Jojo Rabbit

“Sometimes all we need to do is..” watch a good satire comedy.

I never thought that just after a week of watching and reviewing a serious and dramatic war movie, 1917, I will be reviewing something like Jojo Rabbit.

Set in the gruesome atmosphere of Germany amidst WWII, the story revolves around a 10-year-old boy Johannes “Jojo” Betzler, a young Fascist fanatic fueled by the false propagandas & extreme patriotism, who discovers that his own mother has been hiding a Jewish girl all this time.

To be fairly honest, just like majority of the viewers who saw the trailer of this movie on its release, I was also left with a confused opinion by its ‘cute and vanilla’ theme and had totally different expectations about the final piece. But little did I know, that this movie would be a roller coaster ride full of all possible emotions one can feel with the comic tone as the safety limit.

There is no doubt about Taika Waititi’s awesome sense of humor and how he perfectly delivers it through his amazing cinematography, but in this case, he got so caught up improvising the role of never seen before, hilarious Adolf Hitler, Jojo’s imaginary friend that he had to direct the movie simultaneously in his character clothes. Debutants like Roman Griffin Davis (Jojo) and Archie Yates (Yorkie, Jojo’s bestfriend) deserve huge praise for their impressive work, especially considering their young age of just 12 and 10 respectively. Also, Scarlett Johansson can be seen giving one of her most powerful performances ever while portraying Jojo’s mother.

Apart from the ensemble cast, the script and dialogue of the movie are great as each satire in the movie is written with such subtle smartness that it captures the absurdity from these times brilliantly in a rather (sadly) truthful way. The movie actually leaves the audience thinking – is HATRED amongst people even necessary?

If you think that you can handle a good political satire which makes you laugh one moment and cry like a baby in the next, then this one’s for you.