Why do many anti-war movies use children as an entry point? Because of the purer evil, those hurting the most innocent people can arouse greater indignation and resonance. The plot of "A Beautiful Life" is designed like this: the father used his own power to block the surging suffering and gave the child fairy-tale warmth during the steep years. In the first third of "Jojo Rabbit", without exception, the director also designed this kind of "fairy tale sense."
Hitler, who looked like a head of state, always said things that only ten-year-olds would say, which made people laugh. A Jewish girl, she is fierce and beautiful, reminiscent of long-eared elves or ghosts.
The tones of the film are bright and lively, with obvious contrast. The light color of the building contrasts sharply with the clothing of the characters. The little boy put on a funny paper box to raise money for Hitler, and his cute appearance seemed to come from a fairy tale picture book.
As the plot progresses, you will find that the director has abandoned the simple and "useful" feature of the pure goodness of children, but relentlessly pointed out that everyone, regardless of age, has been kissed by angels and demons. Touching, and in this tragedy in human history, there is no witness, only a witness.
For example, children, their innocence may be a sharp knife.
The stubborn and ignorant Jojo gradually manifested a cruel innocence in the process of getting along with Jewish girls. Jojo believes that the Jews are all demons, and they should all be found and killed. He was so stupid to believe that Jews had horns and were hanging upside down when they slept. He forged letters to hurt Jewish girls. Jojo's innocence and evil are one, and the Hitler whispering in his ear is the incarnation of the devil. His ignorance may not be blamed too much, but what he and countless brainwashed Nazi teenagers threw at the Jews were not pink bubbles. The beginning of the film is interspersed with a black-and-white video, which truly shows the enthusiasm of German teenagers towards the Nazis at the time; in the film, countless German children were instilled with Nazi ideology since childhood. They learned to fight, burned books on national equality, and were in war. At the last moment, they were thrown out as human bombs by the adults, hurriedly ending their life of distorted growth.
This is the break and establishment of "Jojo Rabbit". Girls are gradually getting rid of Jojo's prejudice against Jews, and the sense of fairy tales is gradually being replaced by cruel reality, which has evolved a kind of comical absurdity. Jojo's friend inadvertently blew up a shop during the war, but he acted as natural as if he had broken a toy. There is a plot in the movie like this: Jojo stands in a daze among a group of Nazi boy scouts rushing towards the enemy. At the same age, Jojo no longer wants to fight, but they rush to death with guns.
This is a more real world than "A Beautiful Life": when there is an avalanche, no snowflake is innocent. Those children who think that Jews are animals with horns and scales are both executioners with knives and victims of this human tragedy. In fact, the happy ending described by Disney is impossible in this human tragedy. Is there an egg under the nest? Of all those who have been through this disaster, no one is spared from being immersed in the bone marrow by the tragedy.
This movie reminded me of "Pan's Labyrinth"-a complete tragedy. Reality hits a diamond-hard fairy tale, and life disappears in an instant, leaving behind a string of brilliant sparks, ending with death, with a decidedly poignant beauty. Unlike "Pan God", the story of "Jojo Rabbit" did not stop abruptly after a series of tragedies.
Jojo wants to write a book about Jews. On how to distinguish between them, how to kill these people he didn't know. This idea is so absurd, it is destined to be impossible, because the Jews are completely different. The design of this plot and the theme of "realistic fairy tales" are both external and internal-on the one hand, Jojo's paintings of Jews are as absurd as "happy ending", but on the other hand, these paintings reflect the precious side of fairy tales. . In fact, the preciousness of fairy tales is not in the curtain that falls perfectly, but in that it can envelop beauty and love in it. The former Jojo dreamed of becoming Hitler’s personal bodyguard as his dream, because under the protection of his mother, he had the stupid capital to dream those absurd dreams; and after the war destroyed all of this, After the last person to protect Jojo was also sacrificed by the gunfire, Jojo peeled off the shell and transformed into an adult after this long lesson. If in "A Beautiful Life", the father himself is the protective color that separates the world, and Jojo was attracted by the sugar paper at first, and after the sweet and bitter, he finally tasted the true flavor of the fairy tale-those love and bravery , Is the strength that allows him to grow up after suffering.
At the end of the story, Jojo abandons the imaginary head of state friend. Life is constantly being turned over and grilled, the sugar coating melts, and finally a delicious filling comes out. It turns out that there is a way to return to kindness, and there is the possibility of happiness. And all of this is the aftertaste after the smoke clears. This design can be said to be the finishing touch of the movie. After the twists and turns, returning to the original happiness, it seems that the love and kindness, growth and loss are all precious.
At the end of the movie, Jojo and the Jewish girl stood and danced on the street after the war, just as they had hoped. The background music is Heroes by David Bowie, the king of rock. The war will pass, the sky will clear up, and no matter how big the twists and turns will turn into thin waves around the feet. The director also left the audience with the last touch of tenderness like candlelight. At the end, he quoted the poem of the Jewish poet Rilke:
Those beautiful, abominable, fragile, and deep, let the stardust and the water come to you, they will eventually pass away.
Then you left behind, very bright.
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