Taika Waititi has found one of his stars for Jojo Rabbit in Scarlett Johansson. The two will team up for the movie that will be directed by and also costar Waititi as the imaginary version of Adolf Hitler. Yes, that sounds like it might be kind of a caricature, but guess what, it is. This film is going to be set in the WWII era and will focus on a young boy whose father has left and whose mother is hiding a Jewish girl in their home. The boy will aspire to be a part of Hitler’s regime, and as a result will imagine a version of Hitler as his unseen friend what will guide him through the darker times in his life.
You can imagine Waititi, who has already shown his amusing and funny side, will be able to put a spin on der Fuhrer that will make him less threatening and more of a, dare I say it, likable version of the mad dictator. To many that might seem like an impossibility, especially those that lived through such times, but it might also seem like kind of an insult to the same people. But many should at least be able to empathize with a young boy living in a world filled with propaganda that tells the people how to think, how they should act, and who the real enemy is. Wait…..that seems to be happening already, but not in Europe like it used to.
Johansson’s part will be the mother of the boy and as he’s gearing up to believe in what Hitler is teaching and the hatred that is being culminated for the Jewish community his mother is busily hiding a Jewish girl in their home. This is just one of the many things that history tells us that people were imprisoned or shot for, so it is without a doubt that this will add a level of tension to the movie that it might need to stay afloat. Making Hitler into a ‘likable’ figure even for a movie seems kind of risky on the part of any director, but Waititi is determined to make it happen and to make this movie something that is not comical but is revealing in a way when it comes to human nature and how easy it is to influence such a thing. The honesty of that fact is horrifying really when one thinks about it and the number of atrocities that have been carried out due to massive numbers of people following the whims of one or a few people in order to appease those beliefs that they might not have had if not for those same leaders.
History is filled with those people that have managed to sway the masses and invigorate their followers with rhetoric of the type that divides and conquers others rather than uniting them with other nations, countries, and peoples. This film will no doubt raise a few eyebrows but it should also help to highlight a few misconceptions as well.
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