Lionsgate
In 2017, the movie Wonder was released, based on the 2012 children’ book of the same name by R. J. Palacio about a boy with a genetic disorder and the bullies that hurt him — it actually did pretty decently, all things considered, although the subject matter didn’t particularly interest me at the time so I never watched it. Palacio later released several sequel/spin-off tales which I also haven’t read, but the most recent White Bird: A Wonder Story which came out in 2019, has a bit more of a meaningful connection to me.
White Bird comes from director Marc Forster and screenwriter Mark Bomback as an adaptation of the aforementioned book, and is related tangentially through one of its major characters. The bully from the first movie, Julian (Bryce Gheisar, reprising his role), is having troubles, so his kindly grandmother and famed artist Sara (Helen Mirren, playing another elderly Jew with a heavy accent not her own after Golda) tells him her tragic, romantic backstory to help him put things into perspective and understand how kindness can change someone’s world.
This means we really get almost no time at all with Julian or his previous misadventures, which is helpful to me and others unfamiliar with the first movie because this story really isn’t connected narratively at all. Sara tells her grandson the story of herself as a young teen girl (newcomer Ariella Glaser) in France when the Nazis had occupied their town and caused her to flee and find shelter with young Julien (Orlando Schwerdt) and his nervous but willing family (parents played by Gillian Anderson and Jo Stone-Fewings as Vivienne and Jean Paul Beaumier).
Obviously Julien is a meaningful person, considering Sara’s grandson is named for him, but it comes about because Sara is kind to him — a young boy with polio who needs a cane to walk. At first the movie is about Sara’s family getting rounded up by the Gestapo, which I would say was not done in any exploitative way — a real potential concern for Holocaust-adjacent stories.
Most of the movie then is about Sara and Julien finding their unlikely connection as she hides in the family’s barn — Julien goes to school, gets bullied by the more able-bodied children, then returns home to teach Sara about everything he’s learned. He is also revealed to have a real artistic talent, which connects directly into Sara’s later life.
Of course we know Sara survives, so the tension must be about everyone else — Julien or his kind but nervous parents just trying to maintain some sense of normalcy in the midst of catastrophe. The two young actors, Ariella Glaser and Orlando Schwerdt, do an excellent job as likable youngsters with a real rapport, and some of the side characters that show up (like the collaborator sociopaths) are good at being intimidating.
The actual ending strains credulity in some odd ways, more than I was expecting, almost supernatural although not explicitly so. But the ultimate lesson still makes sense and I think for a movie targeted at the young adult audience, it’s not insulting and tells its moral tale well — perhaps though it’s not sophisticated enough for adults to really appreciate, I can still respect the intent behind this project to use a tragedy of the past to help change people in the present.
White Bird has a run time of 2 hours 1 minute, and is rated PG-13 for some strong violence, thematic material and language.
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