Disney�s harrowing new film deals with the Holocaust � but is it suitable viewing for children, asks Rebecca McQuillan

It starts off looking like a period piece aimed at a back-to-school audience seeking escapism. The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (12A), a Disney/Miramax collaboration, features steam trains crossing moonlit countryside and little boys in short trousers playing aeroplanes.

The lead character, Bruno, is an eight-year-old German, and though his dad is a Nazi, even that, somehow, doesn't break the spell.

When the family move to the country, Bruno makes friends with one of the boys who lives on the nearby "farm", Schmuel. They play draughts through the fence. But then come references to smoking chimneys, a strange smell, missing relatives. What is going on over there, Bruno wants to know? Why do they wear pyjamas all day?

By the time the film reaches its tragic conclusion, cosy assumptions about what constitutes a Disney children's drama are in shreds.

Adapted from John Boyne's 2006 bestseller, the film, which goes on general release next Friday, has once more raised the issue of what is appropriate viewing for children, a debate that has hardly died down since the hoo-ha over Batman, The Dark Knight, earlier this summer.

The focus of concern in that case was the film's scenes of violence. With The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, the questions have been wider ranging: can a children's film ever satisfactorily reflect the horror that was the Holocaust? And can children have the emotional maturity to handle so difficult a subject?

"We've been here before to some extent," says Dr Brian Young, a developmental psychologist from Exeter University who specialises on the effects of film and TV on children. He points to Life is Beautiful and Empire of the Sun, the first set in a concentration camp, the other in a PoW camp, and both certificate PG. Go back further and it becomes clear that there has always been a desire among film-makers to tackle difficult subjects for younger audiences, be that war, death or, further along the scale, bullying and divorce. Just think of Watership Down or When the Wind Blows.

Clearly, children's films can be a positive introduction to challenging ideas and there is a distinction to be made between films that are moving and those that are harrowing.

Often, a emotional wrench in a children's film actually helps anchor it in the viewer's affections.

"When Bambi's mother gets shot, and Bambi says Mother? Mother? Where are you Mother?' it makes me go like waterfalls," writes one Bambi fan among dozens on the Internet Movie Database website, adding in the next breath: "The film is wonderful for kids."

Alison Rowat, The Herald's film critic, remembers those teary moments at the cinema only too well: "It didn't help that we always sat in the middle of the row. The lights would go down, the sweets were opened, the action began, then it happened. Bambi's mother shot. Lassie limping home. Mrs Jumbo wrongly convicted. By now bawling my heart out, the entire tribe had to pack up and leave the cinema. Very noisily. Very slowly. The Nazis left Russia with more good grace."

"There's been a tradition in film of genres that are therapeutic for people," says Young. "The genre of the weepy is one example; horror is another. You get this frissant peeping between your fingers." Horror films may be aimed at older adolescents, but children, too, can and do safely enjoy delectable fear, as the success of Doctor Who shows.

Young is not convinced children's films tackle more challenging issues today than in the past, but he does note one significant development: the hyper realism of much modern cinema violence. There is always a danger that graphic scenes might revisit a child in his or her dreams.

The challenge for parents is judging whether their child can cope with a given film. In this, they must to some extent be guided by film classifications. Dr Young says these cut-off points are not as arbitrary as they appear. "Take 12A: before the age of 12, children have a more limited understanding of the world. There are changes cognitively as well as physically at that age."

The 12A certificate, introduced in 2002, means that no child under 12 may see the film unless accompanied by an adult.

But is a certificate enough? Mary, 42, a mother of three from Colinton, doesn't think so. "You have to go by your own judgment," she says, "and you need specific information to do that.

"Some 12s are fine, but I wouldn't want my children to see a film about the Holocaust because they don't know enough about the history or context. A story about betrayal of trust and powerlessness could be quite psychologically harmful for a child who is too young."

The British Board of Film Classification has a very useful parental guidance site - www.pbbfc.co.uk - to help people make such judgments. Films, DVDs and video games, not just the latest cinema releases, are included.

There have always been films with debatable classifications. Watership Down, on DVD rated U, is one. One fan on the IMDB site writes: "It frightened me to death. Blood on the fields, rabbits caught in snares bleeding from the mouth," though they add: "Please don't let these comments put you or your children off watching it!"

Many believe it is too graphic for younger children. On the Amazon site, this comment is typical: "There is no question the BBFC made one of its most incomprehensible errors by passing this as a U certificate."

Violent scenes and death are one thing, but unfortunately it's not always possible to predict what will upset a child, says Young.

A child might breeze through Kes but be terrified by the monolith in 2001: A Space Odyssey. A cartoon or superhero story, however, is likely to have less effect than a story involving real children.

So what about adolescents? Teenagers, Young points out, "thrive" on themes and subjects that even adults find disturbing, such as torture and war, "because it is an introduction to their new world". "They may be upset, but we have no reason to exclude them from that. After all, the most violence you see on TV is on the news." With children of any age, adult guidance can help them cope.

Margaret McNeil, a retired English teacher from Forres, says: "There is a danger, I think, with a child being left alone with a film or a book. The important thing is not letting the child go away with potential worries but talking through any concerns they might have.

"I don't think you should shelter them from things that are difficult. But you need to know your children: has someone died in their family, has a pet been killed?"

William Morrison, a teacher of English in Aberdeen, has found Mrs Doubtfire to be hugely popular with children, something he puts down to the fact that it deals with divorce in an accessible way. He says it's important to show children films certified for their age group but, beyond that, he very much agrees that the maturity of the individual must be taken into account.

"A film might not be appropriate to a certain 14 year old but it might be to a more emotionally aware 13 year old," he says. "There are a lot of TVs in children's bedrooms, but all viewing should be with parents. They can act as a buffer."

That way, films can help explore difficult subjects - and provide some priceless memories.