Why my radio isn't historically accurate

Boy In the Striped Pajamas review:

1st review
The story isn't true, but it could very well have been. It is refreshing to read a story from the war that takes a totally different slant to usual, after all, the Germans were human and had families as well. We all know the atrocities that happened during the war, especially in the concentration camp. The Boy In The Stripped Pyjamas talks about the war, not only from the German prospective, but from that of a small innocent boy.

Before reading this I was put off by the fact that all the one star reviews I read were stating that the book is historically inaccurate, and they were absolutely right but in my opinion John Boyne never set out to write about his knowledge of the holocaust and isn't for a second suggesting that there was a boy like Bruno who was entirely unaware of what was going on.

The book is solely about ignorance, that was what Boyle wanted to write about and there isn't a more extreme case of ignorance than a boy who lives beside a concentration camp, who's the son of a high-ranking, patriotic, german soldier and yet doesn't know what a Jew is. This is the reason the book is set in Nazi Germany and the inaccuracies of the book are therefore irrevelant to what the author is trying to communicate

2nd review:

As one earlier reviewer wrote, there is a difference between innocence and ignorance. I could have believed that Bruno isn't particularly interested in politics or other grown-up things but Boyne makes him look like he has serious difficulties in grasping reality at all. Bruno is aware of the "Heil Hitler" greeting his father has taught him but he has no knowledge of Hitler as a person or his politics, has no idea who Jews are and it seems he has not heard of the war. As a 8-year-old boy he surely would have learned about these things at school and as his father seems to be a high ranking nazi officer, it is probable that he would have learned more about the nazi ideology at home.

It is true that the whole concept of the book (Bruno befriending a boy behind the strange fence near his house) is highly improbable but a talented writer could have easily succeeded in making the reader forget the fact or even worked his way around it. It is possible to live with plot holes like that if the story is told well enough. Unfortunately, Boyne fails in this regard. His Bruno is unbelievably dense and ignorant and the loose ends in the story irritate and distract. Where are Bruno's parents when he seems to spend hours and hours away from home in a place no-one (strangely enough) knows of or ever comes to? Haven't somebody told Bruno to stay away from the fence? How is it possible that nobody told Bruno he's in Poland?

Even though the flimsy plot, bad characterizing and Boyne's apparent ignorance of Germany in the 1940s are distracting, the most offensive thing about this book is its ability to insult Holocaust victims. I'm sure this was not Boyne's intention but using the name "Auschwitz" as a basis for a word play isn't something that will evoke sympathy in this day and age. It just seems insensitive. Boyne also unintentionally, I hope, makes the prisoners of the camp seem like a bunch of idiots - if it's that easy for a small boy living in the camp just to sit idly by the non-electrified fence for hours undetected and for another boy to actually get inside the camp unnoticed, why haven't the prisoners tried to escape already?! The end where the reader is supposed to feel great sympathy for Bruno and what happened to him just adds insult to injury: never mid all the people inside the camp and what happened to them, just think about one German boy and his poor nazi officer father.

This book could have become a great piece of literature if written differently but it would have required much better research of the subject and thorough editing and re-writing of the text. As it is, "The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas" comes off as alternatively callous and mind-numbingly stupid with redeeming qualities hidden few and far between.
The other reviewers have detailed what the story was based around, so I wont repeat that. All I will say, is that although the ending was expected it was still shocking and upsetting. The beautiful part of this film was that it showed all too clearly, how innocent children are - before they become too privvy to their parents views, prejudices and expectations. It also showed that good people can do bad things, that they dont necessarily agree with for much the same reasons. A minority of people in power, can so control the mind set and actions of the greater majority. This film made me think, made me cry and made me reevaluate what being a parent should be about. Even though it showed the bad side of some people - it showed that most people do have good and hopeful hearts and children, inparticular are innocent souls who should be cherished and nurtured.

Why this relates to my radio play?


These reviews that were written about 'The Boy in the Striped Pajamas' is a perfect explaination why my radio play isn't historically accurate in terms of the plot. Many have said to me that in WW2 it would be impossible that a German soldier would behave like Billy would or the fact that he would come into the industry because his father was a commandant however, Like John Boyle(the author of the Boy In The Striped Pajamas) i want to write about the ignorance of Billy as a teenage boy working as a soldier and his adventure with finding out the truth why soldiers had to behave like this. This would make the audience think the impossible in this story and would make their minds think around some situations that happen in the story. Also i wanted my radio play to be a fictional story and not a biopic or a real life story that would of happened. Like The Boy In The Striped Pajamas i am writing a fictional story which is set in a time and place that the audience would know about even though it isn't exactly accurate- This will make the plot more chilling, interesting and exiciting for the audience and a great source of entertainment that many would be keen to listen to. Plus even though the ending is probably expectant it does still create a deep atmosphere because of what the lovers have been through. The plot also does raise the real issue of war today and lovers who are parted from it.