I Think I Liked JoJo Rabbit

Robin Ince's Blog

I wonder what twelve year old me would have made of JoJo Rabbit?

When I was 12 years old, Not the Nine O Clock News had a sketch on it about Hollywood backing Lech Walesa’s Solidarity movement in Poland. It spoofed empty Hollywood spectacle and cheesy showbusiness values attempting to purloin some nobility by supporting political causes while having no knowledge or understanding of them. The next day’s classroom was filled with outrage. On the cusp of puberty and hungry to form “grown up” opinions, we entirely missed the point of the sketch and expressed our outrage at Not the Nine O Clock News’ mockery of the Polish trade union movement. We were ready for social media already, but we had to wait another twenty five years to have our misplaced outrage amplified.

And so, I wonder what twelve year old me would have made of JoJo Rabbit?

Peter Bradshaw in The Guardian considered it worth the denigration of a one star review (as did Robbie Collin in The Telegraph). Kevin Maher in The Times gave it four stars. The Standard gave it two stars and The Independent went all the way with 5 stars. The only thing I didn’t find is a three star review. It reminds me of Simon Amstell’s jovial disappointment when one of his Edinburgh fringe shows got a 2, 3, 4 and 5 star review, but no one star to complete the set.

Clearly, there are still boundaries when it comes to dealing with Nazis and anti-semitism. To make any part of it into a comedy, some critics need a level of serious intention behind the whimsy and melancholy or maybe utter absurdity and no message at all. The Great Dictator remains the masterpiece in its ability to create laughter, beauty and have very serious intention, and at a time when many people were unaware or turning a blind eye to the Third Reich’s treatment of the Jewish people. It is still an important film. One of the main criticisms seems to be that JoJo Rabbit is too facile and whimsical in dealing with such a tragic subject.

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I love the work of Taika Waititi. I think Hunt for the Wilderpeople is a masterpiece. 

I am still not sure where I am with JoJo Rabbit, but I think I like it. 

I tried to just sit back and enjoy it, but somewhere in a silent but suspicious part of my mind, I could feel a slight prickle of the skin and stiffness in my posture. There resides the memory of the ten year old watching Kitty: Return to Auschwitz on Thames TV.

There is much to like about JoJo Rabbit. Sam Rockwell essays another of his quirky characters, a German soldier, blind in one eye after a battle mishap, but keen on flamboyant costume design when it comes to war. And Scarlett Johansson has some sweet and playful scenes with child lead, Roman Griffin.

Stephen Merchant, with a pallid face that looks like he has already prised the lid off the Ark of the Covenant, is a ridiculous but still ominous Gestapo officer. At its best, there are moments where Roman Griffin’s scenes reminded me of the sweet nature of My Life as a Dog. If you haven’t seen My Life as a Dog you must immediately. It reminded me that JoJo Rabbit is not a film about Nazis as much as it is about a child becoming aware of the world and its faults, uncertainties and possibilities. If you approach it as a film that is about fascism and its history, I can see why you may be a little more hostile to the narrative.

The anachronistic dialogue is matched with some well used anachronistic music from The Beatles and Tom Waits. I imagine some critics started stripping off stars from the opening credits sequence where the worship of Hitler is compared to Beatlemania, but our fervent desire to idolise is a human quirk that can lead to both screaming mosh pits and fetid political ideology. 

The film also has an intriguingly odd attitude to the German accents used by the actors. 

To me, JoJo Rabbit really found its pace from the entrance of Merchant’s Gestapo officer. It was here that, after the silliness of JoJo’s imagined Hitler and the quirky and whimsical jokes, the real jeopardy was brought into play. From this point onwards, I was hooked and my companion was in tears.

I don’t love JoJo Rabbit as I do Hunt for the Wilderpeople, nor do I imagine watching it as often as What We Do in the Shadows, but I think its intentions are good, its heart warm and its concluding scene an utter delight.

  • After posting this, Mark Kermode kindly saved the day with a 3 star review. Set complete.

Robin will be at the Slapstick Festival and Norwich Playhouse at the end of the month. And ironically, Mark Kermode will be on Book Shambles in a couple of weeks.

Robin Ince is a multi-award winning comedian, writer and broadcaster.  As well as spending decades as one the UK’s most respected stand-ups, Robin is perhaps best known for co-hosting The Infinite Monkey Cage radio show with Brian Cox.  For his work on projects like Cosmic Shambles he was made an Honorary Doctor of Science by Royal Holloway, University of London.

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The Cosmic Shambles Network relies on your support on pledges via Patreon so we can continue to provide great, new, exciting content without the need for third party ads or paywalls.
For as little as $1 a month you can support what we do and get some great rewards for doing so as well. Click the Patreon logo to pledge or find out more.