Jojo Rabbit
Comedy drama. With Roman Griffin Davis, Thomasin McKenzie and Taika Waititi. Director: Taika Waititi. 16LPV.
It’s the last days of World War 2 and 10-year-old German Johannes “Jojo” Betzler (Davis) has been so thoroughly indoctrinated by the Nazis that Adolf Hitler (Waititi) is his imaginary best friend. But when he discovers his mother (Scarlett Johansson) is hiding a Jewish girl, Elsa (McKenzie), in their house, his world view slowly starts to crumble.
Some viewers might find the thought of a satire that pokes fun at the Third Reich or telling a World War 2 story from a sympathetic member of the Hitler Youth’s point of view to be in bad taste. But films ridiculing Nazi ideology by pointing out its absurdity has a long tradition stretching all the way back to Charlie Chaplin’s The Great Dictator (1940) in which he played the idiotic Adenoid Hynkel.
In Jojo Rabbit, director Waititi (Thor: Ragnarok, What We Do in the Shadows) follows in Chaplin’s footsteps by taking on the role of the great dictator himself, and has a ball holding Hitler up to scorn by showing him through the eyes of a naive boy.
To Jojo, Adolf is a supportive father figure crossed with a goofy best friend, but to the viewer he comes across as pompous, juvenile and ultimately pathetic. This is especially evident in the perfectly pitched scenes in which Jojo slowly starts to befriend Elsa and his fervently held beliefs about Jews are challenged by the courageous girl.
Starting out as a farce, Waititi delicately builds towards deep emotion, maintaining a tricky balance between the two and aided by his superb cast. In his first role, Davis shows great comedic timing and emotional range, which is matched by Johansson, who deserves her Oscar nomination. Special mention must also go to the adorable Archie Yates as Jojo’s nerdy best friend, Yorki, and Sam Rockwell as world-weary Captain Klenzendorf.
Though it loses momentum midway through, the story luckily finds direction again to head towards an uplifting and genuinely moving finale. Nominated for six Oscars, including best picture, and winning for best adapted screenplay ( from the novel Caging Skies by Christine Leunens), Jojo Rabbit is one of those rare films that entertains while also making you think.