The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas

2008 94 min ★ 7.8 Drama, War, History

When his family moves from their home in Berlin to a strange new house in Poland, young Bruno befriends Shmuel, a boy who lives on the other side of the fence where everyone seems to be wearing striped pajamas. Unaware of Shmuel's fate as a Jewish prisoner or the role his own Nazi father plays in his imprisonment, Bruno embarks on a dangerous journey inside the camp's walls.

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Cast

Asa Butterfield

Bruno

Vera Farmiga

Mother

David Thewlis

Father

Rupert Friend

Lieutenant Kotler

David Hayman

Pavel

Jack Scanlon

Shmuel

Amber Beattie

Gretel

Sheila Hancock

Grandma

Richard Johnson

Grandpa

Zac Mattoon O'Brien

Leon

Details

Director

Mark Herman

Screenplay

Mark Herman

Tagline

"Lines may divide us, but hope will unite us."

Status

Released

Original Language

EN

Budget

$12,500,000

Revenue

$20,416,563

Production

BBC Film, Miramax, Heyday Films

Reviews

R

r96sk

June 11, 2024

★ 8/10

Not convinced this is a greatly made movie, but it sure does pack a punch! <em>'The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas'</em> makes for good viewing for the majority, though that ending really is quite something - startling in fact, and that's even with me sensing it. The aforementioned is because, as well as the way the film builds in general, I'm pretty certain I watched this at high school; just not ...

B

badelf

September 10, 2026

★ 2/10

**Summary: 2/10: well-acted, handsomely made, and morally inverted, a film so intent on manufacturing sympathy for a commandant's family that it forgets, or worse, quietly excuses, whose deaths it was supposed to be mourning.** I haven't read John Boyne's novel, so I can't tell you where the book's failures end and the film's begin. I can only tell you what arrived on screen, and what arr...