sense of reality to emphasize the seriousness of what happened back then. It's not shy of being harsh when it needs to be, but it's also quite sweet and even funny when it has to be.”
Jojo Rabbit is streaming on Disney Plus and available for rent on Amazon Prime Video.