Jojo (Roman Griffin Davis) is a young boy in the Hitler Youth who loves the Nazis so much that his imaginary friend is Adolf Hitler (Taika Waititi). It comes as a shock to him then when he discovers his mother Rosie (Scarlett Johansson) is hiding a Jewish girl called Elsa (Thomasin McKensie) in their attic.

Told from the perspective of a ten year old boy this is an incredibly funny satire that reminds us of the horrors of war and how hatred and prejudice should have no place in our lives.

The comedy elements of the film mostly comes from the portrayal of Nazis. Waititi’s Hitler is a buffoon and Rebel Wilson and Stephen Merchant play extremely comical caricatures of Nazis. Whilst Sam Rockwell adds his usual charisma as a Nazi captain who isn’t as invested in the Nazi ethos as he is in the need to be part of the war machine.

The human drama of the film all rests on Elsa and Rosie’s interactions with Jojo. Elsa shows Jojo that we are all just human beings whilst Rosie allows her son his fanaticism whilst trying to show him the light as far as the war and nazism is concerned. There is sadness and hope tinged with their elements of the story. And it will be no surprise that McKensie (whose breakthrough role was in the outstanding Leave No Trace) and Johansson impress the most with their performances.

At times the film feels very much like a Wes Anderson movie. The Hitler Youth camp scenes reminded me of Moonrise Kingdom, the German renditions of Beatles and Bowie songs reminded me of the French renditions of Bowie in The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou and the slightly surreal reality and stylised costumes reminded me of all of his films. But the humour is very much Waititi’s. His is the kind that helped to bring us What We Do In The Shadows, Hunt for the Wilderpeople and Thor: Ragnarok.

Its a brilliantly effective film and tremendously funny.