Jojo Rabbit (2019) Review

 

Jojo Rabbit (2019)

Jojo Rabbit follows Jojo, a member of the Hitler Youth, whose life is turned upside down when he finds a jew hiding in his home, forcing him to confront their differences and his blind nationalism as WW2 draws to a close.

Been waiting to see this and I must say, it diverted my expectations a lot. It is very much still a satire of Nazi Germany and their views at the time, but it’s also extremely heartfelt and confronts larger issues than its surface chooses to let on. The development of Jojo as a character is also interesting, seeing him go from a blindly led, Nazi obsessed child, with Hitler as an imaginary friend, to by the end, learning to love a jewish girl and not see her as some monster, but as a human just like him. Their ever evolving relationship was equally heartbreaking and sweet, as their ‘happy’ ending makes you grin from ear to ear. I also really liked the symbolism and imagery used, specifically with his mother, foreshadowing her death with her shoes, which were ever present nearly every time we saw her on screen. Genius level filmmaking with that scene.

We also get a pretty remarkable cast, including Sam Rockwell, Scarlett Johansson, Thomasin McKenzie, Taika Waititi, and Roman Griffin Davis. Davis was a natural, bringing a youthful ignorance to screen that slowly evolves as he becomes more accepting of his jewish friend. Also quite liked the addition of Waititi as Hitler, as he brought some steady comic relief that was based in nothing really, as he thought there was no better “f*** you” to Hitler than that.

Jojo Rabbit is a journey of acceptance and self discovery that is incredible sad but also heartfelt, all under the guise of a satirical comedy that is dangerously self aware. It is a bit controversial in its portrayals and subject matter, but that was mainly used to show the absurdity of the Nazi regime, making this deeper that just your average comedy, which sets it apart in a deep and moving way.

8.9/10