Jojo Rabbit: 5 Funniest Things About The Movie (& 5 Most Shocking)

As the satirical coming-of-age story of a Hitler Youth kid whose jingoistic attitude and love of Adolf Hitler (who’s also his kooky imaginary friend) is challenged by a Jewish refugee his mother is hiding in the walls, Taika Waititi’s Jojo Rabbit was a tonal tightrope walk.

Waititi’s script, based on the book Caging Skies by Christine Leunens, nailed that complicated mixture of tones, and as a result, he walked home with the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. So, here are five scenes from Jojo Rabbit that made us laugh out loud, and five that shocked us to our core.

10 Funniest: Imaginary Hitler’s Pep Talk

In the opening scene of Jojo Rabbit, Jojo is getting ready to attend a Hitler Youth training camp. He’s excited but he’s also nervous. So, his imaginary friend, Adolf Hitler, appears to him and gives him a pep talk.

Jojo is having doubts about himself, so Adolf assures him that he’s “the bestest, most loyal little Nazi I’ve ever met.” Then, he teaches him how to do a Nazi salute: “Just throw it away. Don’t even think about it.”

9 Most Shocking: Gestapo Agents Come To Jojo’s House

When some Gestapo agents come knocking on Jojo’s front door, the atmosphere is immediately tense. For all intents and purposes, the tone of the scene is lighthearted, but the context of Gestapo agents searching a house where a Jew is hiding keeps the viewer on the edge of their seat.

What makes this scene even more shocking is the later revelation that these guys had just hanged Jojo’s mother before coming over. They went to her house in search of information, found two young kids living there, and didn’t bat an eye.

8 Funniest: Jojo Wears A Pot As A Helmet

This moment perfectly contrasts the two sides of Jojo’s character. On the one hand, he’s just an innocent kid who is inherently sweet. But on the other hand, he’s a steadfast patriot who desperately wants to fight for his country.

Taking a pot and wearing it as a helmet is a quirky, funny way to capture Jojo’s childlike naivety and his drive to fight in the German armed forces and work his way up the ranks to becoming Hitler’s best friend.

7 Most Shocking: Captain Klenzendorf Doesn’t Expose Elsa

This scene is shocking in a good way; more surprising than anything. When the Gestapo agents are in Jojo’s house, Captain Klenzendorf, played by Sam Rockwell, finds Jojo’s sister’s information and asks Elsa — who’s pretending to be her — to tell him what her date of birth is.

She mentions a date, Klenzendorf accepts it, and the Gestapo agents leave. But then, she tells Jojo that she got the date of birth wrong, so Klenzendorf could’ve exposed her and he didn’t.

6 Funniest: Hitler Talks About His Early Critics

A few of Jojo Rabbit’s detractors have said that Taika Waititi’s portrayal of Hitler as Jojo’s imaginary friend isn’t as nuanced as other satirists’ portraits of the infamous Nazi leader, like Charlie Chaplin’s performance in The Great Dictator, but it’s important to remember that he wasn’t playing Hitler; he was playing Hitler as a ten-year-old kid who idolizes Hitler would picture him in his head.

In one hilarious scene, he tells Jojo about his early critics: “People used to say a lot of nasty things about me. ‘Oh, this guy’s a lunatic!’ ‘Oh, look at that psycho! He’s gonna get us all killed!’”

5 Most Shocking: Jojo Gets Blown Up

The trailers for Jojo Rabbit made it look like the whole movie was about Jojo’s weekend at the Hitler Youth camp, which was a genius marketing tactic. It meant that when Jojo was blown up by a bomb in the middle of the first act, the audience had no idea what to expect for the rest of the movie.

The best trailers are the ones that don’t give too much away. A big problem with another recent awards-season hit, 1917, is that the trailers gave away all the most exciting action scenes and plot reveals.

4 Funniest: “I Need A Cuddle.”

The depiction of the Hitler Youth in Jojo Rabbit hilariously points out the problem with recruiting child soldiers. Children unprepared for the bleak realities of war, and an adorable portrait of this can be seen in Jojo’s best friend Yorki’s wartime experiences.

Yorki rejoices in the movie’s climax, as the war is brought to an end in a flurry of gunfire. The end of the war is a political and social upheaval, but Yorki is just happy that he doesn’t have to fight anymore. He tells Jojo, “I’m going home to my mum. I need a cuddle.”

3 Most Shocking: Elsa Threatens To Kill Jojo

When Jojo first finds out about Elsa, he doesn’t realize she’s an invited guest of her mother’s. He thinks she’s infiltrated the house, and Elsa goes along with it, playing on his fears. Initially, Elsa tells Jojo that if he tells his mother about her, she’ll kill him.

The fierce characterization of Elsa subverts the usual portrayal of WWII-era refugees as helpless victims. Instead of begging Jojo not to tell anyone about her, she threatens to kill him if he does.

2 Funniest: The Strongest Thing In The World

Taika Waititi’s unbelievably talented young star Roman Griffin Davis shared fantastic chemistry with his co-star Scarlett Johansson, who played his mother, Rosie. Any scene where their disagreements come to the surface is brilliant.

When Rosie tells Jojo, “Love is the strongest thing in the world,” he hilariously replies, “I think you’ll find that metal is the strongest thing in the world, followed closely by dynamite, and then muscles.”

1 Most Shocking: Jojo Finds A Jewish Girl Hiding In The Walls

At the heart of Jojo Rabbit is the relationship between Jojo and Elsa. Jojo has been brainwashed by Nazi propaganda into being terrified of Jews, so he’s shocked to discover that his mother has given a young Jewish girl a place to hide in their house.

Anyone who read up about the movie and its premise before going to see it would know that this plot development was going to happen, but for viewers who went in completely fresh — except for maybe watching the mostly spoiler-free trailers — it was a genuinely surprising turn.

About The Author

Ben Sherlock
(3465 Articles Published)

Ben Sherlock is a writer, comedian, independent filmmaker, and Burt Reynolds enthusiast. He writes lists for Screen Rant and features and reviews for Game Rant. He’s currently in pre-production on his first feature (and has been for a while, because filmmaking is expensive). You can catch him performing standup at odd pubs around the UK that will give him stage time. Previously, he wrote for Taste of Cinema, Comic Book Resources, and BabbleTop.

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