Cory Massimino

Review: Jojo Rabbit (2019)

September 13, 2020 by Cory

★★★★★

Jojo Rabbit is a coming-of-age story about a 10 year old indoctrinated into the most violent and morally horrific cult in world history. Hitler literally lives inside his mind, a simultaneously disturbing and hilarious illustration of the psychological power Nazi ideology and, in particular, Hitler’s inspiring rhetoric, zeal, and charisma held over millions of people.

Finding humor in even the darkest of tragedies is both incredibly difficult and incredibly vital. Jojo Rabbit manages to balance its complex tone with care and approaches its subject matter with the utmost thoughtfulness and nuance. The tragedy depicted in this film is not so much the brutal physical violence we all know the Nazis perpetrated, but the brutal *mental violence* the Nazis also perpetrated; the brainwashing of innocent children like Jojo.

Nazism is revealed to be a kind of empty performance Jojo was acting out in order to feel important and significant in life. His slavish devotion to Hitler manifests as a sort of abusive, yet darkly humorous father-son dynamic. Nonetheless, superior moral influences in Jojo’s life ultimately prevail:

1) Rosie, Jojo’s mom, a fundamentally good person caught in impossible circumstances. Rosie is dedicated to resisting Nazism in every way she can, whether it’s leaving “Free Germany” messages around town, hiding a Jew in her attic, or softening the hard edges Hitler Youth Camp imposed on her son. Rosie ultimately shows her son what’s actually worth dying for; not domination but liberation. The winsome optimism with which Johansson plays the rebellious Rosie makes for such a compelling, complex character and I think it’s her best performance yet.

2) Captain Klenzendorf, Jojo’s Hitler Youth Camp mentor and competing father figure to the imaginary Hitler. He is complicit in many of the evils of Nazism, yet strangely compassionate. He risks his life to protect the Jew in their attic and later saves Jojo from the other soldiers by denouncing him as a Jew. Redeeming a Nazi even slightly is a challenging aesthetic task and a bold choice, but Waititi understands that the term “inhuman” doesn’t actually apply to evils perpetrated by humans; that even those who perpetrate the worst evils are still human beings. Only Sam Rockwell could pull off a likable Nazi. He delivers an amazing performance that fully captures the complexity of his character.

3) Elsa, the hard-willed Jew hiding in Jojo’s attic who teaches him that even ugly things deserve love and that Jews aren’t so bad after all. Elsa’s character is a very welcomed departure from the “model minority” trope; she actively defends herself against Jojo, steals his knife, mocks him, and refuses to entertain his insane Nazi conspiracies about her. But Jojo nonetheless comes to see her humanity because he has an undying innocence and morality buried underneath the transparent Nazi exterior he’d built up before meeting her and which she slowly tears down.

After a series of tragic realizations Jojo realizes the lofty promises of Nazism were totally empty and instead looks for meaning in his relationships. This hard fought repudiation of all things Nazi is accompanied by the real-world defeat of the Nazi regime. Jojo ultimately matures, develops a better sense of self, rejects Nazis ideology, and kicks Hitler out of his mind and out of the window.

While Jojo is freed from Hitler’s mental control, his new Jewish friend is freed from Hitler’s physical control, now permitted to roam the streets like an actual human being. Against the backdrop of rubble and destruction, and with their newly earned freedom, the first thing Jojo and Elsa do together is, of course, dance to David Bowie.

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