Jojo Rabbit (2019) By Taika Waititi | Movie Review

Jojo Rabbit was an unusual movie for me but in the most hilarious way. The movie was written and directed by Taika Waititi. He also plays Adolf Hitler in the movie. Jojo got nominated for six academy awards and won the award for best adopted screenplay. The movie is about a ten-year-old German boy named Jojo Betzler.

The story happens nearly at the end of World War 2. Jojo only has two friends, Yorki and his imaginary friend Adolf Hitler. Jojo thinks that he is a true Nazi and his imaginary friend always reminds him of that. Throughout this movie they make fun of Nazis a lot but in a really meaningful way.

In the first scene he goes to a Nazi training program conduct by Captain Klenzendorf for a weekend. Before he goes to that training camp, we can see that his imaginary friend Hitler motivates him in a really funny way. Then during his training, Jojo had to kill a rabbit to prove that he is a true Nazi. He couldn’t do it so the rest names him Jojo rabbit.

Then Adolf motivates Jojo that he can do anything so he gets too motivated and runs and grabs a live grenade from Captain Klenzendorf’s hand and throws it. Then it hits a tree and comes back to Jojo. Then it explodes. Because of that Jojo’s face and leg gets injured. Then because of his injury, he won’t be able to go to war.

Then later, his mom gets him a job at an office for kids so he would feel useful. His supervisor at that office is Captain Klenzendorf. He got demoted because of what Jojo did in his camp. But Jojo’s mom makes sure that Jojo feels useful around the office by hitting Captain Klenzendorf in the balls and slapping him and saying it’s his fault her son is a cripple and has a hideous up face. Then she goes to work.

Then later on, Jojo finds out that his mom is hiding a Jewish girl named Elsa inside their house. He gets scared because it’s illegal and is punishable by death for aiding a Jewish person. Then his imaginary friend tries to convince him to give her up but Jojo slowly starts to get close to her. Throughout this process, he tries to tell his mom that he knows her secret but he couldn’t.

We can see that Jojo knows nothing about Jewish people by the questions he asks that girl. He thinks that Jewish people can hypnotize Germans. Then Jojo starts to write a book about Jewish people because Captain Klenzendorf says that it would be a good thing. So he makes an agreement with Elsa which is, if she helps him write that book, he won’t give her up for the Nazis. At first Elsa says that all Jewish people are demons who loves money.

She says things like that just to mock Jojo. And she also says that Jewish people are allergic to cheese, bread and meat. But Jojo realize that she was joking about that. Then he notices that one day, his mom Rosie wouldn’t eat her dinner. She says that she is not hungry. He realizes that she was saving her dinner for Elsa.

Then after some time, a team of inspectors comes to Jojo’s house when Rosie wasn’t there. This team was led by Captain Dreetz. Then right after they comes inside and starts their inspection, Captain Klenzendorf come in and says that his bicycle got a flat tire. Then he introduces himself to Dreetz and asks them why they are here. Dreetz says that it was just a routine inspection.

Then they hear a sounds from upstairs. Then when they go there to see what that sound is, they see Elsa. She was pretending to be Jojo’s dead sister. Then when they ask for her papers, she manages to find Jojo’s sister’s papers. Then Captain Klenzendorf looks at it and asks Elsa when is her birthday. She says first of May. Then Captain Klenzendorf says that’s correct and after that,  all of them goes away.

Then when Jojo goes upstairs, Elsa was shocked. When he asks why, she says that she guessed her sister’s birthday wrong. That means Captain Klenzendorf knows that she was Jewish but didn’t do anything.

Then the next day when Jojo was walking around the town, he sees that there were several people hanged in the middle of the town. His mom was among them. It was the saddest moment of the movie. Then he runs to her and grabs her feet. There was nothing he could do. Then he stays there till evening and when he goes home, he tries to stab Elsa because she was the reason his mom died. But he couldn’t do it.

Then after some days, the final day of the war arrives. The Russians were attacking from the front and the Americans were attacking from another side. Then Jojo tries to survive during this shootout. The director manages to grab the severity of this moment in the most memorable and funniest way possible.

I have never watch a movie scene like that. During this moment Jojo was wearing a Nazi uniform. After the war ends and soldiers from the other side was collecting Nazis as prisoners, Jojo finds Captain Klenzendorf. He was wounded but was not dead. He says to Jojo that he is actually a good person. Then he tells him to go home and take care of her sister.

Then he removes Jojo’s Nazi uniform and pushes him away while screaming “Get away Jew” and spits. Because of that, Jojo manages to get away from the Russian army. But before he goes, he sees the soldiers take Captain Klenzendorf away and shoots him dead.

Then Jojo goes to his house and tells Elsa that the war is over. Then finally Elsa manages to go out of the house with peace. Then she starts to dance because the war is now over and Jojo joins her. Then the movie ends.

The movie has lots of Taika Waititi features. Such as unusual but great story, unusual but really funny jokes with dark humor and a beautiful ending. The directing and acting in this movie was marvelous. Taika Waititi managed to make a movie that makes fun of Nazis but in a very serious manner. To me there were no mistakes in this movie and I would definitely recommend this picture to anyone.