Jojo Rabbit (2019)

Hunt for the Wilderpeople put Jewish-Maori filmmaker Taika Waititi on my radar but it's films like his debut Eagle vs Shark and the mockumentary What We Do in the Shadows — and the fact that he resurrected Thor — that made of him one of my favourite directors. Needless to say, I was very looking forward to his latest film, Jojo Rabbit, yet another film about World War II and the Holocaust. Only Waititi's film is not just another film that fits in that category, it is a brilliant, poignant film that manages to be incredibly hilarious and heartbreaking at the same time. 

Based on Christine Leunens's novel Caging Skies, Jojo Rabbit tells the story of Johannes "Jojo" Betzler (Roman Griffin Davis), an extremely patriotic ten-year-old boy living in Nazi Germany during the later stages of World War II who sees as his best friend and only supporter an imaginary Adolf Hitler (Taika Waititi). He dreams of becoming one of Hitler's personal guards and does his best to be the best little Nazi possible. 

While at a Nazi camp for young boys, after refusing to kill a rabbit in front of the other boys, Jojo tries to fight against the idea that he's a scared rabbit by throwing a hand grenade into a tree. Unfortunately, the explosive bounces back, lands in front of Jojo and leaves him with a scarred face and a slight limp. 

A monster in the eyes of the Reich, Jojo is forced to go home to try to heal, but his working mother, Rosie (Scarlett Johansson), sends him off to work with Captain Klezendorf (Sam Rockwell), former captain of the camp demoted after the incident. After an intense day of putting up posters around town, Jojo goes home, hears some noises and, after searching around the house, finds a teenage Jewish girl, Elsa (Thomasin McKenzie), hiding inside a secret compartment. 

Jojo wants to turn her over but Elsa warns that his mother, and probably him too, would be killed for hiding her, and overpowers him. Forced to keep hiding her, Jojo follows the suggestion of his imaginary friend and begins interacting with Else with the purpose of writing a derogatory book about Jews. 

What follows is storytelling at its finest. While we all know how World War II ended, and the friendship between Jojo and Elsa is something we see coming, Waititi brings to the screen a compelling, sweet, and deeply human story about acceptance, learning and knowing right from wrong. It is a story that shows how we are often brainwashed by our society, how vulnerable and flexible young minds are and therefore easy to instil an unrealistic version of the world such as the Nazi propaganda, and does a fantastic job at showing that the kids who get caught up in these terrible events are still kids. A story that portrays the impact of broken homes and youth being robbed of their innocence. 

The best part of Jojo Rabbit, however, is the characters — and the performances — as Waititi manages to make likeable even the evil ones. Despite his political leanings, Jojo earns our sympathy and empathy as the story moves forward, and thanks to Roman Griffin Davis's terrific performance — probably the best child performance since Jacob Tremblay's in Room —, a performance that encapsulates to perfection the enthusiasm and innocence of the young boy, it's impossible to judge him for his beliefs; he's just a brainwashed kid, after all, although even his mother no longer recognizes him. 

Elsa, played by a delightful Thomasin McKenzie, is probably the most compelling character, Not the scared, soul-baring refugee one would expect, she is a witty, brave young woman, and it's through her that we see all the minorities who are still being bullied nowadays because either of their skin colour, religion, or country of origin. 

Jojo's mother, Rosie, is sweet and loving, and has the kind of warmness that would make you smile even on your worst day. She is the one who tries to make Jojo understand the futility of war, the bad things Nazi are doing, and that it's still possible to love your country even though you hate the war. Scarlett Johansson delivers yet another terrific performance as she brings warmth to the film.ù

The rest of the characters are nothing but caricatures, but the cast still make them memorable, whether it's Waititi himself play an intentionally dumb version of Adolf Hitler, Sam Rockwell killing it with a hilarious performance as the gay captain, Rebel Wilson as one of Rockwell's assistants or the young Archie Yates as Jojo's second best friend Yorki — stuck in the middle of the fighting, we see him doing completely different things. He's the character that makes us truly see how kids were caught up in the war, brainwashed and forced to just follow along.

The humour is another of Jojo Rabbit's strengths. It's not easy to handle such a sensitive subject in a rather light and comedic way but Waititi does it — and not only he manages to do it, he excels at it. The film has indeed the perfect mix of smart and silly comedy — the interactions between Jojo and the imaginary Adolf Hitler are hilarious —, and a perfect balance between comedy and drama — there are plenty of hilarious and funny moments as well as emotional and heartfelt one.

The soundtrack is also fantastic — I loved that The Beatles and David Bowie were used and I loved even more that it was the German version of their songs. At last but not least, the film is also beautiful to look at — from cinematography, to set designs, to costumes and makeup, it's all perfect.

Ultimately, Jojo Rabbit is the kind of film that makes you laugh and cry while also making you think.