[Warning: this article contains spoilers, viewer discretion is advised]

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, directed by Mark Herman and based on the novel by John Boyne, is a powerful and emotional film that tells the tragic story of an unlikely friendship during one of the darkest times in history: the Holocaust.

The movie starts off with a family of four, the main character being Bruno, who is nine-years-old. The first ten minutes of the movie take place in Bruno’s original home, seeming to be quite privileged and part of an upper-class family.

Bruno’s father, a Nazi commander, gets a promotion, which causes Bruno and his family to move from Berlin to a house near the concentration camp Auschwitz—which he mispronounced as “Out-With.” Isolated and curious, he explored the area and eventually met Shmuel, also nine-years-old, who lived in the ash under harsh conditions. The two boys met regularly at the fence and developed a quiet friendship over several weeks.

This friendship grew to be deep, so much so that when Shmuel loses his father in the camp, Bruno offers to help. The next day, the boys dug under the fence, and Bruno put on the uniform the Jewish prisoners wore to blend in.

It was raining heavily, and the camp was muddy and chaotic. Bruno quickly realized that life inside the camp is much harsher than he expected, but he didn’t fully understand the danger. As they search, German soldiers suddenly round up a group of prisoners, including Bruno and Shmuel. They’re forced to march into a crowded, dark room—a gas chamber—though the boys believe they’re just being taken to shelter from the rain.

Inside the gas chamber, Bruno quietly holds Shmuel’s hand. Neither of them truly understands what’s happening. The lights go out, the door closes, and the gas is released. Both boys die, along with all the other prisoners.

Afterward, Bruno’s parents realize he’s missing. His mother is hysterically crying outside the fence of the camp, where the hole the boys dug to get Bruno inside is. Eventually, his father discovers Bruno’s clothes by the fence and understands what happened. He is devastated, especially as he realizes that his own actions, running the concentration camp, led to his son’s death.

I believe this movie is filled with joy, grief, and empathy for the experience Jewish people went through during the Holocaust. I believe this movie properly represents how the lives of Jews were affected due to how they were treated.

The holocaust is something that, although horrific, is a part of history—a vital one at that. No aspect of it should be joked about.

This movie was a 10/10 for me because it caused me to feel genuine empathy and emotion for the people who went through the horrors of the Holocaust.