Evil holds a strange and terrible appeal to young Jojo (Roman Griffin Davis) in Taika Waititi’s brilliant satire Jojo Rabbit. It looks like Hitler. It talks like Hitler. It rages like Hitler. As a figment of Jojo’s 10-year-old imagination, der Fuehrer is the embodiment of cool to the Hitler youth movement during World War II. Yes, the same way that Donald Trump’s bravado and blustering appeals to so many alienated, isolated, angry white men and boys in America, so too did Hitler pander to those who felt that their needs were being sidelined to make way for those outsiders who come to take everything that they believe belongs to them.
There is nothing as terrifying in memory as Adolf Hitler and his army of meth-head Nazis who seemed to never even stop to sleep as they charged through Europe blowing everything up. Gathering up and disposing of “undesirables” in his quest to preserve the master race, Hitler terrorized the world until he was beaten down by the greater forces of good. Yes, goodness will ultimately triumph in Jojo Rabbit, where the entire war is played out in the heart and mind of Jojo himself. He’s been taught to hate. He’s taught that hate is the answer to the fear and loneliness he feels—until he learns that hate has created that fear and only love can heal his loneliness.
It takes two women to break Jojo out of the spell Hitler has cast upon him. They do it with love and patience and common sense. These two actresses who embody his salvation are Scarlett Johansson as Rosie, the resistance fighter and Jojo’s mother, and Thomasin McKenzie as Elsa, the young Jewish woman hiding in his attic. What Waititi does with these two roles for women deepens the story immeasurably. It goes beyond just the Bechdel test, to exemplify how to put two women in a story where their conversations truly matter. Waititi’s screenplay shows how much thought-provoking interactions between women can matter, not because they talk about their own empowerment but because they talk about universal human values like tolerance, compassion, and freedom.
Consider this scene between them:
Rosie: “In the end that’s all you really have—hope. That your only remaining child is not just a ghost.”
Elsa: “Perhaps we’re all ghosts now, we just don’t know it.”
Rosie: “Perhaps. You’ve lived more lifetimes than most.”
Elsa: “I haven’t lived at all.”
Rosie: “You’re being challenged. They say you can’t live, that you won’t live. If that comes true, then they win.”
Elsa: “They’ve been winning so far.”
Rosie: “They’ll never win. That’s the power you have. As long as there is someone somewhere alive, then they lose. They didn’t get you yesterday or today, then tomorrow is the same. Hey, tomorrow must be the same.”
It is scenes like this, between these two women, that infuse Jojo Rabbit with the message that personal struggles can be the engine that drive society’s evolution.
There are stories to be told that reach beyond the singular American experience of dissatisfied lives, films that care about more than a search for individual contentment— films like Parasite, like 1917, and like Jojo Rabbit have bigger ambitions to fulfill.
While we watch Jojo and Hitler bumble around together trying to inflate their insecurity with cliches of masculinity, we see how their efforts just come across as silly. We laugh because all the swagger amounts to nothing but pathetic nonsense. Nazis were crude and dumb, Hitler was stupid and cruel. The thing that humiliates such men the most is to be mocked and laughed at. Men who are so easy to ridicule should never be allowed to have power over anyone ever.
Jojo Rabbit does what all great movies do — it takes you places that you never expected. As we follow Jojo on his journey we are quietly rooting for him to see the light, because we, like the two women in his life, know that he isn’t evil incarnate, he is merely scared and wants to be a man — the only man in his family, now that his father has gone away. When he experiences his first romantic infatuation, he wants to be a man — the only man — with Elsa too. But of course, at the age of ten, he’s not able to be the man that he desperately wants to be. He has a lot of growing up to do, and we get to witness it happening when Jojo at last rejects evil. He does grow up. He does tell Hitler to fuck off and eventually he does help Elsa find freedom.
In the film’s final glorious moments, in an ending for the ages, Jojo and Elsa greet the sunlight of the first day of a new Germany, ready to rebuild from all that is broken and ruined. As the brave American soldiers glide on by with a flag of liberation waving, Waititi reminds us of the America spirit that the world once respected. The America that kicked the Nazis off the face of the planet. That is who we were 75 years ago, and it’s who we must become again. “if they didn’t get us yesterday or today, then tomorrow is the same.”
Finally, as Jojo prepares to say goodbye to Elsa and they greet the new world that is their responsibility to reassemble from the wreckage, they really don’t know what to do. So they dance. Not only do they dance but they dance to David fucking Bowie’s Heroes. In German, but of course.
Why do they dance? They dance because it’s one of mankind’s purest expressions of freedom. They dance because they can. Because they’re alive. They dance for Rosie. They dance because they’re happy. Jojo Rabbit gives us the gift of happiness and closes with the following Rilke quote:
Let everything happen to you
Beauty and terror
Just keep going
No feeling is final
Taika Waititi has gifted us with Jojo Rabbit just when we need it most. It is one of the best films of the year.
Finally saw it. Total masterpiece, even better than Life is Beautiful. Despite thinking 1917 is the best (and Jojo the runner up) I have seen this year, I think we, as society, NEED Jojo to win Picture, Supporting Actress, Adapted Screenplay, Film Editing and Costume (that fantasy uniform by Sam Rockwell’s character alone, deserves it). We need this film to win, and to win in a big way (cinematography is impossible, because that is 1917’s).
hopefully – if weather allows it, unlike on my last free days – I will be able to see it, this Friday. Really can’t wait
” Jojo Rabbit gives us the gift of happiness”
Not so fast. It wasn’t all jokes and kisses. There was this one really sad scene that really upset me and after that I was bummed for the rest of the film. So the ending did very little to cheer me up. It was a bittersweet ending at best, not a happy one, especially if, as you suggest, Elsa and Jojo go separate ways, when it was painfully clear he wanted her to stay with him, now that he was alone in the world, which is particularly ironic since he didn’t want her around at first and at the end he doesn’t want her to leave.
Yeah, that was a weird comment. It’s an extremely sad film.
The animal lover in me, was traumatized by the bunny scene. It tainted my entire outlook on the film due to being upset by that. For anybody who has that as a trigger, watch it on DVD where you can skip that 1 scene
You’re right, but that’s not the scene I was speaking of (I meant the moment Jojo finds his mother’s body in case that wasn’t clear). I assume that sort of horrible thing would happen in that sort of camp so I can’t blame the film for being honest about it, the same way I can’t blame the film for showing the horrors of war and the price to pay for those who condone it, even though it’s always a fine line to walk when making a comedy with such tragic aspects, but I certainly disagree with those who play up its Oscar chances claiming it was a feel-good film with a happy ending.
My most recent viewing of this greatly increased my esteem for it. Thinking of it less as a comedy (although some parts are very funny) and embracing the sadness of it. It’s a powerful film.
great article! here’s hoping Jojo Rabbit gets supporting actress (I realize this is a very very long shot)
I’m rooting for this wonderful film to win the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay .
I simply loved Jojo Rabbit. The cast is fantastic too!
Results – 9th Annual Best Picture Preferential Ballot Simulation:
First off, thanks again to everyone who voted!
Actual votes collected from these places (other threads were posted to but got no replies), over 3-4 days:
http://movie-awards-redux.freeforums.net/thread/15056/annual-picture-preferential-ballot-simulation – 26 votes
https://www.awardsdaily.com/2020/01/24/plot-twist-film-critics-suddenly-invested-in-the-oscars-they-used-to-say-meant-nothing/ – 16 votes
https://www.awardsdaily.com/2020/01/23/dga-preview-part-two-a-deeper-dive-into-the-stats/ – 12 votes
https://www.awardsdaily.com/2020/01/25/directors-cinematographers-sound-mixing-and-scripters-winners/ – 6 votes
https://www.awardsdaily.com/2020/01/23/david-fcking-fincher-awards-brad-pitt-his-modern-master-award-at-sbiff/ – 1 vote
https://www.awardsdaily.com/2020/01/24/predictions-friday-dga-asc-cas-scripter/ – 1 vote
60 votes in total this year. Fewer than in previous years (75 last year) – I maybe didn’t have time to post the request as often or as many places as I did other years. Still, this should be enough to get a good idea. 25 votes collected from Movie Awards Redux, 35 from Awards Daily. I suspect two people (not naming names – unless asked to) may have voted both places, as both their usernames and ballot rankings were extremely similar (one or two neighboring entries, tops, switching places towards the bottom of the ballot, in each case, with the rest being identical), so I only counted one ballot for each, just to be safe. There were also two 100% identical ballots at Movie Awards Redux, but from different usernames, so I have to assume that’s more likely than not just a coincidence – therefore, both were counted, in that case.
So, as usual, something interesting happened… As mentioned in the announcement, the stakes here were more about what would get second place, not because Parasite was obviously always going to win (it almost won on the first round, in fact, something that has never been even remotely close to happening before, as far as I can remember – it needed two more votes to do so, although it should be noted that it then took no fewer than four elimination rounds to get there, to over 50% of the votes, so maybe the preferential ballot isn’t so much its thing, necessarily), but because the last six runners-up (or, in Three Billboards’ case, the movie that tied for the runner-up position) in this simulation all lost the Best Picture vote at the Oscars as well and, more importantly, were in fact also the likely/stats runners-up in the Oscar race (Gravity, Boyhood, The Revenant, La La Land, Three Billboards and Roma) – twice, losing to the movie that also beat them in this simulation (Birdman, Moonlight), and the other four times to some other movie the internet wasn’t as taken with…
For the record, again, the history, with this year’s results added:
2011 The Social Network —– details not saved (second place was Black Swan, I believe)
2012 – not held –
2013 Zero Dark Thirty ——— 37-24 over Silver Linings Playbook
2014 Her ————————– 33-33 tied with Gravity, won 19-18 on total first place votes
2015 Birdman ——————– 62-61 over Boyhood
2016 Mad Max: Fury Road — 51-37 over The Revenant
2017 Moonlight —————— 41-32 over La La Land
2018 Phantom Thread ——— 39-33 over Call Me By Your Name *
2019 The Favourite ————- 45-30 over Roma
2020 Parasite ——————- 46-14 over The Irishman **
* Three Billboards was tied for second place with Call Me By Your Name when it got eliminated in third (on tiebreaks/which of them collected a higher percentage of the other’s votes).
As can be seen, Parasite had the biggest winning margin ever, by far – being ranked higher than second-placed The Irishman on more than three times as many ballots. This is not a big surprise – a bit of a surprise (to me, at least) is, perhaps, The Irishman finishing so high in the rankings… What this huge margin for Parasite means is difficult to say. I don’t think there’s any clear-cut conclusion to be drawn about whether it’s a good sign for its Oscar chances or not. We’ll find out soon enough.
** Now, the (other) interesting thing that happened was that, while 1917 was not tied for second place with The Irishman at the time Parasite managed to surpass the required 50% of the votes (with only these three remaining), it was ranked ahead of The Irishman on exactly as many ballots as not, overall, meaning 30/60 for both, therefore, with Parasite out of the picture (and assuming they would have also survived past the eliminations of the other movies in that scenario, as they did here), the two would have finished in a tie for first. But The Irishman did have (a lot) more first place votes in Round 1, so it should be considered the clear second place finisher. Nevertheless, perhaps it is worth noting that both I and my mother would have ranked 1917 ahead of The Irishman (for me it’s very close, but I have an official ranking of what I’ve seen so far and 1917 is ahead in that – both are on the fringes of my top 10 -, plus I gave my ranking before, in the announcement), so, had we seen all of the movies required and thus been able to vote, as at least one of us (usually both) has every other year, 1917 would have had more of a claim to coming in second place. (Also, both of the ballots I ruled out due to being too similar in username and ranking order also had 1917 higher than The Irishman.)
So, long story short, we probably can’t say 1917 was either second or tied for second in this, but it came about as close as it could have, and that might not be totally irrelevant. Again, we’ll know in a bit… As usual, the round-by-round breakdown of the results:
Round 1:
Parasite 29
The Irishman 9
1917 5
Little Women 4
Marriage Story 4
Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood 4
Jojo Rabbit 2
Joker 2
Ford vs. Ferrari 1 out!
Round 2:
Parasite 29
The Irishman 9
1917 5
Little Women 4
Marriage Story 4
Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood 4
Joker 3
Jojo Rabbit 2 out!
Round 3:
Parasite 29
The Irishman 9
1917 6
Little Women 5
Marriage Story 4
Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood 4
Joker 3 out!
Round 4:
Parasite 29
The Irishman 9
1917 8
Little Women 5
Marriage Story 5
Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood 4 out!
Round 5:
Parasite 30
The Irishman 10
1917 8
Little Women 6 out!
Marriage Story 6 out!
Round 6:
Parasite 39 winner (>50%)
The Irishman 12
1917 9
After adding 1917’s ballots:
Parasite 46
The Irishman 14
Nice review, Sasha. It’s a very charming and earnest movie (also a very funny one). I’d have no problem at all if it won Best Picture, though I’m sure it would lead to a hell of a backlash.
Although, let’s face it, anything that wins will lead to a hell of a backlash. If I were a producer, I think I’d rather fall just short of winning Best Picture than actually take the prize.
There is no major backlash against any of the three frontrunners (Parasite, Once, 1917), and there won’t be if any of them wins. Just because a few people are complaining on the internet doesn’t mean there’s any “backlash” worth caring about. There are always people complaining on the internet and there always will be.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d064adab741779887837f937e3970667d6863600d97baedaf337e7b3bd540bc9.gif
Love it
It’s kind of funny when you post this GIF, because you’re basically calling Scarjo’s performance in Jojo Rabbit robotic. I actually thought the performances were one of the great aspects of Jojo Rabbit. But Scarjo is WAY better in Marriage Story.
She was SO good in Marriage Story. Shame she probably won’t win for it. But she’s at the very least now a 2 time Academy Award nominee.
Thanks for interpreting what I wasn’t even remotely trying to say. I used that ScarJo gif because it was the only under 5 mb, but hey, the world of film criticism awaits you with open arms.
Chase. I was kidding! I thought it was a funny coincidence to point out! I was serious however about the performances being one of the greatest aspects of Jojo Rabbit, and that I thought her performance in Marriage Story was better despite being great in Jojo too.
Beautiful reactions and advocacy for this really special movie. I can’t wait to see it again. There’s so much to experience and process, as well as just enjoying the humour but being guttered too by it’s reality and implications. Such a rare duality in a cinematic venture. Hard fought and won. It will be one of my favourites of the year.
This movie was much better than I thought it would be. To maintain that tone, light hearted among horrors, without going apologetic or low brow humor, a very thin line. I’d have put the girl in the Best Supporting Actress race as well.
I would actually argue she’s borderline lead. Sure he is the primary lead but I could make a case that it’s almost as much her story as his and that she does a lot of the heavy lifting in the film!
Jojo Rabbit is good but my least favorite of this year’s Best Picture nominees. It started off great and very enthralling. But then the last 30-45 minutes really dragged on and on and on. I don’t get the mad love for it in the AwardsDaily comment section.
Well, I agree with the last sentence in your post.
The odds for Tarantino winning best director are very Low now! Few days ago bookmakers had Tarantino at 10 now they have him at 2,60. What is going on? Are you all sure Mendes is winning director?
Yes we are sure Mendes is winning.
Mendes is absolutely winning. No question about it.
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’s my favorite film of 2019, but Sam Mendes has Best Director in the bag.
Has anything changed in the odds for Mendes? He will almost certainly win.
Yes and bookmakers had Old Town Road favored to win Record Of The Year last night. How’d that turn out? Don’t ever be led astray by odds and pundits. Most are fools.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/dd0cb674d2f1f19c624a665ed8d2082c74f4e3f90bfbfb50f3052c0a408905c0.gif
Yeah, but they’re right most of time.
No. They’re. Not.
With the acting categories, yes. You could make the case they get Best Picture wrong because of that tricky preferential ballot. But remember on Gold Derby a couple years ago when every expert had Gary Oldman winning back in October of 2017, and that never changed between then and the Oscars?
Acting categories are easy, though, at least by the end.
Did they get Colman right last year? The stats did…
They might be excellent at the acting categories early on – that I can’t speak to, as I don’t follow odds for those that early.