Cinematic mastermind Taika Waititi is back again with the smart, engaging, and subversive Jojo Rabbit. When the previews first came out, it seemed that this film may be a rare miss for Waititi, whose What We Do in the Shadows has now been adapted to a television series and who boat the Thor films back from the brink. Instead, the film proves funny, challenging, and quite emotional.

The story follows young Jojo (Roman Griffin Davis) beginning with a weekend at Hitler Youth camp let by an injured SS officer (Sam Rockwell) and a sarcastic assistant (Rebel Wilson). He is teased for his gentleness, and runs off after trying to set a rabbit free that he was supposed to kill. Following a walk through the woods and Depp conversation with his imaginary best friend, Adolf Hitler (Waititi), Jojo charges back on the scene as Rockwell is instructing the youth on grenade throwing. Jojo then blows himself up and is injured.

In his time at home, he begins to hear things. It becomes clear that his mother (Johansson) is working with a resistance movement and harboring a Jewish girl, Elsa (McKenzie). Jojo discovers Elsa, and while originally scared and wanting to out her, and then write a book about how terrible Jews are, he finds that she is human, and that he loves her. Mom is hanged in the street for her resistance work, and Elsa pretends to be Jojo's dead sister when the Gestapo come calling. Rockwell discovers the lie, but does not out them, and tells Jojo to be careful.

In the final act, Jojo kicks Hitler out a window before the city is set upon by Allied troops, and he sees Rockwell and is assistant/lover, Finkel (Alfie Allen), decked out in capes and makeup as they join the fray. Jojo is captured, but Rockwell saves him just before being killed by firing squad, in a moment that leaves one weeping, for he had fought so long and lived his truest self in the final hours, no longer having to hide who he was. Jojo and Elsa also seem to go off to live as brother and sister at the end.

This film certainly has great discussion points, either in a faith conversation or simply life. In an early scene, Jojo and his mother are returning home and pass the town square, where there are people hanging for crimes against the party. Jojo asks what they did, and her response is, "What they could." This line, beautifully delivered, can be used to sum up many of the characters. It is a film that holds up little acts of subversion, kindness, and humanity as examples for how to create change, both in oneself and in others.

This Waititi version of Wes Anderson making a mashup of Moonrise Kingdom and The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank has no business working, but it does. It dispels the hatred of a people because of rumor and propaganda, and reminds viewers that, along with the Jewish people, gay people were unacceptable and those who resisted the party and their goals were labeled ungodly and evil: if this sounds familiar to those living in the United States this year, that should not be a surprise.