Jojo Rabbit

It is amazing what the human mind is capable of when it is still in its childlike and innocent state. 

It is this very thinking that led director Taika Waititi to direct, produce and play a starring role in the film Jojo Rabbit. 

Set in a time when your race determined if you were off an elite class of human, or if you were sent off to Auschwitz, the 2019 film follows a young boy named Jojo as he is a Nazi fanatic and has the infamous Adolf for an imaginary best friend. Jojo then stumbles upon new revelations that could change everything for the young man, being disfigured due to his own rash decisions, realising he is kinder than he realised by being unable to kill a bunny, and discovering a young Jewish girl living in the secret space in their house.

The young girl's name is Elsa, and her remarks and witty comebacks really showcase not only the great acting done by Thomasin McKenzie, but also how resilient and strong the Jewish race had to become in order to survive such devastations.

The entire film is a genius manner in which to use comedy to speak about a very sensitive subject matter. And while the movie made me laugh out loud, it also made me tear up, an impressive feat to be done in the same film.

I believe the director was speaking to us (the audience) about more than just Germans and Jews, Nazi and Prisoner. I believe he was speaking to us about our mentality when it comes to playing the race game.
I mean it's easy to say that certain stereotypes follow certain people and that is why we choose to not associate ourselves with them. It's easy to discriminate a person based on the genetic features that were given to them that don't fit into your preconception of beauty. But it is another thing entirely when a person is able to look beyond their small-mindedness and try to know the human being behind the race.

So many things have been going on that call our basic sense of humanity into question. And honestly instead of us debating on this side or that, let us take a que from Jojo himself and say a 'Fuck off' to our childish ways of thinking and instead embrace the stereotypes and pains of our race. After all, not all stereotypes are bad, and some would have led to good places and in creating you, the mind of you that you can choose to keep believing the old tales of your grandparents, or you can find out the truth for yourself by making a friend.