Direction: Taika Waititi
Country: New Zealand / USA
Two years after the colorful superhero adventure that was Thor: Ragnarok, New Zealander director Taika Waititi demonstrates that his comedic voice (What We Do in the Shadows; Hunt for the Wilderpeople) is pretty intact in Jojo Rabbit, a rousing and zany satire set in the 1940’s Nazi Germany that is dividing filmgoers.
The plot centers on the 10-year-old Johannes Betzler (Roman Griffin Davis) a.k.a. Jojo Rabbit, a little Nazi boy whose fanaticism for Hitler’s cause diminishes considerably after getting to know Elsa (Thomasin McKenzie), a Jewish refugee who was sheltered by his pacifist, self-assertive mother, Rosie (Scarlett Johansson).
When not filling his notebook with the Jews' common features and behaviors, Jojo is whether dialoguing with the silly, occasionally irascible imaginary figure of Adolf Hitler (Waititi himself), or training to go to war under the orders of the opaque one-eyed Captain K. (Sam Rockwell), the officer in charge of the Hitler youth group.
Nutty and mischievous, but also sweet and enchanting, Jojo Rabbit is pure fun and entertainment from minute one, which is clearly the only goal of the filmmaker. There are plenty of gags and laughable situations counterpointing the unfunny marks of war presented in some crushing scenes that no kid should ever have to witness or participate in.
It is exactly through the contrast between humor and poignancy, innocence and immorality, human values and an unacceptable iniquity, absurdity and seriousness that Waititi succeeds in his efforts to parody the Nazi doctrine. Who didn't think about Tarantino’s Glorious Basterds and Chaplin’s The Great Dictator?
