A young boy, named Jojo, living in WWII Nazi Germany finally joins the Hitler Youth program he has always dreamed of being a part of. But when he finds out his mother is hiding a Jew in their attic; his Nazi identity is called into question. So Jojo, along with his imaginary friend Adolf Hitler, explores acceptance and some of the problems with blind hate and nationalism during WWII.
What could be controversial about that?
This story, portrayed in the 2019 film Jojo Rabbit and directed by Taika Waititi, grossed $43.9 million and snagged 6 nominations for the upcoming Oscars. But despite the money and the buzz, the story of Jojo and his imaginary Hitler has left audiences divided.
Courtesy: Book my Show
Waititi describes his initial attraction to the project in a recent interview with Deadline, “I never wanted to make something that was very easy, because for me, if it’s too easy, then what’s the point? … Sometimes people say, ‘Oh, it’s divisive,’ but where I come from, ‘divisive’ is not a swear word. It’s a means to create discussion.”
Waititi understood from the beginning that the project was going to raise some eyebrows. “You can’t start with ‘it’s a lighthearted look at the atrocities of World War II.'” He hesitated when approaching producers because the pitch toes the line between impactful and offensive. But Waititi believed the script spoke for itself.
Eventually, the Jojo Rabbit script found a home, but the production company only agreed to do the project if Waititi himself played the childish, over the top, caricature of a character that is Jojo’s imaginary friend, Adolf Hitler. According to an interview with The Guardian, playing Hitler in a film was never a dream of Waititi, but he agreed to do it anyways. “It just felt uncomfortable,” he said. “The clothes were uncomfortable, the glue-on mustache was uncomfortable, and I had to have my hair dyed and straightened, which just made me feel weird all day long.”
Courtesy: Variety
Waititi prides himself on creating a friendly atmosphere amongst his cast and crew, a concept that was immediately hindered by his appearance. “I like to be everyone’s friend as a director, to have a nice familial feel on set, and I’m trying to encourage sharing of ideas and a cool, creative space … but I’m dressed like Hitler. It just changes things, really.” So, he did everything in his power to minimize the amount of time he spent “going full Hitler.” In the interview, he said, “I would take off the mustache whenever I wasn’t in the scene, and I’d wear a hat, and always take off the jacket because you don’t want to be walking around with a swastika on your arm trying to direct kids.”
Courtesy: Vanity Fair
It’s no stretch then to say that this film was a huge risk, and all involved knew it was. Their goal was to use Nazis to represent people who hate and use the absurdity of their actions to satirize bigotry.
In the time that has passed since the premiere of the film, it has been met with mixed reviews. And some question whether or not Waititi succeeded in creating a satire of hate. Those who praise the film agree with Waititi’s reason for making the film. Reviewer Andrea Thomson wrote of the film, “…give me Jojo Rabbit any day, a film which doesn’t deny the worst of what we’re capable of, but still has the capacity to hope for something better.”
The New Yorker, on the other hand, calls Waititi out for “beating the dead horse,” as they say, and going after the easiest target of them all: Nazis. They feel that Jojo Rabbit is taking cheap, easy shots and it would be more effective to go after the more relevant perpetrators of hate today, the people with all the power at the top of the social and governmental structure.
Critics of Jojo Rabbit feel the film failed in its attempts to be an anti-hate film. The message of “see how stupid it is to hate,” has been obscured and become, “Don’t judge a Nazi by its cover— don’t judge Nazis by their uniforms or their allegiances or their declarations or even their actions. Rather, have sympathy for the things that caused these people to act this way. “
Considering this film is set in a historical period, people who actually lived through the events portrayed in the film did not hesitate to share their perspectives. Waititi shared a story, “Someone whose parents were in one of the camps in Auschwitz said to me after a screening, ‘I know this can be a confrontational film for a lot of people but my parents would have loved it. The humor is right up their alley, there’s a lot to be said with this film and it’s a very important film.’”
Courtesy: GQ Australia
Audiences everywhere are pretty evenly split on their views of the film. But love it or hate it, it suffices to say that Taika Waititi was successful in his goal. He made a film that created discussion.
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