A young German boy in the Hitler Youth, whose hero and imaginary friend is the country's dictator, is shocked to discover that his mother is hiding a Jewish girl in their home.
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.—Fox Searchlight Pictures
1944 Germany. Ten year old Johannes Betzler, more commonly called Jojo, is the son of good Germans, his father away fighting in Italy, while he is under the care of his mother Rosie, with his older sister Inge recently having passed away from illness. With only one true friend in the form of same aged, bespectacled Yorki, Jojo, in wanting to fit in, is arguably entering what he would consider the most important phase of his young life in attending a Nazi youth camp presided over by Captain Klenzendorf, Captain K's almost too faithful assistant Freddy Finkel, and Fräulein Rahm, who takes Nazi policies in a slightly off-kilter direction. Despite being considered an outsider by most of the other youth in town, Jojo figures he has a leg up on everyone else at camp in that he is constantly being guided by the spirit of Der Führer himself, Adolf Hitler, whose personal bodyguard Jojo aspires to be when he grows up. In his general day-to-day life but also supported by his time at camp, Jojo has a hatred for Jewish people despite not really knowing anything about them or ever having met anyone of the Jewish faith, the ultimate goal to kill them. So when Jojo meets someone Jewish for the first time, especially as that meeting is in what is for him the most unlikely of circumstances, Jojo has to figure out what to do. While truly believing he is a Nazi despite not really knowing what that means, he has to decide either to follow what he has been taught in hating and trying to kill any Jewish person despite knowing that killing is not in his true nature, or not, which may have larger consequences with relation to family. While he decides, he truly gets to know the person beyond the label of "Jewish" which may factor into what happens.—Huggo
In the ultimate days of the Third Reich, young Johannes "Jojo" Betzler is eager to do his part by joining the Nazi Party's youth organisation. Instead, a disastrous first assignment earns the Führer's tiny number one fan an embarrassing nickname and gets the ambitious candidate kicked out. Now, Jojo has nothing but time on his hands. As the disillusioned boy grapples with a new reality after stumbling upon a shocking secret, he must question everything he's ever known. But fear and prejudice consume the world. Can youthful innocence be humanity's saving grace?—Nick Riganas
Johannes "Jojo" Betzler (Roman Griffin Davis) is a ten-year-old boy living in Nazi Germany in the city of Falkenheim during the later stages of World War II with his mother Rosie (Scarlett Johansson).JoJo Betzler joins the Deutsches Jungvolk, the junior section of the Hitler Youth (HJ).
His absent father is supposedly serving on the Italian Front but has lost all contact and his older sister Inge has recently died of influenza. The jingoistic Jojo often talks with his imaginary friend, a supportive but childish version of Adolf Hitler (Taika Waititi). Jojo is trained to think that he has a snake mind, wolf body, panther courage and a German soul.
Jojo and his best friend Yorki (Archie Yates) attend a Deutsches Jungvolk Hitler Youth training camp, run by the one-eyed Wehrmacht Captain Klenzendorf (Sam Rockwell). Klenzendorf is supported by Unteroffizier Freddy Finkel (Alfie Allen), the second-in-command to Captain Klenzendorf and Fraulein Rahm, an instructor of the League of German Girls in the Jungvolk cam. Girls are taught how to dress wounds, make up beds and how to get pregnant. Rahm claims to have given birth 18 times to motivate the girls at the camp.
When Jojo is ordered to kill a rabbit by older Hitler Youth members, he tries to release it and runs off crying after the other boys taunt him with the name "Jojo Rabbit". After a pep talk from Adolf, Jojo returns and throws a Stielhandgranate without permission. It bounces off a tree and explodes at his feet, leaving him with facial scars and a slight limp. After Jojo recovers, Rosie asks Klenzendorf, demoted after the incident, to make her son feel included despite his injuries. Jojo is given small tasks such as spreading propaganda leaflets throughout town and collecting scrap metal for the war effort.
Alone at home one day, Jojo discovers Elsa Korr (Thomasin McKenzie), a teenage Hebrew girl and his late sister's former classmate, hiding upstairs. Jojo is both terrified of and aggressive towards Elsa. Jojo threatens to turn her over to the Gestapo. The two are left at an impasse, as the revelation of Rosie's hiding of Elsa would lead to the execution of all three of them.
He agrees to keep her safe, on the condition she reveals her "Hebrew secrets" so he can write a book for Klenzendorf, which amuses him. The book would allow people to easily recognize her kind. Despite this, he finds himself clashing with innocence, and slowly forming a friendship with her. Elsa is both saddened and amused by Jojo's radical beliefs, using surreal antisemitic tropes to challenge his dogmatism.
Elsa plays along by making up stories about Hebrew powers, such as mind-reading. Angry with his mother for hiding a Hebrew but unable to reveal his knowledge of Elsa, Jojo accuses Rosie of being unpatriotic and laments that his father is away. Rosie dismisses his accusations and espouses her belief that positive thoughts and optimism are the best ways to be free of oppression.
Jojo continues to interrogate Elsa, learning she has a boyfriend called Nathan with whom she wants to reunite when the war is over. Jojo forges a letter from "Nathan" which claims that he has found someone else and wants to break up with Elsa. Hearing her crying, Jojo writes another letter retracting the first one. Jojo and Adolf argue, with Adolf insisting Elsa is a monster.
Gradually, Rosie is revealed to be part of the German resistance to Nazism, spreading anti-Nazi messages around town. Later, while on one of his metal collecting trips, Jojo spots his mother leaving a "free Germany" message in town.
Jojo is home one day when the Gestapo, led by Captain Deertz (Stephen Merchant), visit his house. Klenzendorf also happens to arrive at the house while it is being searched. Elsa reveals herself, pretending to be Inge, and produces Inge's papers and confirms her birthday from memory to quell the Gestapo's suspicions. Jojo is relieved, but Elsa later realizes she recited the wrong date and Klenzendorf covered for her but is certain the Gestapo will eventually realize the deception. Later that day, Jojo finds his mother has been hanged in the town square. Devastated, he returns home and stabs Elsa in the shoulder, then breaks down. Elsa comforts him and also reveals that Jojo's lost father has been working against Hitler from abroad. Jojo's beliefs on Nazism quickly shift, as he sees the regime's inhumanity. With no money, he begins to scavenge food for them both from waste bins around the city.
Jojo runs into Yorki, now a soldier, who tells him Hitler has committed suicide and that the Allies are closing in. Weakened, the civilian population including the Jungvolk is pressed into combat service. Jojo encounters Fraulein Rahm (Rebel Wilson), arming and sacrificing children as the battle rages, and she gives him a soldier's coat, before being killed herself in an explosion. Facing the American and Soviet forces, the city's garrison surrenders. The Soviets force several captured Germans into a backyard, including Jojo.
Jojo hides until it ends with an Allied victory. As a Jungvolk, he is seized by Soviet soldiers alongside Klenzendorf, who comforts him over the death of Rosie. A wounded Klenzendorf tells Jojo his mother was a good woman, and saves him by removing his coat, calling him a Hebrew, and spitting on him, leading the Soviet guards to drag him away. The soldiers expel Jojo and after saving Jojo, Klenzendorf is executed by firing squad.
Jojo runs home and, to stop Elsa leaving, tells her Germany won the war. Recognizing her despair, he recites a new "letter" from her boyfriend claiming that he and Jojo have figured out a way to smuggle her to Paris. Elsa confesses that her boyfriend died the previous year from tuberculosis. Jojo tells her he loves her, and she tells him she loves him in a "little brother" way. A disheveled Adolf angrily confronts Jojo for siding with Elsa, and Jojo kicks him out the window.
Jojo takes Elsa outside, where she realizes the Allies have won after seeing American soldiers. She slaps Jojo in the face for lying, and then they dance in the street.
