When I first noticed actor David Thewlis in Mike Leigh’s Life is Sweet (see it if you can find it), I knew there was something about him I liked. Until recently I thought it was because he resembled Bob, a guy I met in London to whom I was a little attracted.

I’ve seen many films that Thewlis has been in and have always liked his performance when I do. Even Naked. (another good, but disturbing film to watch)

I knew he played the Nazi father in The Boy in the Striped Pajamas and I knew he’d do it well because he is a good actor. It can’t be easy playing someone as hated as a Nazi, especially one who sent so many people to their deaths. I cannot say that I liked the film (I didn’t like the book), but I liked his performance.  He plays a loving but preoccupied (and naïve) father who is also a Nazi death camp commandant. 

In one scene he asks his children about how they like life at their new home. I kept on looking at the character he played and was sure I’d seen that face before. Yeah, it was David Thewlis, but I finally knew who he reminded me of. No, it wasn’t Bob.

He resembled another man — one of the all time favorite men in my life: Grandpa Green. Of course it is the haircut, and the set of the lips and the chin. Maybe the nose too. I imagine the photo of my grandfather is from around the time of World War II. I’ll have to watch the Harry Potter films again to see if I see Grandpa in Lupin (Hmm, another werewolf).