With The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, it’s hard to figure out just what the movie thinks it’s offering beyond the simple conclusion that Hitler and the Holocaust represent humankind at its worst.

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas John Boyne, , read by Michael Maloney. . Listening Library, $24.95 (0pp) ISBN 978-0-7393-3705-9 ...

John Boyne, author of the Holocaust novel "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" and its sequel "All the Broken Places." (Rich Gilligan/Courtesy of Penguin Random House) Advertisement.

Still, “Striped Pajamas” has its Jewish defenders. One, the 24-year-old composer Noah Max, is behind a new opera adaptation of the book, to be titled “The Child in the Striped Pyjamas.” ...