JoJo Rabbit

 

Ever since the 1940s Hitler has been a source of comedy, notable early films include Charlie Chaplin’s The Great Dictator and the more broad comedy Let George do It (To Hell with Hitler) where George Forby punches Hitler in the face (something similar happens in JoJo Rabbit). Therefore, it’s slightly disappointing that Taika Waititi's film is more like Forby’s broad comedy rather than the biting satire of Chaplin’s The Great Dictator. 

Sold as some satirical anti-hate film, JoJo Rabbit is disappointingly starved of a satirical edge. It makes jokes about insane Nazi views on Jews mating with marine life and hiding horns under their head of hair, but it tends to go more for slapstick where characters accidentally destroy buildings with a rocket launcher or blow themselves up with a grenade. I’m not denying the film is funny on occasions, but mocking the goose-stepping, blonde, blue eyed loving fanatics (who somehow missed the fact the fact that Hitler and Goebbels are the polar opposite of Ayran) is incredibly easy and the film doesn’t quite cut to the heart of the topic.

There are aspects of the film that are done better. The way the film doesn’t shy away from the fact that nazi propaganda created a heroic figure out of Hitler that appealed to young boys is accurate of the party's aims, but doesn’t go into detail of what impressed the kids as its much more complicated than simply being part of a club. At first, Jo Jo (Roman Griffith Davies) admired the dictator, and saw him very much as a hero who he was devoted to, however this changes as film goes on as JoJo finds a young, jewish girl (played by Thomasin McKenzie) in the walls of his house and he begins to question his blind nationalism and devotion to his hero.

The central relationship between the two is intensely moving and charming with the two young stars forming a great chemistry where they build a strong brother-sister bond. It’s where JoJo’s beliefs on Jewish people, spread from nazi propaganda, are challenged and he begins to see that the ideas that were being spread were lies and he begins to reject it. It’s hardly subtle but its here the film becomes more of a look at Nazi Germany society and how the evil ideas of nazism infected the minds of the youth.

However, you could argue that even here the film is a little soft on German society during the war. It seems to show that only the men (and women) in the grey suits were the vile racists whilst, in reality, a lot of German society was responsible for their silence and inaction (and direct action) in bringing Hitler to power. It’s a film that certainly has its powerful and dark moments, but its tone leans more to the light-hearted, which is perhaps right for the general theme of the film where love and kindness is triumpment. It’s a film about love rather than hate and therefore it’s aim isn’t to bring 1930s German society to task for its role in Hitler’s rise to power and show the true horrors of the holocaust.

It’s a committed and passionate piece of work by Waititi who plays Hitler as this camp, zany individual. It’s a passionate project, but one that could have dived more into German society and become more biting of a satire, yet it has emotional weight and power.