Jojo Rabbit, and the survival of innocence.

What's a child doing talking to Hitler?

Nearly 80 years after the end of World War II on August 14, 1945, certain concessions on the satirization of its most bloody events may be permissible, at least that is what Taika Waititi would have deemed pertinent when developing the script and directing a War Comedy film, which he very assertively titled with the nickname his own protagonist received among his first war wounds.

I have not yet begun to outline my perspectives on the film, and already the first “Red Flag” has jumped out at me, but not about this one, but rather about the category in which it is primarily classified.

War Comedy? ...are we really capable of laughing even at something as devastating as war? Well, yes. Apparently, we humans are so incredibly complex and creative that we can find even the most hidden humor in everything, with purposes ranging from the need to evoke deep reflections on issues that would otherwise be too painful to face, in a sort of contextual confrontation that protects the psyche from having to assume a pain that exceeds the limits of what is bearable, avoiding potential traumas, to the possibility of feeding the most disturbing and disturbing perversions. But don't worry. In matters of this cinematic genre, the dye of grace is always oriented toward the first option.

As evidence of the nobility of the intentions of the War Comedy, it occurs to me to present you with a few examples that you may have possibly stumbled upon in your cinematic tastes, and some others, that have been little talked about, and that deserve greater recognition in the filmic chronology of films that narrate the war.

Early Red Flags that soften the drama of the war

For reasons ranging from the scarce resources for the dissemination and safeguarding of works in the early days of cinema, to the multiple attacks that art, in general, suffered throughout history, due to the censorship that silenced potentially subversive messages, that attempt against the cruel regimes; It is not possible to corroborate with absolute certainty which film would have been the first step towards the creation of the War Comedy, however, it is possible to start from “Shoulders Arms” (1918), to get a pretty clear idea about the antiquity of this genre and the context that motivated Chaplin to begin to warn us, with his peculiar humor, of how deeply war could pierce the psyche.

Later, after the seventh art was freed from the oppressive biases, the need to talk about the subject, in a more open and massive way, encouraged the production of films that are eventually presented as transgenerational reminders of the mistakes made in the past, and their catastrophic consequences, so that the indispensable historical retrospective that cinema also allows is not lost.

As part of this heroic purpose, I stumble upon the staging of the rawness of war realism, snuck in as a secondary shot of the jocular vicissitudes of a couple of random Italians in “La Gran Guerra” (1959) directed by Mario Monicelli, and the contagion of musicalization – with what we would nowadays call “trendiness” – of Broadway, in Richard Attenborough's suspiciousness in “Oh! What a Lovely War” (1969), as well as the occasional allusive parody of humanity's greatest war conflicts, presented in “History of the World" (1981), which, under the direction of Mel Brooks, serves as a recounting – I would say even amusingly pedagogical – of the follies we have lived through to get to where we are today.

Let me know in the comments if you've already seen the – much delayed – second part of this anecdotal madness that Brooks finally presented in 2023, and what you thought of it, to see if you'll get me excited to see it too. 😉

I can't culminate this wake-up call, without paying due honors to possibly still the most iconic of all War Comedy works, my much treasured “Good Morning, Vietnam” (1987), which led to Robin Williams earning his own corner of my heart, for all eternity.

Oh, I almost forgot. There are also TV series that have made fun of the rawest conflicts, and although at the moment only a timely German series “Hogan's Heroes” (1965-1971) comes to mind, of which I got to see very few episodes, I am more than sure that the entertainment industries in Asia, must have also developed more than one good miniseries in this regard, so if you know of any, please share their titles with me, to further expand my personal repertoire on this genre.

An infectious-contagious imaginary

Now, yes! Taking a leaping to return to punctual attention calls that "Jojo Rabbit" (2019) has generated in me, I start from its technical assessment – as it has become accustomed to in my cinephile writings – about which I must necessarily highlight the impeccable semiotic handling of colorimetry, which allows the externalization of the emotions that each of the characters is forced to keep silent, as they develop their respective roles within the war context, while that, scenography narrates the impact of the causes and social effects in a more generalized way, eventually reminding us that the story is not particularly centered on a specific child, but rather, that them has been exposed as an archetypal symbol of childhood, innocence and, especially, of the endurance of the psychic, moral and social impacts of war, beyond its culmination and, regardless of who might consider themselves as victors or losers.

Like a highly lethal virus, the intangible dimensions of the various war events spread their consequences much more lastingly and profoundly in societies, than can be compared to material damage, nevertheless, and as if the horrors of the Nazi Holocaust, had been insufficient for the mental destruction of the majority of Europeans of the 20th century, in addition to these consequences, the propagandistic stratagems of the Führer's regime radically established a before and after in the virulence attainable for the justification and maintenance of a war. And therein jumps a new “Red Flag” regarding the communicational transformation that World War II brought, for better or for worse, and the multiple questionable ways in which Jojo Rabbit invites us to reflect through his own relationship with his peculiar imaginary friend, and, the underestimated relevance of the work assigned to him.

What are we laughing at?

As hilarious as the ridiculing of Hitler's image in a child's fantasies may be, I find the alienation that the film tells us, about through this innocent and widespread strategy of self-protection of the psyche deeply disturbing, for, even though it has been represented as a very consistent mental escape, the coherence that this representation shows concerning the ideals in which the child originally believed, is not entirely fanciful, on the contrary, it could be said that “any resemblance to reality .... falls short of what really could have been”.

The survival of mental equilibrium in spite of everything.

Leaving aside a host of other elements, which if I were to talk about I would run the risk of desecrating my personal no Spoiler policy, I am self-censoring myself by taking the opportunity to confess to you that rather than raising a “Red Flag”, Jojo Rabbit, in reality, is a film that sets off all my alarms, because, as the daughter of a not very healthy cross between a "Baby Boomer" of '49 and a "Silent" of '39 who until his death a little less than a year ago, still suffered from an untreated sleep disorder, a product of the sound of bombs at fall, I know that there may still be those who were never able to completely overcome whatever they had experienced in that tragic past, and who furthermore, have been imprinting through their most unconscious behaviors, mental patterns and biases that we still have in force in ours societies.

Nevertheless, Waititi was able to assure us of a space for hope, between the sympathy with which he cushioned the facts in the story of Jojo Rabbit, and his message aimed at evidencing the psycho-emotional resources that allow the reconciliation between the social parties involved in the war, as well as the relevance of the maturity of the Adult Self – Adult State – for the recovery of mental health, through the recognition of personal and collective disturbances that allow their overcoming.

💝 Tell me now about the aspects that Jojo Rabbit made you think about, and what were the “Red Flags” it raised in your mind, or if you believe that the survival of innocence in the face of misfortunes is a sufficient resource for overcoming traumas. 💝

📣 Other good reflective movies

Conclave for necessary changes ✅

Genialidad disléxica en el silencio ✅

Cuando la muerte te lleva “De la calle a Harvard” ✅