[Video Interview] ‘JOJO RABBIT’ star Thomasin McKenzie on film’s accessible approach to Holocaust story

Preston Barta // Features Editor

Opening this weekend is the “anti-hate war satire” Jojo Rabbit, written and directed by Taika Waititi (Thor Ragnarok, What We Do in the Shadows). 

The film follows a young German boy (newcomer Roman Griffin Davis) in Hitler’s army who finds out his mother (Scarlett Johansson) is hiding a Jewish girl (Thomasin McKenzie) in their home. It’s exactly the kind of absurdist humor that generally accompanies Waititi’s films, but here (like his last film, The Hunt for the Wilderpeople) there is also an incredible amount of heart. While it doesn’t shy away from the reality of the time period, it does manage to present a view that families can experience together and learn from.

Fresh Fiction film critic Preston Barta recently sat down with actor Thomasin McKenzie (Leave No Trace and Edgar Wright’s upcoming film Last Night in Soho) to talk about Jojo Rabbit. In the below video, we discuss the film’s accessible approach to history and what audiences can learn from this new vision of the past.

JOJO RABBIT opens nationwide on Friday, November 1.