<Tr> <Th> Box office </Th> <Td> $44.1 million </Td> </Tr> <P> The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (released as The Boy in the Striped Pajamas in the United States) is a 2008 film set in World War II, based on the novel of the same name by John Boyne . Directed by Mark Herman, produced by BBC Films and Heyday Films, and distributed by Miramax and Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, the film stars Vera Farmiga, David Thewlis, Asa Butterfield, and Jack Scanlon . It was released on 12 September 2008 in the United Kingdom . </P> <P> The Holocaust drama explores the horror of a World War II Nazi extermination camp through the eyes of two 8 - year - old boys; Bruno (Asa Butterfield), the son of the camp's Nazi commandant, and Shmuel (Jack Scanlon), a Jewish inmate . </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 lives with his family in Berlin, in Nazi Germany during the period of the Holocaust . He learns that his father Ralf has been promoted, due to which their family, including Bruno's mother Elsa and sister Gretel, 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>

Bruno the boy in the striped pajamas actor