Taika Waititi’s films span a fascinating range of subjects from Hunt for the Wilderpeople through What We do in the Shadows and the most bonzo entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe Thor: Ragnarök and now Taika gives us the touching coming of age story Jojo Rabbit about a young boy who is a fanatical devote to Adolf Hitler.

Set in the waning stages of the European theater of World War II the films central character is 10-year-old Johannes ‘Jojo’ Betzler (Roman Griffin Davis.) Slight of build and lacking in public confidence Jojo dreams of becoming a respected member of the Hitler Youth and eventually a tireless soldier for the Reich.  As with many children Jojo has an imaginary friend that helps him psychologically deal with life, in this case his imagine pal is Adolf Hitler (Taika Waititi.) Jojo’s mother Rosie (Scarlett Johansson) is less than thrilled with her son’s political fanaticism but remains a devoted, supportive, and loving single parent to Jojo. After an accident at a Hitler Youth weekend of training Jojo is a taken under the wing of Captain Klenzendorf (Sam Rockwell) where Jojo assists the war effort. When Jojo discovers Elsa (Thomasin McKenzie) a Jewish teenager hiding from the Nazis he is forced to confront the truth about himself, his family, and his idol.

The film displays in abundance Waititi’s characteristic zeal and broad humor while never forgetting that this is a story about a young boy obsessed with an evil philosophy. Taika plays the imagines Hitler campy and over-the-top fitting with something a child might imagine and yet here and there flashes of the anger and hatred color the performance never letting the audience become too comfortable with the murderous madman behind the idolization. The movie’s final act nearly drops entirely the farcical tone of the script and turns dark serious and unsettling as Jojo crisis collides with his naïve view of the world in the end propelling the boy to become a young man.

Expertly performed, the film rests on the young shoulders of Roman Griffin David, as the entirety of the film’s world is filtered through his viewpoint. The rest of the cast is amazing managing to walk that line between realistic portrayals with touching pathos and broad irreverent comedy. Some characters exist solely on one side of that divide or the other and never disrupt the overall tone and dram of the piece. Taika’s use of German language versions of popular music such as I Want to Hold Your Hand and Heroes ties our time to the historical using an unreality to reminds of reality.

Overall this is another amazing film from a talent artist we need to continue watching, do not wait for streaming, go see Jojo Rabbit.