I’m a Taika Waititi fan. I love Boy, and love, love Hunt for the Wilder People. I get so excited whenever he’s got new content out and I was so grateful earlier this spring that my whole family was into Reservation Dogs because it’s so hard for us to find things we all enjoy together. But my absolute favorite is Jojo Rabbit. After Waititi’s involvement in Our Flag Means Death (which I also really enjoyed, btw) I doubt he’d appreciate this analysis of his film about Nazi Germany, but I feel the portrayal of the conflict in the movie and its similarities to what our families are currently experiencing are difficult to miss.
My daughter also loves Taika Waititi (we watched OFMD together,) and I’m pretty sure Jojo Rabbit is also her favorite among his work. If you don’t follow me on Twitter, you may not know that my daughter had a friend from out of state stay for a couple days with us last week for her graduation. This (trans-IDed) friend is unfamiliar with Waititi’s content, and I’d hoped maybe we could all watch Jojo together, but in the end, my kid decided not to risk having her friend around me for any extended period of time. Mind you, I was very careful to not talk about her friend but rather to her so as to reduce the risk of pronoun offense, and I’m pretty sure I pulled this off. The day her friend left, we watched it again. This was our 4th—maybe 5th? time.
SPOILER ALERT: If you have not watched Jo Jo Rabbit, I would strongly encourage you to do so before reading the rest of this essay which is filled with spoilers. Also I want you to have your own experience with this poignant and engaging movie (and would love your response to it in the comments!)