Jojo Rabbit – One of the greatest films of modern times

There are two ways of looking at the film 'Jojo Rabbit' - you can take a quick glance of the subject matter and see how a young boy in Second World War Germany has an imaginary friend who is none other than Adolf Hitler himself and say, 'That's no laughing matter' and therefore write the movie off as simply 'bad taste' and something that shouldn't be joked about.  Or you can actually watch it and digest the deeper meaning behind it all.  And, I think if you do, you'll find that it's one of the most original, deep and touching stories to come out of modern day Hollywood.

Yes, our young protagonist, Jojo, (brilliantly played by the young Roman Griffin Davis) is part of the 1944 'Hitler Youth' project in Nazi Germany and he dreams of growing up to be one of Hitler's personal guards and ridding the Fatherland of various 'undesirable' groups - I'm sure you know what I mean.  And, to 'help' him along the way, he has imagined how the Furher himself would be and has created a fictional version of Adolf Hitler (again, perfectly lampooned by the film's writer/director Taika Waititi).  Now, you may think this is hardly a protagonist you could root for.  However, the film goes to great lengths to point out how this youngster is merely the product of his brief lifetime of constant brainwashing by the ruling party.  In short, this film is more about the dangers of indoctrination rather than promoting any form of ideology.

Of course there are many moments that are played for laughs.  The movie goes to great lengths to point out how this imaginary Hitler is not the REAL Hitler and is merely how a young boy might interpret how his 'glorious' leader would be, i.e. quite a fun, playful character (who also just happens to want to murder lots of people).

Besides the two characters I've already mentioned, 'Jojo Rabbit' is littered by famous faces who all turn in excellent performances.  Scarlett Johansson is heavily promoted and, although good, I felt was overshadowed by Sam Rockwell and Stephen Merchant whenever they were on screen.  Besides these 'heavy hitters' Thomasin McKensie deserves a special mention for being another youngster that can definitely hold her own among the stars and hopefully has a bright acting future ahead of her.

Much of the humour seems to come in the first third of the film, but, as the story goes on, the film does start to descend into much darker territory where many horrors of war are depicted and there are certainly scenes which will leave you cold and stay with you forever.

Overall, this film has something for everyone (who doesn't take offense at the mere mention of the subject matter).  It could be considered essential viewing for anyone looking to see how the horrors of war effect those forced to live under such conditions and serve as a reminder that we shouldn't always trust those who lead us.

Plus, if nothing else convinces you to watch this, you also have excellent versions of The Beatles and David Bowie classic songs (albeit in German, which is definitely a novelty!).

10/10 The Monty Python Knights of Camelot are currently looking for this