Altering the Solid Core of Our Beliefs

Back in fall 2019, I was attending a conference in New Jersey. During some down time, I went to explore the city, ending up at the mall. While there, I walked into a theater and watched Taika Waititi’s Jojo Rabbit. Ever since I saw the trailer, I wanted to see the film. The film received mixed reviews in regard to its portrayal of Hitler, the Holocaust, and World War II. As a fan of dark, absurd, and over-the-top comedy, Jojo Rabbit immediately appealed to me, and its portrayal of Johannes Betzler as a young, naive boy sucked into Nazi propaganda and infatuation stood out because it detailed, through Johannes, the transmission of hate. I didn’t realize it, at the time, that Christine Leunens Caging Skies inspired the film. When I found that out, I wanted to read Leunens’ novel, and I recently got around to doing just that.

I felt uncomfortable, at numerous points, reading Caging Skies. I despise Johannes because he abuses Elsa throughout the text, lying to her and justifying his actions to himself just so she will remain with him. While in the film Johannes stays about ten years old and Elsa about sixteen, spanning no more than a year or two, the novel takes place over close to a decade. Johannes discovers Elsa when he is about fourteen or fifteen and the novel ends around 1949 when he is twenty-two years old. Following the war, Johannes lies to Elsa, telling her that her life…