“The Boy in the Striped Pajamas” tells this terrible history from the point of view of a naive child in a Nazi family. It takes the pure friendship between the two children as the main topic to maximize the cruelty, which makes people don't dare to watch it again. At 29th second of the film comes a quote from John Betjeman: “Childhood is measured out by sounds and smells and sights, before the dark hour of reason grows.” Unlike other war movies, this movie has no heart-wrenching plot, no shell-shocked battlefield, no dead bodies. Instead, it shows audiences the blue sky, the beautiful mother, the happy family, and the pure friendship between the children. This movie has all the elements to tell the story of the beautiful time of children. However, in fact, it has all the details of a brutal historical film: smoke billowing overhead, soldiers snarling and dogs barking.
《穿条纹睡衣的男孩》以一个纳粹家庭的天真孩童的视角来讲述这段惨绝人寰的历史，选取两个孩童之间的纯洁友谊，将残酷最大化，让人不敢再去看第二遍。在电影的第29秒处出现了约翰贝杰曼说过的一句话：“在生命的黑暗滋生蔓延之前，用以丈量孩提时代的是我们的所听所闻所见。”与其他战争片不一样，整部电影没有令人心惊肉跳的情节、没有炮火连天的战场、没有遍地尸体的画面，展现给观众的是蓝蓝的天空、美丽的母亲、幸福的家庭，以及孩童之间纯洁的友谊，这部电影拥有讲述孩童美好时代的所有要素。而事实上，它又有着一部残酷历史影片所具备的细节：浓烟滚滚在上空、士兵的呵斥声、狼狗的叫声。
Two children pushed open the heavy iron door and entered another world where they never been to—the”farm”. They built a friendship through the iron door: in the chocolate and sandwiches Bruno secretly brought to Schmul, in the chess they played across the barbed wire, in the friendship in which Schmul forgave Bruno after being beaten for his timidity... After seeing the officers beating and abusing the Jews, and hearing that the crimes of the Jews did not match what he had seen, the young Bruno chose to cover everything around him with lies.
推开那扇沉重的铁门，进入到另一个世界——从未去过的“农场”。两个孩童隔着铁门建立起了友情：在布鲁诺偷偷带给施穆尔的巧克力和三明治里，在两人隔着铁丝网下棋里，在因为布鲁诺的胆小施穆尔受到挨打后又原谅布鲁诺的友谊里……在看到军官打骂犹太人，在听说犹太人的罪行与自己所见到的完全不符后，小布鲁诺选择用谎言来掩盖周围的一切。
The film sees the tragedy from the point of view of a child, everything seems to be reflected in his dark blue pupils. Sister was brainwashed by the tutor to indoctrinate the thought of Fascis gradually reduced to tragedy, mother can not accept all this day by day tears, so that the tragic atmosphere of the story gradually presented. The hands clasped inside the big iron gate, the pajamas scattered on the floor outside the big iron gate, and the torrential rain, the soldiers who seemed to race against the time leading the wolf dogs to come rushing, but it was too late. Even as an officer, the father could not escape the tragedy, letting his children get lost in the black forest and become one of the burial objects. The tragedy of little Bruno and Shmul was doomed at the beginning of the story. There was always anxiety hidden in the young eyes, and all the concealment around helped them shield the ugliness, so that they only saw the sincerity and beauty between each other. Even at the last moment of stepping into the abyss, they still thought they were taking a bath.
影片从孩童的视角来看待这场悲剧，一切事情仿佛都映在他那深蓝色的瞳孔中。姐姐在被家庭教师洗脑性地灌输法西斯思想后逐渐沦落的悲剧，母亲无法接受这一切日日流泪，使故事的悲剧性气氛逐渐呈现。大铁门内紧握的双手、大铁门外散落一地的睡衣、滂沱的大雨，似乎在与时间赛跑的士兵牵着狼狗狂奔而来，终是晚来一步，即使身为军官的父亲也难逃悲剧，让自己的孩子迷失在黑森林沦为陪葬品。而小布鲁诺和施穆尔的悲剧，大概在故事的开头就已注定，稚嫩的眼神中总是藏着焦虑，周围所有的隐瞒帮他们屏蔽了丑陋，让他们只看到彼此之间的真诚与美好，甚至在踏进深渊的最后一刻，仍以为自己在洗澡。
The bitter age will pass, but there are people who remain in that age forever, forever in that darkness, even if they hadn’t done something wrong. History is bloodstained, like the dead wandering in the middle of the night, always tolling the knell for reality: do not forget the mistakes of the past, peace should be the eternal theme of the world.
时代终会过去，但有人永远留在了那个时代，永远留在了那片黑暗里，即使什么都没有做错。历史是带着血的，像午夜游荡的亡灵，时时为现实鸣着丧钟：不要忘记过去的错误，和平理应是世界永恒的主题。
Author: Wang Ruoxi
Date: November 16, 2022
