Jojo Rabbit (2019)

JOJO RABBIT  (2019)  ¢ ¢ ¢ ¢
    D: Taika Waititi
    Roman Griffin Davis, Thomasin McKenzie, 
    Scarlett Johansson, Taika Waititi,
    Sam Rockwell, Rebel Wilson, Archie Yates
This is a movie I almost didn't see, because I didn't see how anybody could possibly pull it off: a coming-of-age fantasy/war movie/Holocaust drama in which Adolf Hitler provides comic relief. It's set in Germany late in the war, and the protagonist is a ten-year-old boy named Johann (or Jojo), whose career in the Hitler Youth comes to a quick end when he refuses to kill a rabbit and then almost blows himself up with a hand grenade. His mother (Scarlett Johansson) is hiding a Jewish girl behind an upstairs wall in their house, his best friend Yorki (another ten-year-old) ends up in the army, and Jojo, with help from his imaginary pal Adolf, tries to remain loyal and steadfast as it becomes increasingly clear that the war is going to be lost. Another complication: He's falling in love with the Jewish girl. It starts out as a slapstick black comedy, but there's a lot more going on than laughs at the expense of the Führer. At a time when right-wing nationalist movements are slithering out of the muck everywhere, it's not a bad thing to be reminded, even in the context of a dystopian fairy tale, what can happen when the fascists take control. And with Hitler himself representing the dark side, it's no accident that the girl in the attic, played by Thomasin McKenzie, bears a passing resemblance to Anne Frank.