Jojo Rabbit

This review may contain spoilers!

This is probably the best Taika Waititi film I've ever seen. I would give Jojo Rabbit an 8.5/10.

Jojo Rabbit is about a young boy, Johannes, growing up in Nazi Germany and allowing his world view to be shaped by his membership in Hitler Youth. Jojo is forced to confront what he believes however, when he discovers his mother is harbouring a young Jewish girl. I think this was always going to be a risky film, depicting Nazism in a film with humour elements was always going to be a balancing act. But to say anything less than I was stunned and found the whole experience thought-provoking would be an injustice. This film does a really good job of showing how a culture of hatred is bred, corrupting a character as likeable and innocent as Jojo until you can envision the Nazi figure he has the potential to mature into. Yet seeing figures who dissent against the Nazi war machine and lead by a message of love, such as Jojo's mother, provides a nice counterbalance to the influences working on our young protagonist. Inevitably Jojo and Elsa meet and start their rocky relationship as enemies who fear or hate one another. The journey and joy of this movie is seeing these two overcome their differences and bond as friends; they endure a lot of pain and hardhsip but ultimately they grow closer and inspire change within one another. Taika Waititi's films are also well known for their sharp wit and remarkably unique humour, all of which you'll get throughout this feature by the bucketload. I particularly enjoyed how Jojo's imaginary friend, Adolf Hitler, was used as a tool to represent Jojo's inner conflict and ultimate change in viewpoint. The cinematography was really fun and often heightened the sense of comedy or charm in a scene by presenting an unpredictable or intimate shot that tied everything together. The editing set a very smooth pace and tended to lend itself to that finer stroke of nailing a punchline. The score for the film could be really harrowing or balance out and heighten the thrill of a scene; I really enjoyed the upbeat soundtrack that always seemed to deeply lead back to the film's ultimate message of love triumphing over hate.

Roman Griffin Davis, who played Jojo, is a phenomenal leading performer and brings a lot of charm to this film; Davis' ability to portray his inner conflict between devout nationalism and the love and protectiveness he feels for Elsa and his mother is the driving point for the film. Thomasin McKenzie, who played Elsa, is this very caged and angry young woman who clashes with Jojo when first we meet her; coming to understand McKenzie's Elsa is one of the most heartfelt and sorrowful journeys the film will take you on and it's nothing short of impressive. Scarlett Johansson, who played Rosie, is this wild force to be reckoned with and the heart of the film; Johansson introduces us to this fighter of a mother who doesn't fall under the thumb of the Nazi regime and proclaims messages of love consistently.Taika Waititi, who played Adolf, gives one of the more interesting and unique performances in the feature; the manner in which he presents a funnier view of Hitler through the mind of a ten year old is great but in showing Hitler as more manic come the end of the film we see a break away from those Nazi ideals for our young hero too. Rebel Wilson, who played Fraulein Rahm, is entirely over the top and one of the better comedic performances you'll get; Wilson takes one of the main Nazi figures and shows her to be a completely hopeless fanatic that is more than a bit ridiculous. Alfie Allen, who played Finkel, is a really good subtle foil to Rockwell; Allen holds the chemistry between the two of them and allows you to see the subtext between these two German men. Stephen Merchant, who played Deertz, is the most menacing figure of the film; Merchant really knows how to intimidate a role in as few words as possible and how to completely take over and dominate a space. Archie Yates, who played Yorkie, is quite simply one of the more loveable members in the cast; Yates shows a young boy who is entirely innocent and detached from blind obedience yet gets dragged further and further into the war as the film progresses.

However, the best performance came from Sam Rockwell, who played Captain Klenzendorf. Rockwell has always been one of my favourite actors and I was genuinely really curious to see what sort of perofrmance he'd be bringing to this film. Captain K is built to impress, he's a more than capable soldier with the open bravado and confidence the Nazi regime rewards. He's also really consistent at showing off where he gets the chance and is more openly flamboyant as the film progresses. I felt it was a bold choice to show Captain K as a character sympathetic to Jojo and Elsa due to his own homosexuality, which would have been condemned under Nazi rule. Rockwell's last scene in which he has to spurn Jojo and drive him away in an effort to save his life is one of the saddest moments in the feature; certainly the scene that left me the most emotional.

This film really could have done a better job with introducing characters at times, some of the cast got a strong lead in while others just really came into the film in a jarring manner. I really thought they established Jojo's mother quite late into the first act, while the initial first few scenes with Elsa were so hostile on both sides it was hard to feel much of a connection with either her or Jojo in that moment. While I felt the film used comedy really effectively there were a number of scenes in which the inclusion of humour was jarring and interrupted the flow of the narrative. A strong example of this is when Rosie pretends to be Jojo's mother and herself at the same time in what felt like an especially bizarre take on solo parenting.