Based on Christine Leunens‘ “Caging Skies“, Taika Watiti‘s Jojo Rabbit (Fox Searchlight/Disney, 10.18) is a satirical absurdist comedy — a jape, a goof. The trailer makes it clear that Watiti (Thor: Ragnarok, the forthcoming Thor: Love and Thunder) has zero interest in investing in the reality of early 1940s Vienna or anything else in that cultural, historical or geographical vein. It’s as if the Max Fischer Players had adapted Leunens’ book. The idea is to lampoon and have a general giggle about the absurdity of Naziism, anti-Semitism and racism itself.
