It’s sort of like Cabaret meets Anne Frank meets Moonrise Kingdom.
Jojo rabbit is a most definitely absurdly cheeky “coming of age” film that dwells upon the resilient audacious and rebellious curiosity of youth in the face of real world disaster. Very apropos even in today’s violently turbulent times.
...personal sidebar: I was raised in 1950’s heavily class and racially segregated Baltimore Maryland. I was taught to feel it was ok to hate anyone not like us. By the time I was 10 my favorite cousin was robbed shot and killed by a black man, my father’s brand new car had its tires stolen from right in front of our house the night he brought it home, and I was beaten into a street gang on the command that I would face such a beat down every day unless I joined. Add to my social devolution the fact that relatives and neighbors had been sexually abusing me since age 5, and my vision of a socially blended future was becoming completely impossible. That’s why Jojo Rabbit appeals to me so much. In the face of a ludicrously screwed upbringing I still had a virgin core of curiosity to find a way to exist above all the madness that was unshakable.
Had I not fed that curiosity I would’ve become no doubt a shameful hollow shell of hatred toward all mankind.
👉 An important warning to new viewers of this movie. It does expound upon the murderous and segregationist principles of WWII Nazi Germany, some scenes are definitely NSFW, but it’s done in such a vicariously hilarious theme that the horrors become secondary to the plot of revealing the narcissistic foibles in a palatable way. The film has, in my belief, wonderful casting and brilliant acting. It’s a bit much to digest, I wouldn’t call it a 1st date flick, but definitely a rainy night stay home brain candy few hours of entertaining distraction.