I think all the terrible reviews for Taika Waititi’s Jojo Rabbit helped me go into the film with tempered expectations and come out absolutely loving this tonally challenging exploration of war, indoctrination, and loss – all told from a child’s perspective. Like all of his films, Waititi uses tonal shifts here to disarm us – one moment we’re laughing at the film’s charming absurdity, the next we wince as we realize the deeper implications of a seemingly innocent and offhand remark. Nazi Germany at the end of World War II is a problematic place and time in which to set a comedy, but Waititi gradually breaks out of the child’s perspective and forces his young protagonist (and an audience looking for a good time at the movies) to begin seeing the horrors of war and totalitarianism. From the opening archival footage of Hitler being cheered by the German youth (set to music from The Beatles), we see the ways in which indoctrination and propaganda get internalized by the young. And as heartbreaking and sad as the film ends up being, Waititi manages to end the film on a joyful note that never feels cloying or sentimental.