In 2008, Mirimax Films released it's emotional dramatization of John Boyne's novel, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. Starring Asa Butterfield, this award-winning film poignantly tells “a fable” centering around the Auschwitz concentration camp. Receiving mixed reviews, it has both been extolled for its singular treatment of the Holocaust, as well as having been criticized for ignoring some of the factual horrors of concentration camp life. What is nearly universally accepted, is that director Mark Herman has created an accurate counterpart to Boyne's 2006 novel, with the exception of a few minor details.
Novel and film share all major, critical elements. The plot in both mediums follows the fictional account of the relationship between an incarcerated Jewish boy and Bruno, a Nazi officer's son. Ending in the death of both boys, both the novel and the film use the image of two boys separated by a fence to expose persons to such barriers, not only those existing in Nazi Germany, but also those that currently “exist all over the world.” This “moral” is the fundamental core of both presentations of The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. By portraying the possible innocence of some
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In the literary work, Bruno's mother is shown to be informed about what is occurring at the concentration camps. Because of this, she dislikes the fact that the family moves to Auschwitz so her husband can be involved in the management of the camp. The film, however, portrays Bruno's mother as being unaware of the Holocaust, until informed one day about it by a divulging lieutenant. This modification serves to further accentuate the conviction of the innocence of the German population. The fact that a Nazi officer's wife was unaware of such occurrences, though, is possibly stretching