After being severely hurt by a grenade at Hitler youth camp, a prideful and nationalistic ten-year old boy discovers that his mother is hiding a fifteen year old Jewish girl in their house.

After being severely hurt by a grenade at Hitler youth camp, a prideful and nationalistic ten-year old boy discovers that his mother is hiding a fifteen year old Jewish girl in their house.

This logline peaked my interest: stories about the Nazis never get old, and showing life in Nazi Germany through the eyes of a child ? let alone a devoted member of the Nazi Youth ? is rarely done. I'd say this is definitely marketable and could easily be made.

However, while it has a hook, it lacks a firm idea of the story: what happens between the boy and the girl? His mother and him? Does he change for the better (helping the girl) or for the worse (giving both up to the Nazis)?

dpg, I can accept that the romantic angle could be done effectively. Though it takes skill (as you seem to acknowledge). But I remain of the view that it would be more refreshing to see a different angle tried. Your 'sister he never had' idea is one I like quite a bit and would qualify as an angle that is refreshingly different. (Steven.)

"Mainly because that angle is so cliche and predictable."

Okay, but when done rightly it works.

Alternatively, the boy could come to see the Jewish girl as the kind of girl who would make a wonderful sister -- the sister he never had. Or like one he lost.

My point is that the transformational arc for the kid entails his breaking through ideological blinders to see the girl as a person rather than an object, a demonized other.

In short, relationship. (Which is what the "B" story is always about, usually romantic, but not necessarily.)