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Jan 03, 2021SkyHook rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
Ostensibly, a comedic coming-of-age story staged during the downfall of WWII Nazi Germany, as experienced by a burgeoning fanatic Hitler Youth named Jojo. I ended my viewing overly emotional, which was difficult because I found it hard to understand why. I offer five stars on my presumption of understanding. A few well-suited pop songs always pull my strings, and I assume screenwriters thought the book was too dark to present an effective message. Jojo’s evolution from impressionable imaginative child to aware adolescent is told through many storylines. While failing as a Nazi in practice, he acknowledges his attraction to girls, stands up to his father figure, experiences loss and grief, sees intellectually that all is not as it seems with his fellow Germans, and accepts his occasional childish regression in light of the inconceivable. The telling is not entirely through his eyes, though, so we face the differences between our adult perspectives and his in a variety of scenes. Jojo’s path eventually reaches a painfully obvious climax where he must abandon his old ways or die preserving them in the face of infinite opposing forces. The advertised imaginary friend Hitler was only the embodiment of Nazism to grow out of, a spectre of childhood, and our protagonist’s best buddy was occasionally there to state the obvious, grounding our hero near moments of digesting his confusion. A notable role was Fräulein Rahm, who made only brief appearances for comedic relief when Nazi fanaticism reached untenable peaks. How better to highlight the surreal brainwashing of children, to send to war, if not by mocking it? The movie ends with an on screen verse to explain it, and hopefully I got it, that we are stronger than we think and can survive emotional turmoil to carry on. I suppose Nazism needed a war to prove to all the world how wrong it was, and I’ve read that many Hitler Youth needed years to let go of their beliefs. The separation of Hitler Youth from their parents was a great enabler. Absolutely serendipitous was my timing, watching Jojo on the cusp of Biden’s inauguration, and always too soon after David Bowie’s death.