Best Pictures #62
2019 (92nd) Academy Awards Best Picture Nominee
2019 (92nd) Academy Awards Best Picture Nominee
“You're not a Nazi, Jojo. You're a ten-year-old kid who
likes dressing up in a funny uniform and wants to be part of a club.”
A good movie lets you know what you’re in for right away. A
great movie surpasses those expectations. You’ll know within the first ten
minutes of Jojo Rabbit whether this film is for you or not. It opens
with real footage of crowds roaring ecstatically for Adolf Hitler while a
German version of “I Want to Hold Your Hand” plays over the titles. This is how 10-year-old
Johannes sees Hitler. In fact, his goofy, encouraging imaginary best friend is
none other than Adolf. Any comedy set in Nazi Germany is going to be tricky to
say the least, even for a talented filmmaker like writer-director Taika Waititi. In previous films, Waititi has tackled broad, dark comedy (the vampire comedy What We Do In The Shadows) and mixed comedy and sentimental drama (the wonderful Huntfor the Wilderpeople). In Jojo Rabbit, Waititi combines sharp satire,
broad comedy, devastating drama, and sincere sentiment with incredible results.
Movies like Jojo Rabbit don’t come along too often. This is without a
doubt one of the best movies of 2019.
Roman Griffin Davis plays Johannes who is young enough that
he believes all of the most awful and absurd antisemitic Nazi propaganda. He wants
to be the best Nazi he can be, but doesn’t measure up. Older members of the
Hitler Youth nickname him Jojo Rabbit after he can’t bring himself to kill a
rabbit. His mother, Rosie (Scarlett Johansson) is raising is him alone—his
soldier father is presumed dead, or possibly a deserter—and trying to counteract
the hateful propaganda Jojo has been absorbing. She is also secretly sheltering
a Jewish girl, Elsa (Thomasin McKenzie), in an upstairs crawlspace. When Jojo
discovers Elsa, he knows he can’t turn her in without getting his mother in
trouble, so he decides question her about being Jewish to write a book. His
initial shock and fright turn to confusion: she has no horns and doesn’t sleep
upside down. In fact, she appears to be a normal girl and he develops a crush
on her.
Waititi walks a fine line both as a filmmaker, maintaining
the film’s dark comic tone, and as an actor, playing the imaginary Adolf. His
performance is broad and over the top but it matches what 10-year-old Jojo
would conjure up. Scarlett Johansson has earned a Supporting Actress nomination
for her role as Jojo’s mother and I think it’s well deserved. Her portrayal of
a someone doing all she can to be a good parent and a good person is compelling.
Sam Rockwell turns in another good performance as a washed-up Nazi officer that
may actually be hiding a sense of decency. In a small but chilling role Stephen Merchant plays a Gestapo officer that comes to investigate Jojo’s house; his thin but imposing 6’7” figure is used for unease and intimidation.
Archie Yates as Yorki, Jojo’s only friend in real life, is a natural born scene
stealer.
This film is not meant to be an actual representation of
life under Hitler’s Third Reich. This is a fable about a how a young boy
experiences the horrors of the Nazi regime and is able to survive not just with
his life but with his heart and soul. The screenplay, adapted by Waititi from
the novel Caging Skies by Christine Leunen, believes that fanatism is
absurd, so everything presented on screen follows that principal. Nazis are
presented as ridiculous because their whole belief system is based on the
hateful absurdity that a certain group of people are superior to others. The
comedy in this movie is audacious and even uncomfortable but it
never mocks or minimizes the horrific actions of the Nazis. When one Nazi gives
a Hitler Youth child a live grenade and tells him to run and hug an American
soldier, it’s not remotely funny.
Jojo Rabbit shouldn’t work but it does. A large
reason for that is the sweet nature of Roman Griffin Davis and his scenes with
Thomasin McKenzie, also giving a great performance. Another reason is Taika
Waititi’s sensibilities as a filmmaker. He knows just how far to push the
comedy and how to play the drama scenes for incredible effect. Advertisements
have marketed Jojo Rabbit as an “anti-hate satire” which it certainly
is. It is also a story about how hope can survive even in the darkest of places
and times, until one day it can step outside again and dance.
Nominees: Carthew Neal, Taika Waititi
Director: Taika Waititi
Screenplay: Taika Waititi; based
on the novel Christine Leunens
Cast: Roman Griffin Davis, Thomasin McKenzie,
Scarlett Johansson
Production Companies: Fox Searchlight
Pictures, TSG Entertainment, Defender Films, Piki Films
Distributor: Fox Searchlight Pictures
Release Date: October 18th, 2019
Total Nominations: 6, including Best Picture
Other Nominations: Supporting Actress-Scarlett Johansson;
Adapted Screenplay-Taika Waititi; Costume Design-Mayes C. Rubeo; Production
Design-Ra Vincent, Nora Sopková; Editing-Tom Eagles
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