Arts & Entertainment

A Holocaust Fable

Harry Potter producer makes a film about forbidden friendship.

Naomi Pfefferman

Jewish Journal of Greater L.A.

T

he Boy in the Striped Pajamas
isn't the sort of film one might
initially expect from David
Heyman — the British producer who
bought the rights to the Harry Potter
books in 1997 and steered the film fran-
chise to become the highest grossing in
cinematic history.
Harry Potter, of course, is the epony-
mous, bespectacled orphan who attends
the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft
and Wizardry and battles the evil Lord
Voldemort over the course of seven books
and five films so far (three more are
expected by 2011). The fantasy movies are
set in an elaborate magical world filled
with giants, sorcerers and all manner of
special-effects beasts.
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, based
on a book by John Boyne, by way of con-
trast, is set during the very real historical
period of the Holocaust.
The story is told from the perspective
of 8-year-old Bruno (Asa Butterfield),
who is chagrined when his father (David
Thewlis, who plays Remus Lupin in the
Potter films) takes over as commandant
of a remote labor-turned-death camp. The
sheltered Bruno has no one to play with in
his new environs and so is fascinated by
the children working on what he perceives
as a "farm" far away in the distance.
Overwhelmed with boredom and curios-
ity, he disregards admonitions to refrain
from exploring the back garden and heads
for the "farm',' where he meets Shmuel, a
Jew his own age who lives a parallel, if alien,
life on the other side of a barbed-wire fence.
Bruno's innocent questions about the
camp lead to a forbidden friendship that
has devastating consequences for both
boys.
Although the milieu — which includes
barracks and a gas chamber — is light
years from Hogwarts' fictional world,
Heyman noted some thematic similarities.
The Potter books are filled with meta-
phors for racism and ethnic cleansing
— including characters who refer to
wizards as "pure-bloods;' "half-bloods" or
"mudbloods" (a racist slur meaning mixed
or non-magical parentage). The Boy in the
Striped Pajamas "explores issues of preju-
dice and ignorance — and ultimately,
compassion and empathy," Heyman, 47,
said in a telephone interview from his

London home. "It's about how
one engages with people who
are 'other' — who are on the
opposite side of the metaphori-
cal fence.
"I think a child's window
into the world of the Holocaust
is interesting and unique he
added of Bruno's perspec-
tive. "There has only been one
Holocaust on the scale of what
happened in Europe in the 1930s
and 1940s; but there have been
many holocausts since then, and
some are going on today.
"The point, for me, is about
learning from history. And I
think this story, which is so
affecting in its novelty and sim-
Jack Scanlon as Shmuel and Asa Butterfield as Bruno in The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
plicity, can resonate today."
Heyman said he also was
drawn to Boyne's novel because "people
or Cambridge after graduation, Heyman
2007's Harry Potter and the Order of the
who fight adversity and struggle to over-
chose to come to the United States to
Phoenix, in which 15-year-old Harry
come difficult situations fascinate me.
attend Harvard University, where, he said,
secretly trains classmates to fight the
Shmuel, obviously, is a heroic character; but he was better able to study a broad range
genocidal Lord Voldemort and his hench-
I think that Bruno having the courage to go
of liberal arts.
men, the Death Eaters.
against what his father decrees is perhaps
He soon found himself working as a
He adds he did not set out to make a
courageous in its own way."
studio executive in Hollywood and segued
movie that dealt more directly with the
Heyman's own family story involves
into producing; but, by 1996, he had tired
Holocaust, but then another unpublished
the overcoming of adversity and is set, in
of Los Angeles and decided to return
manuscript — a book now titled The Boy
part, in Nazi Europe. The producer's Jewish
to London to found his own company,
in the Striped Pajamas: A Fable — arrived
grandfather, Heinz Heyman (the original
Heyday Films, and to make movies that
in his office around 2005. The John Boyne
spelling may have been Heymann), was an
did not reflect what he calls "a ubiquitous
book would go on to become an interna-
economist, newspaperman and broadcaster Hollywood sensibility."
tional best seller (sound familiar?).
based in Leipzig, who was one of the last
A voracious reader, Heyman intended
Heyman said he was "so moved by the
announcers to speak out against Hitler in
to focus on adapting books: "They provide story — and thought it was a very inter-
early 1933. He was on the radio; the author-
great source material because authors
esting and fresh perspective on a topic
ities came for him, and he had to bicycle
have distinctive voices and because books
we've seen so often before."
out of Germany,' the producer said.
are a concrete 'thing' you can send to
Some observers have criticized the book
Heyman was 6 when his grandfather, by
movie executives!'
(and now the movie) for trivializing the
then a renowned British print journalist,
Heyman set up a modest office above a
Holocaust, but Heyman hopes the film will
died. His grandmother Hania, who encour-
music shop in London, where, in 1997, a
lead viewers to become interested in the
aged David's love of authors such as George
colleague chanced to read a review about a subject in general.
Orwell and I.B. Singer, was a passionate
not-yet-published novel, Harry Potter and
"I hope they will go on to read books
supporter of the State of Israel and took her the Philosopher's Stone (its British title)
like The Diary of Anne Frank:' he said.
grandson, from age 6-12, to visit relatives
and asked for a free copy. "I read it and fell
there every year. David Heyman's childhood in love Heyman said. "The book talked
home was as steeped in cinema as it was in
about loyalty and friendship and courage
literature; his parents were film producers
and trust, which I most certainly related
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is
who worked with and entertained celebri-
to. And it was the story of an outsider
scheduled to open Friday, Noy.14,
ties such as Richard Burton, Elizabeth
— an orphan, Harry — who must over-
at the Maple Theatre in Bloomfield
Taylor, Julie Christie and Richard Harris.
come adversity"
Township. (248) 263-2111.
Heyman did not become bar mitzvah
Heyman promptly interested Warner
Editor's Note:
when he turned 13 (his mother is not
Bros. in the project and won over author
The first 50 people to e-mail
Jewish); in fact, he attended the presti-
J.K. Rowling with the promise that he
Enter.moviecontest®gmail.com (put
gious Westminster School (with a physical would remain faithful to her story and
"Striped Pajamas" in the subject
presence reminiscent of Hogwarts) under
characters.
line) will be e-mailed a printable
the auspices of the Church of England.
The producer sees parallels with World
admit-two pass for a screening 7
When his classmates went off to Oxford
War II in the most recent Potter film,
p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 11, at the Maple.

❑

November 6 • 2008

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