DIR: Taika Waititi • WRI: Taika Waititi • DOP: Mihai Mălaimare Jr. • ED: Tom Eagles • DES: Ra Vincent • PRO:Carthew Neal, Chelsea Winstanley, Taika Waititi • MUS: Michael Giacchino • DES: Mayes C. Rubeo • CAST: Roman Griffin Davis, Thomasin McKenzie, Scarlett Johansson, Taika Waititi
At the tender age of ten, with the war raging around him, Jojo (Roman Griffin Davis), a somewhat gentle child, decides to become a committed Nazi. His dedication to the cause is further compounded by the fact that Adolf Hitler (Taika Waititi) is his imaginary friend. Jojo Rabbit – the moniker ‘rabbit’ is added to his name after he refuses to kill a rabbit while attending a camp for Hitler Youth.
One evening, Jojo arrives home and hears sounds coming from upstairs. He investigates the noises and encounters a young Jewish girl, Elsa (Thomasin McKenzie), whom his mother (Scarlett Johansson) has hidden behind wooden panelling in one of the bedrooms. So begins a relationship that is at odds with Jojo’s fanaticism. As Jojo stresses, most fervent Nazis would turn in any Jew they encountered, but he convinces himself that he can learn more about these alien people by asking Elsa if she can educate him about Jewish culture. By way of revenge, Elsa throws every stereotype at Jojo as he painstakingly logs her musings with drawings and comments.
Davis excels in the role of his young life as a Mein Kampf-thumping acolyte to Waititi’s OTT Hitler. McKenzie plays Elsa a little intensely at first, but her character begins to take form, and it becomes apparent that beneath the brazen defiance lies a frightened teenager. Casting for the entire film was so apt that I could not imagine anyone else playing their individual roles – Fräulein Rahm (Rebel Wilson) as the hesitant yet impulsive youth leader, along with the campy, hard-drinking, disenfranchised, and embittered Captain Klenzendorf (Sam Rockwell), accompanied by his adoring sidekick Finkel (Alfie Allen).
It is a huge (and brave) undertaking to make a comedy-drama about such a topic as Nazism, an unfortunately timely concept with the present rise of the far right. This made even more difficult by resisting the urge to allow the saga to descend into slapstick in order to minimise such a weighty topic. But Waititi achieves this goal with a master’s ease, one who can be confident of his craft.
Jojo Rabbit is one of the most innovative and comedic films I have seen in some time.
Michael Lee
Jojo Rabbit is released 1st January 2020
