Just last month, ABC News’ David Muir traveled back to the Nazi death camp Auschwitz with a number of individuals who had survived its incomprehensible horrors as children. 75 years have passed since the camp’s liberation. In all likelihood, the most profound moments of the journey back were the grown children venturing back into where the crematoria and gas chambers once stood and encouraging their children and grandchildren to do the same. They want future generations to never forget. “The Painted Bird” is one film that accomplishes that mission.
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Written, produced and directed by Vaclav Marhoul (“Mazany Filip” & “Tobruk”), the project is adapted from the 1965 novel of the same name by Jerzy Kosinski. It was the Czech Republic’s entry for Best International Feature Film at this year’s Academy Awards and—like “Schindler’s List”—is shot in black-and-white. The movie also holds the distinction of being the first to use the Interslavic language. Marhoul has commented that he made that decision based on not wanting a single Slavic country to be the focus of the film.
Petr Kotlar makes his big-screen debut as the young boy desperate to survive amidst a war-torn landscape. Udo Kier—whom American audiences might know best from movies like “Downsizing” and “Blade”— and Jitka Cvancarova (“Men in Hope”) also star. Other cast members include the likes of Stellan Skarsgard (“Good Will Hunting” & the Marvel Cinematic Universe), Harvey Keitel (“Reservoir Dogs” & “The Irishman”), and Barry Pepper (“Saving Private Ryan” & “The Green Mile”).
Here’s the synopsis:
Based on the acclaimed Jerzy Kosiriski novel, THE PAINTED BIRD is a meticulous 35mm black and white evocation of wild, primitive Eastern Europe at the bloody close of World War II. The film follows the journey of The Boy, entrusted by his persecuted parents to an elderly foster mother. The old woman soon dies and the Boy is on his own, wandering through the countryside, from village to village, farmhouse to farmhouse. As he struggles for survival, The Boy suffers through extraordinary brutality meted out by the ignorant, superstitious peasants and he witnesses the terrifying violence of the efficient, ruthless soldiers, both Russian and German. In a defining scene, one of the peasants shows The Boy the flight of a captive bird, whom the man has painted and then released back into its own flock. The bird is immediately ripped apart because it is different from its fellows. That lesson reinforces all The Boy already knows and will soon know better: difference is fatal. But there are rare moments of compassion: a German soldier spares The Boy, a priest intervenes on his behalf, and finally The Boy becomes the protégé of a Russian sniper, who is kind to the child, but ruthless with the enemy. And there are signs of love. The Boy is seduced by an older girl, finally re-discovering the comfort of intimacy, only to realize that he has been used. When he is miraculously reunited with his weakened father at the end of the war, The Boy is cold and impenetrable, hardened by his ordeal. Yet we can still glimpse something of the old, sensitive Boy behind the eyes of the new. Perhaps there is hope.
“The Painted Bird”—distributed by IFC Films—is set to be released in U.S. theaters on April 17. Don’t overlook this powerful film that also says never again and check out the trailer below.
