Based on the book Caging Skies by Christine Leunens, the comedy-drama film follows Johanness “Jojo” Betzler (Roman Griffin Davis) – a ten-year-old Hitler Youth boy whose two most beloved people in the world are his kindly mother (Scarlett Johansson) and Adolf Hitler, whom he perceives as his imaginary friend (Taika Waititi). One day, he’s shocked to discover that his mother is harboring a Jewish girl named Elsa (Thomasin McKenzie) in their attic. Unable to turn her in, since doing so would put his mother in trouble, he reluctantly makes a deal with her. In the following days, as the Allies inch closer to Nazi Germany, Jojo frequently converses with Elsa, coming to know her better. And in the process, he starts questioning his long-held beliefs.
Revolving around a controversial subject matter like Nazis, there’s the risk of Jojo Rabbit becoming distasteful, exploitive, and cringey. But Waititi pulled it off. He clearly had a thoughtful vision for the movie. The satirical spirit of the presentation, paired with smart writing and direction, makes the film a success. Not only did Waititi conceive extremely witty Nazi-themed jokes, but he also manages to find and mock what’s inherently ridiculous and ironic about Nazi doctrines without normalizing or glossing over their evils.
Moreover, like all good satire – and it’s an excellent one – Jojo Rabbit has insights worth of serious thought underneath its humorous spins. Through Jojo’s amusing coming-of-age arc, it teaches a lesson on the invaluable role of conversation in developing empathy, overcoming differences, and curing ignorance, hate, fear, and prejudice; the necessity of respecting and celebrating life; and the pre-eminence of embracing truth, showing kindness, and doing the right thing.
With that in mind, I think it’s not a stretch to say that the satire works because Jojo is an apt, well-written main character – not only charming and fully realized, but also young and comically immature. He starts off as a heavily indoctrinated Nazi, absorbing whatever is taught to him without basic, careful discernment. This could be an obnoxious character trait on its own, but it isn’t with him because his blind zealousness is rooted on an adorably naïve gullibility that’s natural with children. Thus, the version of Nazism he believes in is juvenile, absurd, and over-the-top, which is embodied by the cartoonish, buffoonish Adolf Hitler he imagines he can see and talk to. On top of that, he’s also come to develop ludicrous, fantastical notions about the Jews. In other words, the benevolent ideas he has to deal with are mostly caricatured and harmless. Still, the nuanced writing permits the weight of their real-life malevolence to remain a detectably implicit presence. As a result, Jojo’s arc – the heart of the film’s satire – accomplishes to be blithely comedic as well as validly edifying as it is.
In addition, the movie is not only remarkably funny, but it’s remarkably touching as well. It’s even heartbreaking at one point. This aspect complements the satire by driving home the points that may have been impossible through just lampooning. Meanwhile, it’s also worth noting that the film’s emotional core – or, at least, much of it – evidently lies with Jojo’s mother, which ScarJo portrayed with praiseworthy magnetism and earnestness.
All in all, if it isn’t obvious yet, I really love Jojo Rabbit. And in my opinion, it might even be an actual masterpiece.
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