Jojo Rabbit is a unique movie that blends satire, comedy, and drama. The movie focuses on a young boy named Jojo (Roman Griffin Davis) and his fascination with the Nazi party, particularly that of its zealous leader, the fuhrer himself, Adolph Hitler (Taika Waititi, who also directed the picture).
Hitler becomes Jojo’s imaginative friend, and when Jojo is upset in one scene because of being mocked, Hitler reminds him he has been too. “Oh, look at that psycho, he’s going to kill us all!” he says. It’s exactly what his game plan was so the movie at times dances a fine line between horror and humor, but Hitler is basically a caricature in various scenes such as this.
However, a wonderful influence in Jojo’s life is his mother, Rosie (Scarlett Johansson), the loving mother that is secretly part of the resistance and offers hope to her son despite his youth and ignorance. In one scene, when they view hanging corpses of Jews as they walk downtown together, Jojo asks her, “What did they do?”. She replies, “Plenty of good.” Anti-Semitic attitudes are represented in the film, but juxtaposed against it is the absurdity of treating the Jews as “non-people.”
Jojo Rabbit is an off-the-wall movie, featuring humor and horror. Nonetheless, this film requires you to think through the core of human rights and God-given values. Unfortunately, it incorporates strong language and some graphic violence to tell its story, so this film is Not Dove-approved.
The Dove Take:
This film offers twisted humor amidst one of the darkest times in 20th century history, but language and violence aren’t suitable for most audiences.
