REFUGEES AND RACISM. Set in occupied Germany in the aftermath of WW II, THE TALL BOY couldn’t be more timely. An American relief worker tells the story of three orphaned boys, Czech, Polish, and Italian aged 15, 14, and 12 who are dumped at a displaced persons‘ camp for “unaccompanied children”. But the boys are GI mascots – They were swept up by US Army units during the war and the Army is now their family. They wear cut-down US Army uniforms and speak English in accents learned from the soldiers who befriended them, and they are desperate to get to America to be reunited with their Army buddies. But the US isn’t welcoming refugees at this time, and only one boy has a soldier who is committed to adopting him - but that soldier happens to be black. Things come to a head when the American relief worker tries to explain American race relations to the tall boy.