Jojo Rabbit Book & Movie Review
If A Haunting in Venice gets a Razzie for least accurate adaptation while still using the character names as source material (and basically nothing else), this gets an award for making the darkest book source material the most accessible in movie form (the award is called Best Adapted Screenplay at the 2020 Oscars). Jojo Rabbit is still a dark movie, but falls into the dark comedy realm. I read Caging Skies before watching Jojo Rabbit (but was aware of the movie) and I was stunned that someone would be able to turn this horrifying novel into a comedy. Before watching it, I read that Waititi got the idea from his mother who read the book and told him about it. I was floored by the adaptation and where he was able to take the story. It really does feel like a story someone heard and updated for their own usage rather than a direct read and it works! Author of Caging Skies, Christine Leunens shared that she loved the adaptation and the care that he took.
If you’ve only read the book: Please watch this film! Please let Taika Waititi cleanse your palate. There are many differences from book to movie, but I found them all neutral if not positive. The addition of Waititi himself as Hitler was a fantastic change that brought a lot of humor to heavy subjects, but my favorite change was Johannes himself — staying forever the young Jojo instead of…
