Jojo Rabbit (2019)

In my rush to see more Academy nominees, I once again chose what was playing at a good time and was not a remake. I went in thinking, "Well, the title suggests a lighthearted comedy...but it's about Nazism? This isn't the Mel Brooks era." When I saw the name Taika Waititi, I understood. Turns out he wrote the screenplay back before What We Do in the Shadows.

In 1945 Germany, ten-year-old Johannes (Roman Griffin Davis) avidly joins the Hitler Youth, but his refusal to kill a rabbit at boot camp earns him the titular mocking nickname. In his attempt to make up for it with awesomeness, he wounds himself enough to be relegated to non-combat work near his urban home. One day, he discovers Jewish late teen Elsa (Thomasin McKenzie) hiding in a secret passage within his house, but he doesn't dare tell anyone, partly because his abetting mother, Rosie (Scarlet Johansson), would get in serious trouble. (I'm not sure why Elsa persuades him not to tell even Rosie.) For the sake of knowing the enemy better, "Jojo" demands that Elsa share information on Jews in general, to be put into an illustrated book. You can guess how his mind changes during research.

As victims of oppression go, Elsa is no meek lamb or angel. She's in no hurry to disabuse Jojo of his Borat-like notions about Jews, quite willing to threaten his life to protect her own. You'd think this would greatly hinder his turnaround, but perhaps he picks up on how tongue-in-cheek she is. With no compelling evidence that she's anything worse than human, he develops unusual feelings for her considering the age difference. Elsa grows aromantically fond of him in turn, perhaps with the help of knowing that he's lost family too: She was his late sister's friend, and his father went M.I.A.

Not much of this sounds remotely funny, right? Well, the humor comes mainly from the highlighted irony of the vibrant yet rotten and clearly soon-to-fall Nazi culture, not least with Jojo's supervisors, the disenchanted Captain Klenzendorf (Sam Rockwell, playing another redeemable bigot) and the overenthusiastic Fräulein Rahm (Rebel Wilson), along with nerdy peer Yorki (Archie Yates). It also plays fast and loose with history, with a brief revelation of clones and a German cover of "I Wanna Hold Your Hand." And hey, maybe the fake German accents will tickle you.

Probably the funniest element of all is Waititi himself as Hitler himself—or rather, Hitler in Jojo's imagination, unseen by other characters. He's usually quite chummy with Jojo and a bit playfully juvenile, like an older brother, until Jojo starts straying toward Elsa. I hadn't been this amused by a Hitler imitation since The Great Dictator (sorry, Mel).

Nevertheless, while the movie avoids the concentration camps, it doesn't shy away from straight-up tragedy at times. By the third act, comic elements manifest seldom and with a darker shade. I'm a little surprised the MPAA settled for a PG-13. The ending is ostensibly happy but uncertain.

JR won't likely win Best Picture, nor should it. But I am glad to see a Waititi film so honored, and it might as well be this one.