Wry salute to absurdity of war
JOJO RABBIT ★★★★ (Cert 12A, 108mins)
WRITER-DIRECTOR Taika Waititi mixes farce, fantasy, slapstick and sentiment in this sweet-natured coming-of-age story set in Nazi Berlin.
His trick, as in his breakout film Hunt For The Wilderpeople, is to get us to drop down a couple of feet to see the adult world from the perspective of an innocent child.
From here, all hate-fuelled ideologies are so inherently ridiculous that laughter is a rational, and very human, response.
Our hero is 10-year-old Johannes Betzler (Roman Griffin Davis) who is “massively into swastikas” and such a devoted member of the Hitler Youth that the Führer, played by Waititi, keeps popping up as his imaginary pal.
But in a hilarious training camp sequence, he discovers he might not be cut out for life in the Third Reich. He’s fine with the knife-throwing and book-burning exercises but when ordered to kill a bunny, his sweet nature comes to the surface.
After his comrades give him the nickname Jojo Rabbit, he’s sent home with an injury where he finds his mother Rosie (Scarlett Johansson) acting rather suspiciously.
Her “Heil Hitlers” sound half-hearted and she seems to be squirrelling away her food rations and surviving exclusively on red wine.
Only when he discovers Jewish 17-year-old Elsa (Thomasin McKenzie) hiding in the walls of his late sister’s bedroom does he realise that Rosie is no dutiful Aryan mother.
If he informs his idols in the Gestapo, his mum will be shot and, with his dad missing in action, he will be an orphan. So he strikes a deal with his unwelcome guest. He’ll keep schtum if she helps him research his Jew Spotting guidebook.
Elsa agrees, showing him where her horns will sprout when she turns 18 and how the Jews sleep upside down like bats.
As the
pair become pals, it seems friendship and empathy may conquer unthinking dogma.
There are a couple of mis-steps. The plot, taken from Christine Leunens’ novel Caging Skies, is very familiar and Waititi’s camp imaginary Hitler is only funny until he isn’t.
However the real Nazis are an amusing bunch. Sam Rockwell is on top form as Jojo’s thick but secretly soft-hearted commander, Stephen Merchant delivers some well-honed slapstick as a Gestapo chief, and even Rebel Wilson manages to raise a few laughs as a fanatic who has produced 18 children for the Fatherland.
At the heart of the film is the relationship between JoJo and his mum which is beautifully written and very touchingly played. What impresses most is the way Waititi moves us so seamlessly through the tonal shifts. You’ll laugh and you’ll cry, sometimes at the same time.