Movie review: "Striped Pajamas"

No, I'm not Ebert or Rex Reed. I wouldn't give their critiques the time of day (nor would they mine). Regardless, Sunday night my wife, sons and I watched "The Boy in Striped Pajamas." An important film.

Parental stuff up front. No sex or foul language. Violence off screen and seen afterward in bruised faces. Nudity in the concentration camp at the end (men) and though nothing is seen.

Yes, it's another Holocaust movie (may God have mercy on us if we should ever become desensitized to them), but this film looks at the real horror that man unleashes upon man through the eyes of an eight-year old boy, the son of the camp commander. An extraordinary and compelling idea.

As the film progresses, this "normal" family comes to understand what their "normal" father does for a living. It's a microcosm of society. You have duty at all costs. You have duty for romance (or fill in your satisfier). You have moral repugnance. And you have confused innocence.

A well done, well filmed moral drama that does not assault the senses (what a relief). At the same time, it confronts you with the history that has been at a time when, once again, folks are playing loose and fast with morality and ethics. It also makes quite a statement, though most unintentional (perhaps), about state sponsored schooling.

A worthy rental for mid-teens and higher. The Boy in Striped Pajamas.