Movie summary and what you should know about JoJo
“Stop offering me damn cigarettes! I’m ten!” — Jojo Betzler
This movie was taken place in the second World War where Adolf Hitler was in charge. But, the story was not about Adolf. Instead, it was about a boy named Jojo Betzler who was a big fan of Hitler and wanted to become Hitler’s personal guard.
Starring Roman Griffin, Scarlet Johannson, Taika Waititi, Thomasin McKenzie and many others, you would see a different way of a movie that recounted the history of Holocaust. Rather than a sad and depressing, this movie was full of comedy yet, full of lesson.
Movie summary
Jojo Rabbit (2019) was a story of a kid named Jojo Betzler (played by Roman Griffin) who really wanted to become Hitler’s personal guard. He was Hitler’s biggest fan and had an imaginative friend, Fuhrer, (played by Taika Waititi) who apparently resembled a fat version of Adolf Hitler.
Jojo was a soldier and he was ten. He joined a Youth Program for training where he was taught how to handle weapon, military drills, and these ridiculous ideas about Jew. Despite of his desire to become Hitler’s top guard, Jojo was told as a soft and kind-hearted boy. The story got more interesting when Jojo found out a Jew teenage, Elsa (played by Thomasin McKenzie), was hiding at his house.
Jojo never tried to report Elsa. As they became a friend thought that Jew was not that bad. It was explained in tge movie how Elsa got in and apparently it was Jojo’s mother, Rosie (played by Scarlett Johansson), who let Elsa get into their house.
Rosie was told as a free-spirit and love to dance. Unlike Jojo, she was never been a fan of Nazi. She was also secretly taking part in the Resistance Movement which eventually got herself killed at the end of the story, leaving Jojo by himself. Surprisingly, war was over not long after that. Now, as it was safe to come out, Jojo had to choose whether to tell Elsa or not.
The movie ended with a goofy dance by two of them which was really cute. As you watch, you would see another characters who played an important role in this movie.
Based on true story
On the second World War, we all know how bad and wrong the Holocaust was. Around 6 million European Jews were killed as the result of Nazi policies. The one who lucky enough could hide in the German’s people house until the war was over (like Elsa’s case who actually inspired from a true story).
The director, Taika Waititi who also played in this movie, created Jojo Rabbit after reading a book called Caging Skies which based on a true story of Jew man who became a friend with a German woman while he was in hiding at her family house. The German woman ended up being the acquitance of the author, Christine Leunens, who told her the story and inspired her.
Conclusion
For conclusion, I felt like this movie had left me with so much joy. I just love Jojo as a character. His sweet relationship with his mother and how he met reconciliation with Elsa. I’m also amazed by Taika Waititi who could bring this authentic story alive. The movie was epic, and so the story.
Jojo was the center of this movie and Roman Griffin really did a good job on presenting his role. Gonna miss him as a sweet Jojo who really loves his mother so much.
If you are looking for a comedy and historic movie to watch on Saturday night (which what I did), I recommend you to check this movie out. You just cannot not fall in love with all the characters (there are few more characters that I didn’t mention in this writing). It was about love, friendship, and this comedy that made it really fun to watch. (Do not forget the hilarious dialog throughout the movie as well).
Moreover, this movie has also won several awards such as Movie of The Year (AFI Awards 2020) and Best Adapted Screenplay (Academy Award 2020).
Last but not least, I would like to appreciate Scarlett Johannson for her role as Jojo’s mother. I think she just rocked her character as Rosie!
P.S
I put a link of a article below. It’s a article of the author, Christine Leunens being interviewed. If you’re interested in watching this movie, reading this article might help you to understand the movie better.
