Jojo Rabbit goofs

In the film's opening shot where an American serviceman waves a flag from a balcony, the banner shows 50 stars rather than the historically accurate 48 — a common error in Second World War films. The mistake is later corrected when another American in a Jeep is seen waving the proper 48‑star flag.

When Rosie Betzler takes Jojo to the Hitler Youth, a map on the wall displays present-day Germany rather than the country's Second World War-era borders — for example, Silesia and East Prussia are missing.

The Soviet soldier who catches JoJo roaming the town shouts "Niemiec!" [phonetic transcript] in contemporary Russian, whereas during the Second World War — and for a long time afterwards — the everyday term was "Giermaniec!" [phonetic transcript].

Towards the end, the hand gestures Jojo and Elsa employ are more contemporary. Elsa's mirror the movements Emma Stone uses in Ла-Ла Ленд (2016) when she lip-syncs to "I Ran."

As has already been noted, Hitler would never have offered cigarettes to Jojo because he was firmly opposed to smoking. One could argue the on-screen figure is not the historical Hitler but the imaginary companion living in Jojo's head, so divergences from the real man are understandable. Nevertheless, Hitler's hostility to smoking was almost as widely recognised in Nazi Germany as his moustache, and an ardent admirer would never have pictured him proffering cigarettes.

Although Captain Klenzendorf is supposed to speak with a German accent, he pronounces the word "Fräulein" in the typical American way as "Fraulein". Curiously, the person he is referring to is indeed listed in the credits as "Fraulein", which, in a rather odd way, lends a degree of legitimacy to his slip.

In the final fantasy sequence, Jojo imagines Hitler consuming an enormous meat dish shaped like a unicorn's head. As Hitler was known to be a strict vegetarian, Jojo would not have pictured him that way.

Nearly all of the German characters speak English rather than German for almost the entire film, and most of them — Jojo included — use British accents.

When Rosie and JoJo are having their evening meal, JoJo teases his mum, drags the bread dish towards himself and takes a slice. The dish then slides back and forth and settles into its original place as if no bread had been taken.

Jojo's scarred eyebrow shifts between being shaven around the scar, remaining unshaven, and several states somewhere between those extremes.

Whilst in the woods with the rabbit, Jojo's cap shifts position between shots.

On her first appearance in the attic, Elsa's hair appears greasy, stringy and untidy. The next time she is shown, only a few seconds of film later, her hair looks clean, not stringy, and freshly brushed.

When Jojo first enters the concealed space in Inga's bedroom, he pulls a torch from his right-hand pocket. Yet, in the preceding shot (and when he initially entered the house), the torch is visible fastened to the rear of his belt on the left-hand side.

At the 36-minute mark, Finkel has a hand over his mouth before the shot cuts to one showing both his hands resting at his sides.

Hitler alludes to the 20 July assassination attempt and his survival of it in 1944, yet later JoJo's mother is overjoyed that the Allies have liberated Italy — an event associated with the Armistice of Cassibile signed on 3 September 1943.

Finkel's positioning during the walnuts-on-the-map sequence is inconsistent: he shifts from having one hand on the desk and the other on his waist to suddenly eating walnuts, then back to his original stance, and finally with both hands placed on the desk.

Although the film is set in the closing stages of the war and the town Jojo lives in sits close to Nuremberg, not a single bomb falls on it and there are no signs of air raids throughout the picture; by 1945 that seems unlikely, since Allied bombing had by then devastated much of Germany.

"Atchoo" gag wouldn't translate into German, because the German onomatopoeic word for a sneeze is "Hatschi", which bears no resemblance to the word for Jew.

Throughout the film the characters refer to themselves as "Nazis". This is historically inaccurate, as they would have called themselves "National Socialists" — National Socialism was the name of Adolf Hitler's political and social ideology.

Sam Rockwell's character, Captain Klenzendorf, wears a ribbon on his uniform indicating he has been awarded the Iron Cross, 2nd Class, yet it is threaded through the tunic's first button, whereas regulations stipulated it should be worn through the second buttonhole.

Jojo's book "Yoohoo Jude - Exposé über die Juden" presents a peculiar blend of German and English. Apart from "Yoohoo", every word is correct German, which makes "Yoohoo" particularly noticeable — if read as a German word it would be pronounced "Yoho", yet in the film it is spoken as "yoohoo" (English). The proper German form would be "Juhu", a word that exists and sounds essentially the same as the English equivalent.

Rainer Maria Rilke, owing to his mother’s Jewish background, was proscribed by the Nazis. JoJo would not have been able to find a copy of his work in a German library at the end of the war.

In at least one released version of the film — as aired on the FX channel — Thomasin McKenzie's name in the closing credits is missing the "T", appearing in the cast list as "Homasin McKenzie". (April 2024)

When Jojo attends the Deutsches Jungvolk in the film, it is mentioned that his father, who was posted to Italy, has not been seen for two years. Later on, the film asserts that Italy has been liberated, that France will be next and that the war will soon be over.

In 1941 — two years before Italy was taken out of the conflict — the Italian mainland had not been invaded; only its colonial possessions were under threat, and those territories were not considered part of Italy in the same way British-controlled Egypt was not regarded as part of Britain.

This is also inconsistent because Italy was not liberated until 2 May 1945, so the claim that Jojo’s father had been missing in Italy for two years, together with the statement that Italy was “liberated”, would place the film’s events in May 1945.

That date would be well after Jojo’s home town would have been captured.

Jojo's hometown lies just to the south of Nuremberg. The Soviets never advanced beyond the Sudetenland, much less reached Nuremberg.

In the film, Hitler repeatedly offers Jojo cigarettes. In reality, however, Hitler loathed smoking: he not only forbade his generals and aides from smoking in his presence, but also introduced what are regarded as the first successful anti-tobacco laws in history.

The "free Germany" sign Rosie hands out is modelled on a contemporary bumper sticker. This anachronism may well be deliberate. The film is packed with contemporary references used for comic effect (for example, The Beatles and David Bowie appear on the soundtrack, and lines such as Fraulein Rahm exclaiming "O... M... Gott" instead of saying OMG).

"Fraulein Rahm" claims to have had fifteen children. While this is amplified for comic effect, there was a scheme known as the "Lebensborn" programme aimed at producing racially pure children. More than half of the children born through this programme were born out of wedlock. So, although she is referred to as "Fraulein Rahm", she would not necessarily have needed to be married to have children.

When Rosie rubs ashes from the fireplace over her face to fashion a "beard" and pass herself off as Jojo's father, she wipes her face thoroughly yet her lips appear untouched by the ash. This might look like a mistake, but since she has her back to the camera it's quite plausible she drew her lips in while smearing her face, leaving them free of soot.

Near the end, as the Hitler Youth are sent into battle, Jojo stands bewildered while the other boys surge into combat. However, the eagle on Jojo's uniform now appears on his left-hand side. The boys' knives are on their right-hand sides, and they are all hurling grenades with their left hands. This shot in the film has been mirrored.

Rosie smudges ashes over her face to mimic a beard. Moments later she puts both hands on the white tablecloth, yet it remains pristine. She either washed her hands between cuts or, more likely, the make-up artist applied the ashes/beard — because Rosie's back is to the camera, we never actually see her smear the ashes herself.

Near the start of the film, a group of Hitler Youth are seen running from left to right through the woods. However, one boy is wearing a red armband on his right arm with the swastika reversed, when the armband should be on the left arm — a sign that the footage has been mirrored.

While Jojo and Rosie are cycling along the main road, "burnt-out" road markings can be seen.

Early in the training exercise, Jojo and his imaginary Hitler run side-by-side when Jojo snatches a grenade from Captain Klenzendorf. The other Hitler Youth, sitting on the ground, step aside as Jojo dashes through — they also step aside for Hitler. Yet Hitler is supposed to be imaginary, so the other children should not have been able to see him and therefore had no reason to move.

During Fräulein Rahm's conversation with Klenzendorf and Jojo about her uncle becoming a "massive drunk" after speaking to a Jew, the actor portraying Jojo can be seen beginning to laugh as she sidles up to them; he then recomposes himself and carries on with the scene.

When cyclists travel along the road, white lines are painted on either side, just as they are today.

When the bodies are observed suspended in the square, it becomes apparent they are being held up by some sort of harness rather than by their necks.

This sort of confusion over "German shepherds" — mistaking the dog breed for actual human shepherds — simply wouldn’t happen in Germany. In German they’re called "Deutsche Schäferhunde" — German shepherd DOGS.

When Captain Klenzendorf speaks to the Hitler Youth, he observes that Germany, towards the end of the war, seems to be on the back foot. The phrase, which means fighting from a disadvantageous position, is a sporting metaphor taken from cricket and would be an unlikely turn of phrase for a German to use. The screenplay was written by Taika Waititi and probably reflects his upbringing in New Zealand.