The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (1:34) 2008

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is the story of two boys in wartime Germany. Bruno is the eight old son of the German Commandant of a concentration camp. Shmuel is an eight year Jewish boy who is a prisoner of the camp. Bruno lives with his family in a rural area. He and his older sister, an ardent supporter of the cause,  have a tutor as there are no schools nearby. Lonely and missing his friends, Bruno escapes the family residence through a gardener's storage shed. After taking a walk through a wooded area, he comes across a clearing surrounded by barbed wire. There he meets Shmuel, a boy wearing pajamas. Bruno thinks he is one of the strange farmers, Shmuel doesn't understand why he has been moved to the camp. The boys begin a friendship not understanding why they are supposed to be enemies. This is a very quiet and very emotional film. The entire cast is wonderful but Bruno and Shmuel give riveting performances. This is the second time I've watched this movie and the ending is just as heart wrenching as the first time. In the United States, eight grade students study the Holocaust. This is a movie that families should watch together in support of the unit of study.