OVP: Jojo Rabbit (2019)

Film: Jojo Rabbit
Stars: Roman Griffin Davis, Thomas McKenzie, Taika Waititi, Rebel Wilson, Stephen Merchant, Alfie Allen, Sam Rockwell, Scarlett Johansson
Director: Taika Waititi
Oscar History: 6 nominations/1 win (Best Picture, Supporting Actress-Scarlett Johansson, Film Editing, Costume Design, Production Design, Adapted Screenplay*)
Snap Judgment Ranking: 3/5 stars

"Death is easy, comedy is hard" is a cliche, particularly one that associates itself with the Oscar season.  This is a bit unfair-death, cinematically-speaking can be hard too, but it's correct to assume that there are more tears cumulatively in the Best Picture lineups in Oscar's nine decades of existence than laughs.  Oscar generally shies away from comedies, and when he does go there, it's with a movie that has some sort of deeper meaning.  This is probably why Jojo Rabbit has so quickly caught on as an Oscar contender-it's comedy (occasionally quite funny), but it's one with a darker motif.  It's also the sort of film, similar to the movies of Mel Brooks and Wes Anderson, that you're either going to like or not like, and do so with a firm post in the ground.  Jojo, as I was leaving the theater, is the kind of movie I could see people quickly proclaiming "loved it-one of the year's best" and the person sitting next to them proclaiming "I HATED IT!" leading to tumultuous conversations on the car ride home; this might be the most "love it or hate it" film of the year, in fact.  What did I think of it, however?  Read on...

(Spoilers Ahead) The film is told almost completely (I can recall maybe one scene that doesn't include him) through the eyes of Jojo Betzler (Griffin Davis), a young, small boy who is bullied by his larger peers and is currently in a Hitler Youth camp.  Unlike what you'd expect from most films of this ilk, young Jojo adamantly believes in the Nazi cause, to the point where he's adopted "Hitler" as his imaginary friend (Waititi).  This Hitler, though, is the Hitler as imagined through the eyes of a 10-year-old boy who has no concept of the prejudice he has been indoctrinated into, and frequently talks & acts just like Jojo, serving as a sounding-board and a reiteration of the prejudice that Jojo will inevitably overcome as he learns that his mother Rosie (Johansson) is harboring a young Jewish girl named Elsa (McKenzie) in the walls of their house.  Jojo begins to befriend Elsa, and as a result his pal-like conversations with "Hitler" become more adversarial, as he confronts his prejudices while also realizing the hard realities and costs of war.

The movie toes a very thin line, as does any movie that deals with issues as sensitive as war, bigotry, and the Holocaust...while still fighting to be a comedy.  It's clear that Waititi had studied both The Producers and Hogan's Heroes before making this picture, as both are obvious influencers.  The Hitler Youth camp has the likes of Sam Rockwell, Alfie Allen, and Rebel Wilson all doing their best impersonations of Colonel Klink, and "Springtime for Hitler" is certainly what is informing on Waititi's performance.  But the movie is riddled with one-liners (they recruited an ace crew of actors who all have impeccable timing) and Waititi is hilarious.  Physically broad (there's also bits of The Great Dictator here), Waititi's work is a scream, with him playing Hitler as a scared little boy, but with always just enough malice that you can see the damage to Jojo's belief system that's being done by this war and the Nazi propaganda that's being forced onto his young mind.

The film isn't perfect.  Sam Rockwell's Nazi is too conveniently kind (it's implied to at least some degree that he and Alfie Allen's Finkel are in a clandestine romantic relationship), and we don't get enough of an examination of the cruelty of the Nazis (there's no obvious figure in this movie that you are supposed to hate, save perhaps Stephen Merchant's Deertz, and he's only in one extended scene).  There's also some "twee-ness" that you'll have to get over if you have allergies to such things as I do (the musical numbers have caught the most derision from people who disliked the picture).  But I generally liked Jojo Rabbit, and this is not my wheelhouse in terms of genre (Wes Anderson & Mel Brooks are people I get, but will probably never adore).  I'm going with 3 stars because almost a week after seeing the picture I like it more than love it, but know that it'd be a 3.5 star film if I did halves.  This could well be a Best Picture contender, so I suspect it was already on your radar, but don't let your friends' opinions inform you here-Jojo is going to be a hit-or-miss feature for film fans, but I think it will be on a lot of people's #1's considering the bold humor, strong supporting performances, and unexpected depth in the film's ending.  It's worth checking out.