‘The Boy in the Stripped Pajamas’ book review: An introduction to the holocaust
‘The Boy in the Stripped Pajamas’ by John Boyne is a sad, fictional story about the holocaust. But it doesn’t have that gut-wrenching effect as many other fictions and memoirs about the atrocious historical event. Rather, I felt the story downplayed the horrors at times. As far as fiction goes, I wouldn’t say it’s the best representation of the crimes of the Second World War.
It could, however, be a good place to get children started on history. There’s a Netflix adaptation of the novel and it’s much better and nuanced than the book. While I’d recommend children and young adults to read the book and skip the movie, adults could do the opposite.
The story is narrated by Bruno, a nine-year-old, whose father is one of the commanders of Hitler’s army. When his family moves to a dilapidated house near a Nazi concentration camp from a five-storey mansion in Berlin, Bruno struggles to understand why he has had to leave his comfy home and friends behind. He is angry and annoyed. He also doesn’t get why there aren’t other children around to play with.
Then he befriends a boy named Shmuel who lives on the other side of a barbed wire fence and who only seems to wear striped pajamas. Shmuel’s head is shaved, he is thin, and he is always hungry. Bruno visits him often and starts smuggling food and the two become friends.
Unlike other boys their age, they just sit on either side of the fence and talk. Then right before Bruno is to return to Berlin with his mother and sister, he does something unthinkable that shatters his family.
Besides Bruno and Shmuel, there are other characters that give you glimpses of the different aspects of the holocaust. Even Hitler makes an appearance. Boyle’s writing is sparse but conveys a lot. You can imagine the scenes quite clearly. But because the story is narrated by a child, it lacks nuance. However, the innocent voice tugs at your heartstrings and makes you laugh at times. Bruno calls his sister ‘hopeless case’ (whenever she does something he can’t understand and you find yourself rolling your eyes and laughing at the same time) and the things he notices could only occur to a child.
He seems to be a boy you know—inquisitive, stubborn and cute. Stories about the holocaust are always difficult to read. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is no different. But it’s predictable and you sense where it’s going, though the ending will still shock you.
Two and half stars
Fiction
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
John Boyne
Published: 2006
Publisher: Vintage
Pages: 223, Paperback
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39999.The_Boy_in_the_Striped_Pajamas
‘Metal Lords’ movie review: A lighthearted, heavy sounding movie
Too many things happened this past week. Mumbai Indians fans got one of the biggest disappointments of their lives, and so did Manchester United’s loyal followers. Two back-to-back South Indian releases sent Nepali filmmakers into a nationalist frenzy and movie theaters around the country operated for almost 24 hours with midnight and early morning (3am) shows. Among this all, we also celebrated the Nepali New Year.
As the week was heavy, I decided to watch something light, something musical, on Netflix. And what could be better for a metalhead than Netflix’s latest release “Metal Lords”? Written by D.B. Weiss, directed by Peter Sollett and featuring Tom Morello, the legendary guitarist of rock bands Rage Against the Machine/Audioslave as executive music producer, Metal Lords is a coming-of-age movie about a group of misfits who want to rule the world with their hard-hitting music. Think “School of Rock”, but in the present context and a lot heavier.
Glenwood Lake is like any other American high school. Young people from different walks of lives converge there for education. Some are popular for their sports and music choices, while others are bullied for having a different view of themselves and the world around them.
Hunter (Adrian Greensmith) is a facsimile of a high schooler from the 80s—one of the last remaining metal heroes. With long hair and donning sleeveless t-shirts with metal band prints, Hunter is a up and coming shredder who wants to rip the heads off people with his cranked tube amp and overdriven guitars.
Kevin (Jaeden Martell), Hunter’s best friend, bandmate and disciple, is a meek, young, bespectacled lad who thinks he can play drums because he does so for his school marching band to avoid physical-ed classes.
Together, Hunter and Kevin have formed SkullF$cker, a post-death metal duo. At a time when pop and RnB music rule the world as well as their high school, the duo wants to break through with their music. They see the upcoming Battle of Bands music contest in their high school as an opportunity to prove themselves.
But they’re one bass player short and through music ‘seeking and destroying’, they find Emily (Isis Hainsworth) as the perfect match, although her initiation into the band comes with a lot of trouble and changed dynamics between members. Same goes for their participation in the Battle of the Bands as the competition’s dark horse.
The storyline is not fresh. But context matters. Had this been the 80s or the early 90s, Hunter would have been the coolest kid in school with his getup and guitar skills. But the world has changed and now he’s an outcast and so are Kevin and Emily.
The context provides Metal Lords the freshness we all look for in a movie, and the film’s brevity as well as clever writing make it an entertaining watch. For those who have followed music from the past few decades, there are many musical allusions and trivia sneaked in the film’s dialogues. Like the “Didn’t I say no Yokos?,” dialogue that Hunter uses against Kevin in an argument.
Music is the film’s best part. Metal Lords’ soundtrack consist of some of the most popular metal and hard rock numbers like “War Pigs” by Black Sabbath, “For Whom the Bell Tolls” by Metallica, “Painkiller” by Judas Priest, “Since I Don’t Have You” by Guns N’ Roses—and more. With Tom Morello as music producer, you can expect the film to sound like a well-cut, heavy metal album.
Who should watch it?
Metal Lords is an important film for fans of the heavier genres of music. Ardent ones will find many things to love in the movie. And even if you have little idea of metal music, the film is satisfying enough as a coming-of-age musical that takes up the lives of a group of oddball teens and their struggle to cope with the world.
Rating: 4 stars
Genre: Drama, music
Director: Peter Sollett
Actors: Isis Hainsworth, Adrian Greensmith, Jaeden Martell
Run time: 1hr 37mins
Photo story: The milkman of Duwakot
It’s early dawn in Bhaktapur’s Duwakot village and 31-year-old Ram Kumar Basnet is already up and about. Basnet is a dairy farmer and he has milk to deliver. But he must feed and milk the cows first.
He has a five-year lease on the land where he raises his cattle and looks after his family. He lives in a small hut with his wife and their two children—a daughter and a son.
Basnet says even though he was born in Nagaland, India, his ancestral home is in Ramechhap district. He has five brothers and, like him, they too are uneducated and depend on farming for livelihood.
One of the brothers runs a poultry business close to Basnet’s cow farm. The brother also lends a hand in milk-packaging and transport. By the time morning light starts getting brighter, Basnet is ready to hit the road. He ties large milk jars to his motorcycle, a red Honda CB Hornet, and sets out to deliver milk to his customers.
After completing his morning round, he returns home and rests for a while before starting the second-half of his daily work. Basnet has nine cows and two calves to look after. Each cow is milked twice a day, and gives up to nine liters of milk. Basnet says he sells up to 80 liters of milk a day. Besides his regular customers, he also supplies milk to various dairy shops in Bhaktapur and Kathmandu.
Innovative Nation forays into professional music video production services across Nepal
Innovative Nation events has finally forayed into professional music production and music video production services across Nepal.
Having been a major part of the event industry for over a decade, they finally took this leap recently, read a statement issued by the Innovative Nation Pvt. Ltd.
Innovative Nation joined hands with some major music labels globally and plans to showcase Nepal and Nepal music culture across the globe.
They are planning to record their first music video soon with DJ Harshit Shah from India, who has some major releases globally, the statement read.
“This music video will be shot covering the nightlife of Nepal and the beauty of Kathmandu city,” Yashwant Agarwal, founder of the company said, adding, “We want to showcase state of art video which will be shot by professional cinematographer using the best cameras available.”
This will definitely open up a new avenue for Nepali artists and will definitely boost the tourism industry as they have an extensive plan to promote it globally, the statement further read.
Apart from this, Innovative Nation events has recently stepped in the luxury weddings and destination weddings as well, which has already been the talk amongst many.
