Louis Trachtman

My wife and I just saw this movie. We could see why it is called a comedy, but really it so much more than that. It is a moral tale, set in a reality of time and place. Some scenes make you laugh out loud - the German shepherds brought in by the not too clever German soldier, the costumes of the boys collecting scrap metal, the antics of the Nazi Youth instructor facing his job only with the help of whatever is in his flask - presumably whiskey. Other scenes make you tear up - the discovery of his mother by Jo Jo hung as a traitor, the saving of Jo Jo from being killed by the Russians by the same Nazi Youth instructor dismissing Jo Jo as a Jew to be spat upon, the sighting of the vehicles with troops carrying an American flag by Elsa as she steps outside the house of hiding for the first time in who knows how long. The movie is a masterpiece!