The Boy in the Striped Pajamas takes us back to Germany at
the outset of World War II. Its protagonist is Bruno (Asa Butterfield),
an 8-year-old boy who’s smart, brave, and adventurous but mostly
confused by what’s going on in the world and at home. His father (David
Thewlis), a high-ranking SS officer, has taken a promotion that
relocates the family away from Berlin, to the countryside.
Bruno’s bored in his new setting, especially because his mother
(Vera Farmiga) forbids him from exploring the woods behind the home.
Bruno can see a strange sort of farm through the trees, where the
farmers wear striped pajamas. Bruno’s emotions are a swarm of
conflicts, and what truths he’s told by his parents, tutor, and sister
don’t align with what he’s seeing with his own eyes. That the lies come
from his own father and that his mother is increasingly upset compound
his predicament.
Opens Friday, November 21st,
Ridgeway Four