To Subtitle Or Not?

The other night I watched 'The Boy With the Striped Pajamas" on my Comcast On-Demand (the best part of Comcast by far).  In short, for those that don't know, this is the story of a young German boy whose father is a high-up in the SS and charged with running a concentration camp.  While living outside the camp the young, naive boy befriends a young Jew on the other side of the fence.   

I am blogging about this, because while it was a good film I feel cheated.  For whatever reason, the director of this film chose not to use subtitles, but to instead have all characters speak English.  I assume the reason for this decision was so the viewer could relate more easily and get caught up in the mixed emotions of the characters.  However, instead I think it deprived me of that one strong emotion - hate and anger.  When I watch a film about horrors such as the holocaust I don't want to relate in any way to the murderers or even the bystanders who saw the immorality and did nothing.  I want to hate them.  (Unlike in Letters From Iwo Jima which was a great film about a war that was brutal on both sides - where I wanted to see and learn that other perspective.) 

Usually I prefer movies not to have subtitles.  I like to be able to focus on the action and images of the film rather than on reading small text at the bottom.  However, in specific cases, such as this, the German language itself stirs up emotions that I think are crucial in the film experience.  Knowing when to use subtitles is just one of the many challenges movie directors face, but it is very important.