<P> The film opens with the quote `` Childhood is measured out by sounds and smells and sights , before the dark hour of reason grows . '' by John Betjeman . A young boy named Bruno ( Asa Butterfield ) lives with his family in Berlin , in Nazi Germany during the Holocaust . He learns that his father Ralf ( David Thewlis ) has been promoted , due to which their family , including Bruno 's mother Elsa ( Vera Farmiga ) and sister Gretel ( Amber Beattie ) , relocate to the countryside . Bruno hates his new home as there is no one to play with and very little to explore . After commenting that he has spotted people working on what he thinks is a farm in the distance , he is also forbidden from playing in the back garden . </P>
<P> The film opens with the quote `` Childhood is measured out by sounds and smells and sights , before the dark hour of reason grows . '' by John Betjeman . A young boy named Bruno ( Asa Butterfield ) lives with his family in Berlin , in Nazi Germany during the Holocaust . He learns that his father Ralf ( David Thewlis ) has been promoted , due to which their family , including Bruno 's mother Elsa ( Vera Farmiga ) and sister Gretel ( Amber Beattie ) , relocate to the countryside . Bruno hates his new home as there is no one to play with and very little to explore . After commenting that he has spotted people working on what he thinks is a farm in the distance , he is also forbidden from playing in the back garden . </P>
who plays bruno in the boy in the striped pajamas
who plays bruno in the boy in the striped pajamas
Asa Butterfield
Asa Butterfield