To explain Beauty and Terror, I first want to explain Jojo Rabbit—a wonderfully odd movie directed by Taika Waititi.

The story follows a young kid who has been consumed by the pain of loneliness, anger, and grief. Emotions far too dark for him to grasp, leading to his isolation. Carrying the innocence of a child with the burden of a man, Jojo’s misery is stronger and far more cunning than he could ever be.

Considering he had no tools to process it all, he was defeated before he even knew he was playing  game.

Set in Germany during the 1940s, near the end of World War II, Jojo is surrounded by violence. Not just inside himself, but right outside his doorstep. In his confusion, he's swept up by Nazi propaganda. He was sperate to make sense of his father’s abandonment and his sister’s death, when Hitler gave him a scapegoat on a silver platter.

Once again, Jojo never stood a chance. 

To cope, he created an imaginary best friend, out of Hitler. A peculiar, childish version who fills the void Jojo’s father left behind. This “Hitler” is the embodiment of Jojo’s attempts to process his pain. A way to make space for the grief... to set it down for a moment and give himself room to breathe.

Jojo’s Hitler is pathetic, codependent, and oddly nurturing. Yet, he’s a mask. A lie Jojo tells himself to survive in a world he can’t begin to understand. Deception born from propaganda, raised by a deep, gnawing emptiness.

As well as this delusion, Jojo throws himself into the Nazi Youth. Misplacing his anger, determined to feel whole again. He's desperate to be seen by anyone other than his mother, as he subconsciously blames  for his father’s leaving.

Jojo goes to a camp meant for turning young kids into soldiers. But in a moment of blind, pointless bravery, Jojo is injured and sent home. His mom is out most days, doing things he doesn’t get. He’s left on his own.

That's when he discovers Elsa—a Jewish girl hiding inside the walls of their home.

Everything shifts.

His world flips, upside down and inside out. Once when he found her, then once more when he llearne it was his mother who had brought her there. It was all very dizzying for him.

Jojo felt betrayed. More deeply than before. 

His dark thoughts intensify. He antagonizes Elsa, makes up lies, and attempts to use private details from her life as intel for a self-written propaganda book. But this doesn't go on for long. 

Through anger and poetry, a friendship was born. Jojo couldn't help it... Elsa sees him.

Empathy crept in fast. However, softly. But entirely impossible to ignore. Jojo began to think it was him  had been the traitor all along. 

He recalls the choices his mom made, the ones he resented her for. He sees them now for what they actually were: acts of bravery. She did what she could.

Jojo was left to sit with the anger and loneliness that had been passed down through his bloodline. It’s all he had. 

This pushed him to take a step outside of himself, for once.I

n an instant, he knew what it meant to be a man. 

He killed imaginary Hitler. The war ended. Elsa was safe. 

They danced in the street.

Lost, but found. 

So… what’s all that got to do with me?

I divulge