History YMMV / TheDevilsArithmetic

* JerkassWoobie: The female overseer, the ''Blokova'', in the book. She's a petty tyrant who lords her small amount of power over the other prisoners while clearly having zero sympathy at all for them, but ultimately she's a prisoner too, and there's unquestionably an element of force being exerted upon her too; if she fails to keep control of the other prisoners, she is punished too, and brutally.

* JerkassWoobie: The female overseer, the ''Blokova'', in the book. She's a very unsympathetic character due to the way she lords her status over the other prisoners, but ultimately she's a prisoner too, and her participation is at least partially compelled by force; if she fails to keep control of the other prisoners, she is punished too, and brutally.

* JerkassWoobie: The female overseer, the ''Blokova'', in the book. She has some privileges in her role and often lords her status over the other prisoners, but ultimately she's a prisoner too, and her participation is at least partially compelled by force; if she fails to keep control of the other prisoners, she is punished too, and brutally.

* FridgeHorror: One thing that neither the book nor the movie addresses is the fact that at the end of the story, Hannah is, in essence, a Holocaust survivor. Many people suffered lifelong trauma from that experience. What's worse is that for Hannah, getting help is likely to be difficult if not impossible because no one's going to believe that someone Hannah's age actually experienced the Holocaust. Given the way it happened, the possibility exists that some element of the transition will in some way dull her memories (in the same way that Hannah in the book [[IdentityAmnesia forgot about her modern life]] for much of the story), shielding her from those effects, but there's nothing in either version to indicate that this is the case, especially given that Hannah ''remembering'' is hinted to be part of the reason that it happened at all.

* HarsherInHindsight: [[spoiler: Hannah/Chana sacrifices herself to save Rivka from the gas chambers. Brittany Murphy died in 2009 while Kirsten Dunst is still alive. What's more is that Brittany was found dead in a bathroom.]]

* SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped: The purpose of the time travel plot - to educate modern children and teenagers about the Holocaust.

* FridgeHorror: One thing that neither the book nor the movie addresses is the fact that at the end of the story, Hannah is, in essence, a Holocaust survivor. Many people suffered lifelong trauma from that experience. What's worse is that for Hannah, getting help is likely to be difficult if not impossible because no one's going to believe that someone Hannah's age actually experienced the Holocaust. Given the way it happened, the possibility exists that some element of the transition will in some way shield her from those effects, but there's nothing in either version to indicate that this is the case, especially given that Hannah ''remembering'' is hinted to be part of the reason that it happened at all.

* FridgeHorror: One thing that neither the book nor the movie addresses is the fact that at the end of the story, Hannah is, in essence, a Holocaust survivor. Many people suffered lifelong trauma from that experience. What's worse is that for Hannah, getting help is likely to be difficult if not impossible because no one's going to believe that someone Hannah's age actually experienced the Holocaust. Given the way it happened, the possibility exists that her memories will fade in the coming days (in the same way that [[IdentityAmnesia her memories of her life as Hannah]] faded in the book), such that she'll remember the general outlines but not enough to leave her traumatized long-term, but it's never stated whether or not this is the case; heck, the ''very last line'' of the book is Hannah saying, "I remember".

* FridgeHorror: One thing that neither the book nor the movie addresses is the fact that at the end of the story, Hannah is, in essence, a Holocaust survivor. Many people suffered lifelong trauma from that experience. What's worse is that for Hannah, getting help is likely to be difficult if not impossible because no one's going to believe that someone Hannah's age actually experienced the Holocaust. Given the way it happened, the possibility exists that her memories will fade in the coming days to the extent they're no longer traumatic (in the same way that [[IdentityAmnesia her memories of her life as Hannah]] faded in the book), but it's never stated whether or not this is the case; heck, the ''very last line'' of the book is Hannah saying, "I remember".

* HarsherInHindsight: [[spoiler: Hannah sacrifices herself to save Rivka from the gas chambers. Brittany Murphy died in 2009 while Kirsten Dunst is still alive. What's more is that Brittany was found dead in a bathroom]].

** The WHAMShot of little Sarah walking away from the wedding only to find Nazi wagons approaching. It's at this point that the audience realises just what is about to happen to all the Jews - Hannah included.

** Hannah's realisation that the escape attempt won't work and the men are doomed to fail - as they don't listen to her anyway.

* SugarWiki/SheReallyCanAct: Brittany Murphy was always heavily associated with romantic comedies that were light and unchallenging. Fans often pointed to this to show that she could do an against type role in a different genre.

** As the Jews are getting dragged off the cattle car, you see Leah and Shmuel clutching onto each other. [[spoiler: It's the last time they'll ever get to be together]]. There's also something very tragic about Leah still wearing her wedding dress as she's taken to the camp.
** [[spoiler: Rivka's mother being taken away]]. It's one of the few times Rivka breaks, and she screams desperately as it happens.
** [[spoiler: Hannah's eventual death in the gas chambers, along with Sarah. Throughout the whole thing she hugs the little girl tightly, trying to make sure she's not scared]].
* WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids: While the film tones down some of the more graphic elements of the book, it is still very horrifying and distressing what happens. Dustin Hoffman (who acted as producer) even remarked that his daughter would probably be hurt by seeing it, but said "I guess it's the good kind of hurt".

* {{Anvilicious}}: The film changes a lot of Hannah's simple naivety about her heritage into making her an ignorant teenager. For example she draws numbers on her arms in the book to look like her grandfather, simply not realizing what it means. This is changed in the film to her trying to get a tattoo - just so she can go on about her stupidity and ignorance later. Overall it gives the impression that modern teenagers should be punished for not knowing about the horrors of the Holocaust.

* FridgeHorror: One thing that neither the book nor the movie addresses is the fact that at the end of the story, Hannah is, in essence, a Holocaust survivor. Many people suffered lifelong trauma from that experience. What's worse is that for Hannah, getting help is likely to be difficult if not impossible because no one's going to believe that someone Hannah's age actually experienced the Holocaust. Given the way it happened, the possibility exists that she won't remember the experience clearly enough to be traumatized (her IdentityAmnesia in the book lends credence to this possibility), but this is never confirmed.

* {{Anvilicious}}: The film changes a lot of Hannah's simple naivety about her heritage into making her an ignorant teenager. For example she draws numbers on her arms in the book to look like her grandfather, simply not realising what it means. This is changed in the film to her trying to get a tattoo - just so she can go on about her stupidity and ignorance later. Overall it gives the impression that modern teenagers should be punished for not knowing about the horrors of the Holocaust.

** During the ride in the cattle car, a pregnant lady realises that [[GenreSavvy she must make herself look smaller]] and she spends the entirety of her time in the film trying to hide her pregnancy.

* SheReallyCanAct: Brittany Murphy was always heavily associated with romantic comedies that were light and unchallenging. Fans often pointed to this to show that she could do an against type role in a different genre.

** [[spoiler: Hannah's eventual death in the gas chambers, along with Sarah. Throughout the whole thing she hugs the little girl tightly, trying to make sure she's not scared.

* FauxSymbolism: At the start of the film, Hannah is about to get a tattoo but is stopped because she is late for dinner.
** As well as being a foreshadowing of the concentration camp tattoos the Jews are forced to get, it also indicates Hannah's lack of enthusiasm for Judaism--traditionally Jews are forbidden to get tattoos.
* NightmareFuel
* TearJerker

* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic: At the start of the film, Hannah is about to get a tattoo but is stopped because she is late for dinner.
** As well as being a foreshadowing of the concentration camp tattoos the Jews are forced to get, it also indicates Hannah's lack of enthusiasm for Judaism--traditionally Jews are forbidden to get tattoos

* CompleteMonster: Commandant Breuer.

* HighOctaneNightmareFuel