The Book Thief 'And The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas'

The Book Thief, directed by Brian Percival, and The Boy in Striped Pyjamas, directed by Mark Herman, are both films that share similar themes and are focused on the time of war during Hitler’s reign of power. In both films, the idea of innocence is portrayed and corrupted through the friendship of child protagonists, influence of father figures, characterisation of children in war and the narrative perspectives. Symbolism, motifs and themes in these two films are explored to emphasise how innocence is portrayed and corrupted throughout the texts.

Through the friendship of child protagonists in both films, the audience is able to view and understand how innocence is portrayed and corrupted. Bruno in The Boy in Striped Pyjamas, is the main

In the Boy in Striped Pyjamas Bruno’s father is one of Hitler’s commanders in charge of a concentration camp. Bruno is unaware of the role his father plays in the war and does not believe his father is a bad person. Bruno explains, ‘My dad’s a soldier but not the type that takes people’s clothes,’ which portrays his innocence on his thoughts of his father. When questioning the people on the farm his father tries to explain to him, ‘Those people are not really people at all.’ This statement alludes the symbolism that Jews are worthless in the eyes of Nazi followers and allows the audience to understand and reflect the true views of the character. In contrast, the father figure in The Book Thief is the opposite view as he does not believe in what Hitler is implying in this war. Liesel’s father teaches her to read, teaches her about the war at hand and the right and wrong way of life. Liesel’s father plays her the accordion each night before she sleeps, this accordion symbolises the safety that her father provides her which portrays the innocence of Liesel, “The sound of the accordion was, in fact, also the announcement of

Bruno in, The Boy in Striped Pyjamas, portrays his innocence throughout the whole film as he does not fully understand the war at hand. After being home-schooled Bruno does gain minimal knowledge of the war around him and tells Shmuel, ‘We’re not supposed to be friends, we’re supposed to be enemies.’ Although he states this, Bruno continues his friendship with Shmuel. The swing in this film is used as a motif as Bruno and his mother use it as an escape mechanism from the war around them. The swing also symbolises innocence as it displays the childish purity of Bruno as he uses it frequently to escape the cruelties of war. When Bruno’s mother uses the swing, it is after she found out about the ugly truth of the work that her husband does as she uses the swing to escape the idea of pain in the war around her she swings. Gretel, Bruno’s sister, on the other hand, starts as an innocent girl which then through characterisation turns into a Hitler worshiper. Viewers are able to understand this through the use of mise en scene as her bedroom transforms from being girly and full of dolls to her filling her walls of Nazi and Hitler posters as she grows as a character. She is corrupted by one of the soldiers that works for their father in the house, they start to fall in love and he explains the war at hand to her, it eliminates her innocence, she