Film No 113 (2019) December. 28th. 10.50PM LUNA SX Fremantle.
"Your mother took me in, she is kind, she treats me like a person." ("House guest" Elsa explains to Jo Jo why she is deeply in-depted to his family).
Taika Waititi(Boy,Hunt For The Wilderpeople) takes us on yet another tale of lovability and compassion through the eyes of innocence, in the highly acclaimed Jo Jo Rabbit. Does the film live up to the hype? Yes, in the main, it does!
Roman Griffith Davis is the "boy wonder" playing Jo Jo in this satire on Germany at the end of WWII and their repressive rule over the Jews. Jo Jo has a vivid imagination incorporating a secret friend, that friend being none other than Adolf, played by Waititi himself. Adolf is his conscience played out like a mentor. Jo Jo is ten, naive and brainwashed, as many young minds may have been in Nazi Germany in 1945. So what if Jo Jo with his extreme right wing views happens upon a young jew, Eliza(Thomasin McKenzie) hiding behind a wall of his late sister's bedroom? Well, he's compromised and forced to think in more compassionate terms. Especially seeing his mother (Scarlett Johansson) is the reason Elisa is there.
Jo Jo Rabbit is a simplistic but powerful satire. The subject matter will not be easily accepted by many but Waititi is careful where he pokes fun. He has fun, much fun, but only to enhance his message. A message of goodness enhancing the human spirit. Further evidence that Waititi is a master at directing young talent. Was it W.C.Fields who said something about children and animals? Waititi pays scant regard to such comments. 10GUMS.
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