The Boy in the Striped Pajamas Response

No matter how many times you watch The Boy in the Striped Pajamas it will move you every time. The amount of emotions that I went through when watching that movie is incredible. However, after watching all these propaganda pieces over the last semester, this one seems to tie it all together. The perspectives have changed in everything we have watched, and now we see the story from a young boy named Bruno.  As much as you want to love Bruno, you can't stand that his father is a brutal Nazi soldier running a concentration camp. 
As we see Bruno is forced to leave his best friends because his family is moving, and it is all very relatable. That's what makes it hit home. Innocent Bruno moves into his new house and is desperate for friendship and adventure. Right in his new backyard he thinks he sees a farm, and is very confused why people working in the farm are all wearing striped pajamas. Eventually he learns that those people are Jews, and though his teacher and sister and pretty much everyone in his life are pressing how terrible Jews are, he can't find it in himself to hate Jewish people. He is secretly forming a friendship with them, from having them right in his backyard. Friendship is so important to Bruno, that he does what he can to feed Shmuel and help him. It is difficult for him to understand the conditions that Shmuel is experiencing. He offers help to Shmuel to find his father, and ends up getting caught in the brutality that his own father is creating. Unfortunately his father's karma is that he loses his own son.  
The worst part about this situation is how accurately it depicted the conditions of the concentration camps. It gets me extremely emotional to be reminded that my own ancestors and direct blood relatives were treated with such hate and brutality by the Nazis in World War 2.  What disgusts me is that even children were brought into this. Shmuel is just an innocent young boy who is being penalized for being brought up a certain way. Bruno is being forced a prejudice on a boy he just wants as a friend. I finally see it from both perspectives. Bruno is just as innocent as Shmuel, they are just being raised in totally different ways. Crazy to wrap my head around all of this, but I am glad we watched this in class because it really does tie everything together perfectly.