I don't think that it has ever been so quiet in my room after one of our film festival movies. This film obviously had an impact on those that participated on Tuesday. Was Boy in the Striped Pajamas a sad movie? Disturbing? Maybe even frustrating? The answer is yes to all of those questions. But Hollywood produces lots of sad movies, not to mention all of the disturbing stuff that they turn-out. What makes movies like this different is that it also an important movie for kids today to see. Important, not just because it deals with an important historical event like the Holocaust, but because it demands that we watch it with a questioning eye.
That means that whenever we watch a movie that deals with history, we should not take it as the full story on the issue. Sometimes a movie is biased toward one side of the issue, and could give a distorted picture to the uninformed viewer. For example, read the following excerpt from Wikipedia that includes criticism about our movie from a Jewish rabbi:
So, what does this mean? Does it mean that the movie is worthless for use in a history class or history film festival? I don't think so, but some would probably disagree. One of the goals that I have for my film festival is to teach you all to look more critically at information that is presented in a movie, or in music, or even on the news.The book is a novel: it is not historical fiction. The very premise of the book - that there would be a child of Shmuel's age - is, according to critics, an unacceptable fabrication that does not reflect the reality of life in the camps.
Rabbi Benjamin Blech condemned it: "This book is not just a lie and not just a fairytale, but a profanation." His chief complaint is that it supports the idea that ordinary people were unaware of the horrors of the Nazis' mass extermination of Jews. He argues that everyone for miles around could smell the stench of death and expresses doubt that the 9-year-old son of a Nazi official could be unaware of what a Jew is (or whether he himself is one).
He writes, "Note to the reader: There were no nine-year-old Jewish boys in Auschwitz -- the Nazis immediately gassed those not old enough to work. Also, the Auschwitz death camp was surrounded by electric fences, making any attempts to crawl in through a hole impossible."[2][3]. Such alleged falsification of history has important consequences, say Boyne's critics, for the way that the victims of the Holocaust might be remembered and commemorated, thus reviving arguments that were previously aired about Steven Spielberg's Schindler's List and the manner in which that film sanitised and falsified aspects of the concentration camp experience too.[4]
Now, after you have thought more critically about the movie, what level of importance does it carry? Do you think that this kind of movie should be seen by kids today? What can they learn from a movie like this? What does a movie like this say about things we may learn from people that are close to us - even sometimes parents? Does the movie leave you wanting to learn more about this horrible episode in history? What kinds of questions, if any, does the film leave you asking?
As always, I appreciate that you have taken the time to watch this film with us and to give me your thoughts on it.
I think the holocaust is an important subject and should not be forgoten contrar to an certain president. I know little about the topic but after watching the movie, i want to learn more. even thoughthis topic is a grueling and graphic one, we all have to see our share, and usually these kind leave us all "thinking what if we were there" or "what if i was a guard".
ReplyDeleteThis chapter in history should be remembered as a mistake made by a man, power, country
Thanks
Cook
Mallory Gl.
ReplyDeleteI think that the Holocaust was a very important even in history and I think that it is a movie that should be seen by kids today so we don't forget the importance of this event. Also so we would be able to kind of see what it was like in a consentration camp. After seeing tis movie I'm not sure if I want to learn more about the holocaust. I would want to learn more about the Holocaust just so i would be familiar with the topic. I wouldn't want to learn more about the Holocaust because it was a sad time and I wouldn't want to learn more about it. I think that this was a good movie but it left me wondering a few things like why the little boy was still friends with Schmule even though he knew that he would get in trouble for knowing him or if the family still mooved after the found out the little boy was dead.
i think this movie was sad but also shows some of the things you'd do to help a friend.this is a very sad topic and i don't really care for any one who would make a joke of the holocaust becouse it is very rude. i wonder do the people who make fun of these events would act like this then?no they wouldn't. i wonder would this still be going on now if hitler or some one as crul and hartless is alive? why did people even kill inisent people just becuose they were jewish? i can't belive some one could be so crul.
ReplyDeleteTori: I agree with Mallory Gl. The Holocaust was an important event. Sometimes I can't even imagine how some people don't believe it reallty happen. The movie to me was very sad and frustrating. The sad part was at the end when he had snuck into the camp. After he had dug the hole to sneak into the camp it was very hard for me to watch. The frustrating part was how they were decrimanating against certain people just because of their religion.
ReplyDeleteThis was a very sad movie. I know that a lot of people out there are criticizing it and saying it "wasn't realistic" but I think that if they made a movie for kids about the Holocaust with realistic things like dead bodies and people getting shot, kids wouldn't enjoy it at all. The Boy in the striped pajamas showed you what a horrible thing the Holocaust was and it was a good movie.
ReplyDeleteThe topic of the holucaust is very important and i think it needs to be handled with great importance. I also am fustrated with the movie but at the end it teaches you how important the holucaust really is.
ReplyDeleteChase Y:I think that The Boy in the Striped Pajamas was about the saddest movie I have ever saw.The Holocaust was a very important event in history that should have never happened because it was a completely horrible way to handle things, but it teaches us how good are lives actually are. This event should never be forgotten because it is an extremely important event to mankind.
ReplyDeleteAllie W: that was 1 of the saddest movies ever and the end was so unexpected! Last year i saw a pretty brutal film in mrs. wises clas about the holocuast and the concentration camps so i kinda knew wat 2 expect, but stil the ending took me off guard. I think all middle schoolers and up should see this movie cuz like chase said it really makes u stop and think about how good u hav it and how cruel people can b!!!!! i think the holocuast was probably 1 of the worst things that hav ever happened and i hope nothing in the future ever leads 2 something like that agin.
ReplyDeleteThe Holocaust was a very big event that happend between Germans and Jews. This event made a huge impact on our world. The movie you let us watch Mr.Veliz really helped me understand the importance of the Holocaust. The end of this movie was very upsetting to all of us, because it ended so sad. Mr.Veliz is right if this movie ended any better than this wouldn't have been true.
ReplyDeleteThank you Mr.Veliz for letting us watch this movie I really learned alot from it.
I think that movie was sad. I might as well just say that! I agree with Benjamin Blech on the point about the electric fence. I mean, come on! Wouldn't an ill, mis-treated, hungry Jew would try to dig a hole under the fence? Of course! I think that the movie showed too little about what happened in the concentration camp. Some people that don't like a certain race of people do that in countries maybe-not-so-far-away. There are even people that don't even believe that the Holocaust exists! There are artifacts and there are still people living that still have a tattoo on thier bodies from the concentration camp! Heck, there is even a whole museum that talks about the Holocaust! I think that people that believe that are ignorant of a thing that even other countries know about and are trying not to make that happen again! On that happy note(not) I think that this was overall a pretty okay movie.
ReplyDeleteThanks Mr. Veliz!
I forgot to add, that there were more than just Jews at the concentration camp.They also did not include the different triangles in the film either that identified what they were. I think they could've at least gone to better depth by making the boy wear a symbol. I found this at http://remember.org/educate/elman.html
ReplyDelete"The Third Reich utilized a myriad of colored triangles to classify the various groups of peoples they interned in concentration camps. (2) The colors of the triangles were as follows: red for political dissidents, green for criminals, purple for Jehovah's Witnesses, blue for emigrants, brown for Gypsies, black for lesbians and other "anti-socials," and pink for homosexual men. The pink triangles symbolized the femaleness of this group of detainees whose masculinity was diminished within the context of Nazi heterosexism. Additionally, the pink triangles were generally larger than other triangles because the Nazis wished gay men to be especially visible (Rector, 1981). Jews, by contrast, were marked by six-pointed, yellow Stars of David within which the word "Jew" was inscribed.
I would have liked the movie more if they actually put the triangles on the people.
By the way, there were many more Jews than anyone other groups.
ReplyDeleter we gona wach the tuskee airmen on feb. 1 cuz thats my birthday!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteParker C.
ReplyDeleteYes I think this movie should be shown to kids because this movie is very important for kids today to watch. This movie could teach a lot of students or kids about the Holocaust. It could also tell them how bad it could be if you were a kid in that position. Yes this film leaves me unsatisfied with the war. I thought it was a really good but sad movie it just left me wandering more about the war. It was very frustrating to me because I thought the kid was a really slow in finding out what was happening and went into the concentration camp.
This movie was a great movie but left me wanting to know more. The Holocaust is a little scary but it did happen. I think that this chapter in history should always be remembered because we all need to learn more about what happened in this time in history.
ReplyDeleteGood job so far!
ReplyDeleteI really liked the moive like Elizabeth said " it was scary but it happened" is completely ture. I belive that the only way to prevent somthing like that from ever happeninng again is to learn how horrifying it really was, and how many innocent people it hurt.I would reccomend this movie to anyone.
ReplyDeleteI think this part in time was very important in history for many reasons. It was definitely a sad movie, but on the other hand everyone learned a lot. I agree with Tyler H that middle schoolers and older should all learn more about the holocaust and see movies like the one we recently saw. After watching the movie I want to learn much more on the holocaust, but I don't want to watch another movie as sad as that one. I think movies like the one we watched should be made more often so people can learn more about certain events in our history. Overall the movie was great.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Mallory that this was a very important and horrible part of history. The movie was sad but it was educational and tells a great story. I think it is good to show movies like this about our history, because it shows how much our world has changed. I think that this movie has impacted me more into wanting to learn more about the Holocaust. The Holaucast is a very important subject that i don't think should be overlooked, it really makes you think how prejudice poeple can be, and will take it to extreme lengths to have things there way.
ReplyDeleteOk so I agree with everyone. I almost got tired of reading Tylers (no affence) it just had so much in it.
ReplyDeleteAnyways, The Holocaust was an important yet sad event. I couldnt stand the end of that movie though. But overall that was a good movie. I seriously thought that I would like break out into tears!
Anyways, Thank you, Mr. Veliz for letting us watch that movie. It was a great experience even though I had nightmares about one of my family members dying in a gas chamber. Im just glad that I didnt live in those days.
I probably would not have been alive because of my amazingly brown eyes and brown hairedness. This was the saddest movie I have ever watched so far... about the Holocaust.
I thought that this movie was very sad but I also thought that it was important for us to watch. Men and women of the world like to believe that the Holocost never happened but I think that if children and adults alike watch these type of moviees that it could prevent something like the Holocost ever happening again. When i watchd the movie I was appalled because like Tyler I only new bits and pieces of the story and this opened my eyes to the historical truth. It's amazing that mankind is even capable of such evil and it's hard to believe that such a thing ever happened. But these movies are important to watch a learn about and I want to thank Mr. Veliz for giving us that unique opputunity for both knowledge and extra credit. This movie left me with more and more questions as I pondered what i just saw. Although that that time in history was horrifyingly evil and terrible and dispicable its important that we learn more about it and never forget that it happened, and never deny it.
ReplyDeleteI think that this movie was a sad but very informative. I agree with Elizabeth because the movie didn't say everything about the Holocaust but it did tell us about the Jews' harsh discipline. I also think that the Holocaust was important since it was a big event in history that everyone should know about. Even though the movie was sad I still think that it was a good movie because if they made the movie end happy then it wouldn't be realistic since the Holocaust wasn't very cheerful, especially for the Jews.
ReplyDeleteAna S.- I agree with Kaley that Tyler's blog was very long, but in all words I think it had the whole point in why we should learn about the holocaust.
ReplyDeleteI believe that THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PAJAMAS was a very sad Holocaust movie that explained all the things that the Nazi's did to the Jews. Many parts in this movie were crucial, including the part when all the Jews were in the death chamber, but I think that the movie had a point in: what happened in the Holocaust and how it affected what we do today.
I think that the boy in the striped pajamas is a very sad movie but that was pretty much the life of a jew'. I agree with amanda when she says that if it were a happy ending than i wouldn't have been realistic. The jews' were almost allways killed by or worked to death by the nazi's. Lots of People forget after a while that the holocaust never happened and that is bad because then the chances of something like that happening agian go up (if nobody remembers things like that they might do it again thinking that its not that bad but they might end up killing 6,000,000 million people like in the holocaust which will not in any way be very good.
ReplyDeleteI think that this movie has more impact than most of the other sad and disturbing movies that are made today because, while some may have a foundation of truth, most of it is purely fiction, while this movie most certianly could have happened. While these specific cercumstances didn't occure on a daily basis, there were consentration camps. People died everyday in them. People were put in gas chambers. All of that and more makes this movie so real, it's hard not to be sad or disturbed while/after watching it.
ReplyDeleteThis movie should be watched be the children of today. It gives an informitive look at the circumstances of the time and a look into the reality of things.
From as far as I can tell and from what I remember, this movie was pretty unbiased. They never said that comsentration camps were good or bad, just gave us the facts and a look into the minds of what most nazi soldiers thought, and how their families might have reacted.
This movie was a great example of the type of movies we should be veiwing in our film festival. I personally think that it was a great representation of just a small portion of what the Holocaust was and presented it in a fantastic manner.
two movies related to this Defiance and the Devils Arithmatic, both are about jews in wartime Europe and very informative, both are very true to the fact that the nazis dint spare a single person regardless of their status
ReplyDeleteI think the movie was supposed to be sad. If it wasn't, people wouldn't really get the message that the holocaust was a terrible occurrence in history. It's also a warning for the future, that if anything like that ever starts happening again we definitely need to stop it. I think anyone over the age of 13 should be informed about the Holocaust and this movie to prevent any other people like Hitler developing. The movie also shows that information you get from your family or friends may not actually be true, and you need to see the situation from both sides by your self. I definitely would like to learn more about this topic, and I thought the movie was well made, but just depressing.
ReplyDeleteThis was a very sad movie. People were killed for being themselves. I think this is something everykid should know about and should look more into. I think this was a good movie choice because its something kids don't know as much as they should about it. This is something we as kids need to learn way more about!
ReplyDeleteI think that since most movies are inaccurate, I wouldn't watch a movie for information. Instead, I'd watch a documentary. But because part of it was based on something real I thought it was still a good movie even if its ending was sad. I would still encourage people to watch it, but just for entertainment. If I didn't already know much about the Holocaust I would probably try to learn more about it after seeing "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas." I'd do this because the movie was quite interesting to me. What I already learned about the Holocaust was that if Jewish children were too young to work, then they were killed. I also learned that the nazi soldiers would have never let Shmuel get so close to the gate to sit there without doing work, especially to talk to a German who wasn't Jewish.
ReplyDeleteokay, so this movie was the SADDEST i've ever seen, besides the Notebook. I think that Jewish Rabi guy was missing the point. The importance of this movie wasn't if the little boy could crawl underneeth the fence or not, it was the fact that innocent people were getting killed for simply being a Jew. This movie should be showed to all kids, because most kids have no idea what the Holocost really is. It was an important event in our history, and needs to be reconized by everyone.
ReplyDeleteIt does make me want to learn more about the Holocost, because they're were so many secrets and outragous things that happened during it. It left me asking how the heck could the goverment let this happen? and why?
I love books and things on the Holocaust and I have read many books from very different points of views, from the Jews, Dutch, children, and even the Nazi's. When I do read these books things change so much from points of views, each point of view has something to say and after all the different sides of the same story you get really baffled which side to take. The Boy in the Stripped Pajamas has a very similar point of view as a book I read, recently. Yeah everyone should be horrified but that doesn't mean that those people that were Nazi's should be hated, all they did were people doing there jobs. I found that to read from a young child's point of view is the most horrifying, they seem so innocent and doesn't realize what is happening.
ReplyDeleteI disagree with Mallory Green. for this should be shown to children to make them realize what is happening in there world and they should know from early on that bad things happen all around the world. And to make sure that no child should grow up to be like Hitler. Movies have a side to them that is not entirely true. Yeah diary's and journals give a more realistic story.
This would not be possible for a German boy sneak into the camp, but also there were many parts of the story that did show the true horror of this historic event.
I want to add to Tyler H.'s comment, many killing of the Jews was a total misconception that led to a major event. When things went wrong there were people who thought that Jews were responsible for everything that was happening. But each time that happened people the agreed with the miconception grew making this war happen. This is the same as a younger siblings getting blamed for the bad things that older siblings do, but that doesn't mean that the older siblings had started to kill the little kids. So racism happens still happens today and that is horrible but more the reason to show younger children.
Thank You Mr. Veliz for showing the movie.
to me what make this movie different is the fact that similar events actually happened in the past. And even if the facts aren't completely right it was still a very meaningful movie. I think bending the facts was the best thing the author could have done. because otherwise it would be harder to take in for me. It wouldn't be the same if the Jewish child was already dead for being to young to work. Putting it into a sad story put me in a position of realization. to think that innocent lives were taken because of what they believe in.
ReplyDeleteI think that people in middle school should watch this movie. I dont think mant kids know allot about the Holocaust and they need to watch things about it. I want to learn more about this subject but i also dont want to because it makes me upset. when i left the movie i was a little stunned and i wanted to ask a lot of questions. I want to why anybody would think of doing any of the cruel things they did to the jews.
ReplyDeleteI think that was a overall great movie, but very fustating. I disliked the end of the movie when the kid dressed as a jew for just that one day, and that was the day of the holocaust. It was so depressing, everyone in Mr.Veliz's classroom was silent. I couldn't stand the quietness of the class. I thought the movie would have had a better ending than it did.
ReplyDeleteThis movie was very scary for me to watch because I knew that the little boy was going to get in trouble when he started to help the boy that was a jew. I think that this movie was a good story to teach about how horrible the Holocaust was. I don't think that this is a useless movie.
ReplyDeleteI think that there is great importance to the movie and it should not be just blown out of the recomendation list because some people disagree with it. I think the movie should be seen by kids today because it showed what happened in history and hopefully it will not be repeated. Kids may learn that different races have different opinions about others and some times this can lead to serious conflict. The movie leaves me with a hunger for more facts about this certain conflict like procedures in the concentration camps. The one question I'm left with is how the Jews were killed. I know they were in gas chambers but does that mean the gas was ignited and they burned to death or did they die because of inhalation of the gas?
ReplyDeleteI didn't watch the movie, but I know a bit about the Holocaust. Everyone knows who Anne Frank is, right?
ReplyDeleteWait, am I allowed to blog?
Oops.
I think the movie should be shown to kids because it will make the relize how grateful we are right now.Also because us as kids don't usually understand what it was like back when the wars where going on and this movie was a great way to show it.
ReplyDeleteLike most of the others kids have said this movie was sad, and shocking. Who knew something like that would happen in the end. It made me think about how much people really don't care for others well-beings in the holocaust. This movie should be shown to others of all ages mainly over ten i think should remember this and see how much things have changed and embrace our better times.
ReplyDeleteI think that this was a great movie. I think it was a surprising ending. I think after thisi happened Bruno's dad will not participate in the holocaust anymore. I think that all ages should watch this to be informed about the holocaust. The Only thing I don't like about this movie is the ending. I do not think Bruno should have died.
ReplyDeleteI think the halocaust is very important to show who the bad people were because probaly everyone back then would say jews but we would say german army. Just because you think your better than someone else does not mean you can torture them and kill them. The movie overall was important to know but sad.
ReplyDeleteAdamdgr8 Asker said...
ReplyDeleteThis movie had a great impact on me and it was very sad. it made me want to learn more of what happened and it made me think of all the jews that have died durring those times. i think that the germans were wrong for what the did and they had no reason to do so. this was a great movie and i encourage everyone to see it.
Adam out yo!