White Bird

Stories produced in Hollywood centering on WWII, and more to the point, the hiding of Jews due to the rise of Nazism through Adolf Hitler, are sobering films at best, and need to be shown ever so often as to not forget about a horrific time. As with "Schindler's List", "Sophie's Choice" and "The Pianist", "White Bird" is no exception.

Struggling to fit in at a new school after being expelled for his treatment of Auggie Pullman, Julian Albans (Bryce Gheisar) is visited by his Grandmere Sara Blum (Helen Mirren) and is transformed by the story of her being a young Jewish girl, Sara (Ariella Glaser) and her being hidden by one of her classmates, Julien Beaumier (Orlando Schwerdt) and his family, mother and father (Gillian Anderson) and (Jo Stone-Fewings) respectively, and her attempts to escape Nazi-occupied France during WWII. As she was hidden for more than a year, Julien and her became best friends along with his family. 

Others to round out the cast are Priya Ghotane as Rahmiya, Teagan Booth as Dillon, Selma Kaymakci as Mariann, Jem Matthews as Vincent, Stuart McQuarrie as Pastor Luc, Mia Kadlecova as Sophie, Laura Hudeckova as Sara (age 5 & 8), Ishai Golan as Max Blum and Olivia Ross as Rose Blum. 

This was brilliantly directed with amazing pathos and heart by Marc Forster ("Loungers" '95, "Everything Put Together" 2000, "Monster's Ball" '01, "Finding Neverland" '04, "Stay" '05, "Stranger Than Fiction" '06, "The Kite Runner" '07, "Quantum of Solace" '08, "Machine Gun Preacher" '11, "World War Z" '13, "All I See Is You" '16, "Christopher Robin" '18, "A Man Called Otto" '22) plus TV, a short and a video. By his very resume, this filmmaker is a chameleon in that he can't be pigeon-holed. He's done it all: comedy, drama, espionage, fantasy, sci-fi, and with this film, he has put a whole new slant on the holocaust days of Nazi Germany. The intensity and grit was immense as was the heart and sobriety captivating. It was equally penned well by veteran writer Mark Bomback ("The Night Caller" '98, "Godsend" '04, "Live Free or Die Hard" '07, "Deception" '08, "Race to Witch Mountain" '09, "Unstoppable" '10, "Total Recall" '12, "The Wolverine" '13, "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes" '14, "The Divergent Series: Insurgent" '15, "War for the Planet of the Apes" '17, "The Art of Racing in the Rain" '19) plus TV, based on the book by R.J. Palacio. This is written as a series of flashbacks from the beginning whereas Grandmere is confronting her grandson, Julian about his improper treatment of Jews. And as she tells her story, we are brought back to WWII and Nazi-occupied France, and then goes back and forth from 1942 and back to present. The writing was sequenced well, concise, cohesive and knew how to capture the audience's heart. Everyone was effective in their respective roles especially that of Helen Mirren, Orlando Schwerdt and Ariella Qaser. 

If you like the films that chronicle the horror of war, especially that of the Nazi WWII era, you will find this captivating, yet sobering. With anti-semitism on the rise today, it's shocking that we haven't learned our lesson in how we treat Jewish people or anyone that one may have an issue with. We need to grow up as a society and learn and retain the horrific past memories and rid of these prejudices once and for all. This film was amazing and should be required viewing in any high school. You be the judge. 

Out of 4 Stars: 4                                           Rated: PG-13                                            121mins.