Childhood is the most innocent period of a human beings entire life. We can also say the same about animals but I figured that they are innocent throughout their lives, be childhood or adulthood. The timely decency of humans is so that a child will see every aspect of their lives in that period with a true intention, without being biased. For them blue is blue and red is red, a yes means yes and no is no.

I have always been fascinated by the stories which involve characters aged below 10. I feel easily connected to those characters, such amazing is their presence. Recently, I happen to come across the movie ‘The Boy In The Striped Pajamas’. It is a story set during the World War II through the eyes of an 8 year old boy Bruno. It relates to the genocide of the European Jews in the Nazi concentration camps.

The film starts with a scene where Bruno is seen running and playing with his friends in the streets of Berlin. We also see some people being pushed into the back of a truck, which seems like a military truck, along with their belongings. The scene depicts a cold and sad atmosphere amidst which Bruno is running happily unaware of the tension in the air.

There is a difference in the understanding of the current situation between Bruno and his family which is visible in the next scenes. Bruno’s father is a military officer who is in charge of a concentration camp and has to move to the site with his family. His family however is not aware of what happens in the concentration camps.

Bruno’s mother is disgusted when she comes to know of the truth but cannot do anything to stop it. She only tries to save the innocence of her child. Bruno’s sister, Gretel who is 13 years of age supports the propaganda fed to her by their tutor and lieutenant who was on duty at their house. Later on we also see her hanging propaganda posters and telling Bruno that she has given up dolls because “dolls are for little girls”. Her purity of being a child is taken away by the state.

But Bruno does not understand the true nature of the situation and people around because of his childish innocence. He calls the camp uniform pajamas and the camp prisoners farmers. He had the same feeling when he met Shmuel while exploring behind his house.  However, after hearing stories and witnessing certain situation Bruno is forced to question his beliefs. Is his father a good man? Are the Jews not really people? Are they evil? Is Shmuel an evil? But every time his innocence is saved somehow.

The most interesting part of the movie comes when Bruno meets Shmuel, a Jewish kid who is a prisoner in the camp, but not for Bruno. Bruno tries to be friends with him as any other kid would but Shmuel is scared as he knows that he is not allowed to do this, because of who he is. The conversations between Bruno and Shmuel are the closest Bruno gets to understanding the situation. But Shmuel on the other hand is another innocent kid who has not got the clarity of the situation. All Bruno could get was that Shmuel is a new friend he made from the farm who is always hungry and plays some kind of game as he has a number on his pajamas. Such a good friend was Bruno that he promises Shmuel that he will help find Shmuel’s father who was missing from the camp, and he does helps his only friend, by sneaking inside the camp. Whether he was successful or not is a different story.

I felt everything or character was related to the subject of innocence. Everything comes back to innocence. That was the single concentrated theme of the movie. In today’s world of ignorance here is a story which gives us the required doses of innocence. A promising watch I can say.