Taika Waititi is certainly pretty fearless as a movie creator. He took Marvel’s lamest property, and somehow made it their most exciting in one film. So what’s his follow up? Naturally, playing Adolf Hitler! Jojo Rabbit uses an imaginary Hitler to teach a loopy lesson about tolerance and empathy. It’s pretty crazy, but also pretty reward thanks to Waititi’s sure hand.
Jojo (Roman Griffin Davis) is raised by a single mother (Scarlett Johansson) – Jojo’s dad is in Italy – in Germany during the Nazi Regime. Desiring companionship, Jojo joins the Hitler youth, becoming so involved in the group that he starts imagining Adolf Hitler (Taika Waititi) is his best friend, who he talks to and bounces ideas off of. After an accident, Jojo spends lots of time by himself, writing a book about evil Jews. Problem is, he’s never met one…until he opens his walls and meets Elsa (Thomasin McKenzie), a Jew on the run from the Nazi regime.
The first half of Jojo Rabbit is pretty bitingly funny, mocking the total cruelty of a youth brainwashing program like the Hitler Youth. Lecturing to children about the merits of throwing a bomb or murdering a rabbit like an afterschool special is just going to sound funny, especially delivered by an indifferent Sam Rockwell as the leader of the camp. Even more funny is Waititi’s Hitler and his conversations with Jojo, which find the right tone between silly and acerbically witted, weaponizing Waititi’s writing and his great facial expressions. Subtly, underneath all the funny, Taika lays the emotional framework of the movie at the same time. These jokes are all fun and games….except they almost always end in violence or cruelty which the director plays seriously in the moment and then eventually gets back to silly. Jojo’s real identity also gets revealed in a series of one on one relationships with his mother, Elsa, and his 2nd best friend Yorki (Archie Yates). Jojo’s not a Nazi believer; he’s a boy thirsty for companionship and love.
And with a pair of shoes, Jojo pivots into a more serious movie as the plot thickens. The cloud of war and a ruthless Nazi regime bear down on the morally conflicted Jojo and his family/friends. All those emotional ties and themes Waititi had set up the first act start to pay off continuously as the Allies march into Germany. Waititi’s Hitler starts to become more crazy and cruel to Jojo as his relationship with Elsa deepens. Much like the Grinch, we see Jojo’s heart grow from all the love he gets exposed to earlier in the film, and we finally start really rooting for him. By opening his heart, Jojo starts to see others open their hearts to, helping life the veil of hate from even hardened Nazi believers. Waititi must be an optimist…
With malice toward none, with charity for all, Abraham Lincoln one said. That message must have made it to New Zealand where Taika Waititi is from. His Jojo Rabbit is a lovely reminder to everyone out there to look past someone’s surface and look deeper, and try to make a connection. Even the littlest deeds of kindness can help someone at their most vulnerable. Props Jojo Rabbit, I’m gonna smile at everyone I see now, because everyone deserves to be shown that they’re loved, and capable of loving.