Mike Roseingrave said:
The tracking shots of Bruno running through the forest, arms outstretched, are wonderfully innocent. So innocent, you know something bad is coming.
Come the bad, however, I got the feeling my morality had been fiddled with. Sure, it is Bruno's story, and it is sad, but I can't help being conflicted at having to feel for his situation, for his family, especially his father, who is certainly no innocent. By centering on their distress, and treating the hundreds of undeserveds about to die as background – let's face it, even had Bruno got out, they would still die – is a little warped, no?
I teach English here in the Netherlands and part of my literature course for 15/16 year old students is reading this book and extensively comparing it to the film. The things you mention are the problems my students always have with the film as well. The book is told solely from Bruno's perspective, you get into the mind of an eight year old boy and that's what makes you understand him and care for him. It's basically a fable about friendship and death set in a gruesome historical setting. If you haven't already, I urge you to read the book, it is amazing.
That's very interesting, thanks Dirk. I wondered whether the film skewed the original intent. I shall add it to my reading list.
I could not agree with the warped reality argument more if I tried. This film made me physically ill because it felt very Nazi-sympathetic to me, and yet the ending still utterly crushed me. I almost can't tell exactly what the point of this story is more: to highlight the tragedy that was the Holocaust, or to hijack the audience into feeling something that they ultimately never wanted to feel in the first place.