Why It Ranks
Jojo Rabbit turned the Third Reich into a comedy and won the Adapted Screenplay Oscar. Waititi playing Hitler is the boldest casting choice of the decade. The tonal shifts from slapstick to devastating are masterful. The shoe scene will destroy you. Anti-hate satire at its most effective.
The Film
Jojo Rabbit is a comedy about a Hitler Youth boy whose imaginary friend is Adolf Hitler, and it won an Oscar. Taika Waititi directed, wrote, and played Hitler as a buffoonish cheerleader for a ten-year-old's ego, using the absurdity to tell a story about propaganda, hate, and the courage required to see the humanity in people you have been taught to fear. Thomasin McKenzie and Scarlett Johansson provide the emotional anchors in a film that earns its tears by first earning its laughs.
Fun Facts
Taika Waititi said he played Hitler as 'what a dumb ten-year-old kid would imagine Hitler to be' — deliberately cartoonish and non-threatening.
Scarlett Johansson was nominated for Best Supporting Actress — she filmed her scenes in just two weeks.
The dancing scene set to David Bowie's 'Heroes' in German ('Helden') was suggested by Waititi the morning it was filmed.
Roman Griffin Davis had never acted before and was selected from over 1,000 children who auditioned.
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