Info

• Katie As: Rosie
• Other Cast: Roman Griffin Davis, Thomasin McKenzie, Taika Waititi and Sam Rockwell
• Directed by: Taika Waititi
• Written by: Taika Waititi and Christine Leunens
• Release Year: 2019
• Genre: Comedy | DramaWar
• Rating: 12A (usa) / 12 (uk)
• Filming locations: Zatec/Ustek, Czech Republic
• Production companies: Searchlight Pictures | TSG Entertainment | Defender Films

Sypnosis

A World War II satire that follows a lonely German boy named Jojo (Roman Griffin Davis) whose world view is turned upside down when he discovers his single mother (Scarlett Johansson) is hiding a young Jewish girl (Thomasin McKenzie) in their attic. Aided only by his idiotic imaginary friend, Adolf Hitler (Taika Waititi), Jojo must confront his blind nationalism.

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Trailer

Trivia & Facts

• Taika Waititi discovered in his research that WWII Germany was very vibrant and fashionable and was interested in shying away from traditional war films that presented it as dark and dreary. He opted, instead, to present the city as a celebratory place on the surface and dressed the characters as stylishly as possible. He liked the idea that everything seems happy, but just underneath the surface “the third Reich is crumbling, and, you know, the dream is over.”
• When Taika Waititi, who is Maori/Jewish, was asked about why he chose to play the role of Adolf Hitler, he said “The answer’s simple, what better ‘fuck you’ to the guy?”
• Taika Waititi has known Thomasin McKenzie (Elsa) since she was “very, very little” as he’s friends with her parents, from New Zealand’s theater scene. He tasked her with watching Heathers (1989) to give her the vibe he was looking for with the character.
• Taika Waititi described the film as a love letter to his mother, and single parents everywhere: “It wasn’t until I was a grown up and I had kids of my own that I realized ‘oh, these parent people, they make a lot of sacrifices, it’s really hard raising a kid!'”
• The various military decorations that Captain Klenzendorf wears in the film indicate that he’s a heroic combat veteran and not just some administrator or incompetent who’s been assigned to babysit the Hitler Youth, to get him out of the way. He has both the Iron Cross 1st and 2nd class (both awarded for personal acts of heroism), a bronze close combat clasp (signifying that he’s fought in a minimum of 15 hand-to-hand engagements), a silver tank destruction badge (awarded for individually destroying an enemy tank with a hand-held weapon), and a gold wound badge (meaning that he’s been wounded in combat at least 5 times).
• Taika Waititi did no research about Hitler, saying that he is a “f*cking c*nt”.
• Scarlett Johansson is also Jewish.
• The cast includes two Oscar winners: Taika Waititi, Sam Rockwell, and one Oscar nominee: Scarlett Johansson.
• Several of the actors have played major characters in Marvel movies. Scarlett Johansson was Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow in multiple films; Taika Waititi (who also directed the film) is the character Korg in Thor: Ragnarok (2017) and Avengers: Endgame (2019); Sam Rockwell is Justin Hammer in Iron Man 2 (2010); and Stephen Merchant played Caliban in the X-Men spin-off film, Logan (2017).
• Sam Rockwell and Scarlett Johansson appeared in Iron Man 2 (2010) together.
• When Elsa asks Rosie what being a woman is like, Rosie answers her and mentions taking up lovers in Morocco and making them suffer. This looks to be a reference to Casablanca (1942), where Ilsa had two lovers in Rick and Victor Laszlo who both suffered in different ways.

Box office

• Budget: $14,000,000 (estimated)
• Opening weekend US & Canada: $349,555Oct 20, 2019
• Gross US & Canada: $33,370,906
• Gross worldwide: $93,598,180

Goofs

• When Rosie and JoJo are eating dinner, JoJo taunts his mother and pulls the dish of bread to himself and takes a slice. The dish moves back and forth to its original spot with no bread removed.
• Jojo’s eyebrow with the scar changes from the eyebrow being shaved around the scar to not shaved and also in between these extremes.
• When in the woods with the rabbit, Jojo’s cap position is not consistent.
• The first time Elsa is seen in the attic her hair looks greasy, stringy, and unkempt. the second time she is seen, a few movie-seconds later, her hair looks clean, not stringy, and freshly brushed.
• When Jojo first goes into the hidden place in Inga’s bedroom, he pulls a flashlight from his right pocket. However, in the previous shot (and when he first entered the house), the flashlight can be seen clipped to the back of his belt on the left-hand side.
• At 36 minutes: Finkel has his hand on his mouth before cutting to a shot where both his hands are at his side.
• Hitler mentions the July 20th assassination plot and how he survived which happened in 1944 but later JoJo’s mother is elated that the allies have liberated Italy which happened on September 3rd 1943 at the Armistice of Cassibile.
• Finkel’s position during the walnuts-on-the-map scene is not consistent. He goes from having one hand on the desk and the other on his waist, to eating walnuts all of a sudden, back to his initial position, then to having both hands on the desk.
• Despite it being in the later stages of the war, and being the fact the city Jojo is in is next to Nuremburg, there is not a single bomb dropped on the city, nor is there any sign of bombing throughout the film. Which by 1945, would make no sense due to the fact that Allied bombing had effectively flattened the entirety of Germany.
• Rosie smears ashes on her face to simulate a beard. Moments later, she touches the white tablecloth with both hands yet it remains clean. Either she washed her hands between cuts or, more likely, the ashes/beard were applied by the makeup artist – Rosie’s back is to the camera, so we never really see her smear the ashes.

Quotes

[Rosie and Jojo come upon six people hanging from a gallows in the town square]
Jojo Betzler: What did they do?
Rosie: What they could.

Rosie: You’re growing up too fast. Ten-year-olds shouldn’t be celebrating war and talking politics. You should be climbing trees and then falling out of those trees.
Jojo Betzler: But the Führer says when we win, it is us, young boys who will rule the world.
Rosie: Pfft! The Reich is dying. We’re going to lose the war and then what are you going to do, hmm? Life is a gift. We must celebrate it. We have to dance to show God we are grateful to be alive.
Jojo Betzler: Well, I won’t dance. Dancing is for people who don’t have a job.
Rosie: Dancing is for people who are free. It’s an escape from all this.

Elsa Korr: I don’t know anything about being a woman. Is that what it is? You do things like drink wine?
Rosie: Sure. You drink. Champagne if you’re happy. Champagne, if you’re sad. You drive a car. Gamble if you want. Own diamonds. Learn how to fire a gun. You travel to Morocco. Take up lovers. Make them suffer. You look a tiger in the eye. And trust without fear. That’s what it is to be a woman.

Rosie: [exasperated] Where are all the goddamned knives?

Rosie: [Jojo has told her that he hears the ghost of his dead sister upstairs] You’ve lost your mind. It’s sadder for me though, because I have to live with a crazy person.

Rosie: Jojo, you’ll know when that happens. You’ll feel it. It’s a pain.
Jojo Betzler: In my arse, I bet.
Rosie: In your tummy. Like it’s full of butterflies.
Jojo Betzler: Yuck.
Rosie: Yeah, yuck. Come on, Shitler, let’s get a move on.

Tech specs

• Runtime: 1h 48m(108 min)
• Color: Color
• Sound mix: Dolby DigitalDolby AtmosSDDSDTS:X
• Aspect ratio: 1.85 : 1