In Nazi Germany, a Young Boy Searches for His Purpose

From left: Sam Rockwell, Scarlett Johansson, and Roman Griffin
Davis in "Jojo Rabbit"
Photo Credit: RottenTomatoes.com

For over a decade, writer-director Taika Waititi has developed a distinguished voice in moviemaking. Although his career got off to a bit if a rough start with the overly quirky romantic-comedy “Eagle vs. Shark,” his storytelling skills became stronger with the family-drama “Boy,” the vampire mockumentary “What We Do in the Shadows,” the backwoods adventure “Hunt for the Wilderpeople,” and the superhero film, “Thor: Ragnarok.”  Through these movies, you see that Waititi has a recognizable style of humor that gives his films a punch and ensure that you’ll remember his unique characters and narratives.

He now approaches comedy from a historical and satirical angle with his new film, “Jojo Rabbit.”  Although the tumultuous time period in which the movie is set might not serve itself well to humor, Waititi is able to handle the balance between wit and drama well enough to make the movie work.

In Nazi Germany, Johannes “Jojo” Betzler (Roman Griffin Davis) is a Hitler Youth who has aspirations of impressing the dictator with his dedication to his country.  He soon finds out that his mother, Rosie (Scarlett Johansson), is hiding a Jewish girl, Elsa Korr (Thomasin McKenzie), in their home, and the events that follow will have him face a reconsideration of his loyalty to the Nazis.

Davis, in his debut performance, is superb in exhibiting the conflict that Jojo feels in sticking with his Nazi fanaticism and the compassion that’s spreading throughout his heart when connecting with Elsa, and he shows a compelling change as Jojo tries to figure out where his true sympathies are.  Davis displays the exuberance that comes with being a child, but then evokes an abundance of emotion when his must show his character going through a transition into adulthood, a transition that has to be made during an unstable time in the world’s history.  With Davis’ approach to the character, he does terrific work in bringing to life a character who could make you laugh and break your heart.

McKenzie, who became known for her breakout performance in last year’s “Leave No Trace,” delivers understated, yet effective work as a young girl who longs to live her life, free of fear.  Her role has small bouts of poignancy throughout, all of which provide us with subtle details of a greater pain that has taken over her life.  McKenzie’s character is someone who has seen the worst of humanity and will do whatever she can to survive it, and she exhibits the strength that’s required to get through a time in history when it seems like countless people are against you.

Johansson presents her character as a beam of inextinguishable light in the middle of Nazi Germany’s terror.  It’s a loving performance that exemplifies a sense of virtue in a place that seems to be short of it, offering a comfort to Jojo as he tries to overcome an uncertain time in his life.  Whenever Johansson’s on screen, you feel a strong sense of kindness wash over the theater.  This is a character that could encourage you to believe in the goodness of the world, making the audience experience the same level of ease that Jojo feels when he is in the presence of such a kindhearted individual.

Waititi, who has acted in all of his movies, appears in this film as a comical, imaginary-friend version of Hitler, who appears on occasion to give Jojo advice.  Although Waititi is enjoyable to watch at first, his character is pretty much just an extension of Jojo’s thoughts.  And, seeing as it’s easy to see what Jojo is thinking throughout the movie, it soon starts to feel like Waititi’s character isn’t needed.  It also gets to a point where, during the stretches of the film where Waititi doesn’t appear, you don’t even notice that he hasn’t shown up in a while.

The movie comes equipped with plenty of entertaining supporting performances, such as Sam Rockwell as a Nazi captain, Rebel Wilson as an instructor at the Hitler Youth camp, Stephen Merchant as a Gestapo agent, Alfie Allen as the right-hand man to Rockwell’s character, and Archie Yates as Jojo’s best friend.

Waititi’s screenplay, which is based on Christine Leunen’s 2004 novel, “Caging Skies,” has Jojo getting into a couple of outrageous situations in the first half hour of the movie, but the rest of the story focuses on him trying to understand the momentous events that are occurring around him.  This is made possible by the interactions that Jojo has with the non-imaginary characters, and the many dialogues that Jojo has with them allow for his change of heart to have a weight to it as he begins to see the world in a new way.  We’re given access to many facets of Jojo’s life, so the story shapes him as a well-defined character and presents him as someone who has been through much at a young age and must go through harder times in the present.  The change of his values is carefully paced, creating a narrative where we’re given an idea of how much thought Jojo invests when changing his principles and challenging the ones that he had before.

As Waititi proved with “Boy” and “Hunt for the Wilderpeople,” he has an ability to make a blend of comedy and drama that feels natural to the stories that require such a combination.  In the case of his latest film, making a dark comedy that takes place in this era of history doesn’t lend itself to easy filmmaking because of the careful shifts in tone that are required.  Except for one instance where this shift becomes rather jarring, Waititi manages to have a lot of the comedy fit in with the seriousness of the historical backdrop.  As he goes between the laugh-inducing moments and affecting dialogues shared among Jojo and Rose, Jojo and Elsa, and Elsa and Rose, Waititi exhibits a confidence in taking on such a story and strengthens his talent as a filmmaker.

One of Waititi’s finest qualities as a writer and director is his aptitude for telling stories that are very human, which is similar to what he did with “Boy” and “Hunt for the Wilderpeople,” and he accomplishes this with “Jojo Rabbit,” a film that exhibits a great deal of confidence in someone’s ability to show compassion when it might be difficult to find it in other places.       

Grade: B+