Starring: Roman Griffin Davis, Thomasin McKenzie, Taika Waititi, Scarlett Johansson, Sam Rockwell, Rebel Wilson, Stephen Merchant, Archie Yates
Director: Taika Waititi
Release date: 1st January 2020
Jojo Betzler is a young 10 year old boy, living in Nazi Germany with his mum. His main idol in life is the fuhrer, Adolf Hitler and he has posters of him on his bedroom walls. Jojo has a secret that no-one else knows… he has an imaginary friend, who just happens to be Adolf Hitler. Jojo is a member of a local Hitler Youth group and one day whilst on a camping trip, he manages to get himself blown-up in a freak accident. He isn’t too badly injured but now has noticeable scars.
One afternoon, Jojo arrives home to what he thinks is an empty house, but soon he hears movement upstairs. He goes to investigate and makes a shocking discovery.
His loyalties are soon divided and he must make some tough decisions…
This is Taika’s sixth feature film and the story is based on the 2008 book, “Caging Skies”, written by Christine Leunens, an American/ New Zealand/ Belgian author.
It was her second novel.
The film starts with screaming girls, in love with their idol, with a soundtrack of ‘Komm gib mir deine Hand’/ ‘I Wanna Hold Your Hand’ by the Beatles. Such was the adulation of Adolf Hitler during the War, it’s compared to Beatlemania to show the scale of following he had and the frenzy that surrounded him.
Some people might feel a tiny bit apprehensive at the use of such subject matter in a film but the story is fairly light-hearted and doesn’t portray Hitler as anything but childish and impatient. Taika’s Hitler is one who acts as a confidante to the young Jojo and listens to his problems but his suggestions are not always welcomed.
The film has a fantastic cast, ably led by young Roman Griffin Davis. This is his first acting role in a movie and he really does an amazing job. He’s so good in ‘Jojo Rabbit’ and you can definitely see a long career in his future. Another brilliant actor is Archie Yates, who plays Jojo’s best friend, Yorki. He almost steals the whole film, he’s very funny and once again it’s also his first role in a movie.
And Taika? #legend and fantastically funny as always.
If you love Taika’s films then you will no doubt love this one too. It’s definitely already a front runner in my top films of 2020 and I reckon it’ll probably make my Top 10 list at the end of the year. Go see it!
Overall: 9/10
