Helen Mirren recounts an emotive tale of her time as a Jewish schoolgirl in Nazi-occupied France in Marc Forster’s handsome adaptation of R.J. Palacio’s graphic novel.

Young adult fiction is replete with franchise dissemination. But a single franchise incorporating novels, short stories, board book, picture book, graphic novel, movie and movie prequel – all accentuating the power of kindness – is more uncommon. R.J. Palacio, the nom de plume of the American writer and graphic designer Raquel Palacio, made her name with the contemporary children’s novel Wonder, which was adapted into a successful film starring Julia Roberts, Owen Wilson and, as their son Auggie Pullman, Jacob Tremblay. The latter movie was not only heart-wrenching but extremely funny and frequently overturned one’s preconceptions while advocating open-mindedness to a mainstream audience. You see, Auggie Pullman is no ordinary ten-year-old, but a boy who suffers from mandibulofacial dysostosis, a facially disfiguring syndrome that prompted his mother Isabel (Roberts) to homeschool him, away from the innate cruelty of other children.

In White Bird, a tangential sequel, its protagonist Sara Blum (Ariella Glaser) is also homeschooled, but for very different reasons. Being a Jewish schoolgirl in Nazi-occupied France, she is taken under the wing of a boy who she had previously scorned for being both the son of a sewage worker and for being disabled, as he is stricken by polio. She, on the other hand, comes from a comfortable middle-class family, with a doctor for a father and a mother who teaches maths. “When life was as good as mine was,” she says in retrospect, “there is much you cannot see.” And she couldn’t see what was happening all around her in 1942 because she really didn’t have to. Then, when her world looked as if it was about to end, only the boy she had belittled – Julien (Orlando Schwerdt) – comes to her rescue, painstakingly recounting the details of the lessons she is no longer in a position to attend.

All this is related by a grown-up Sara (Helen Mirren), who is visiting New York for a retrospective of her paintings. The time is now the present and is the right time to re-visit a past that was previously too painful to talk about. It is to her grandson Julian Albans (Bryce Gheisar) that the narrative is unfolded, the very boy who taunted Auggie Pullman in Wonder.

Recalling Brian Percival’s The Book Thief (2013) in tone and material, White Bird has the advantage of being directed by that proficient storyteller Marc Forster, previously responsible for The Kite Runner, Quantum of Solace and A Man Called Otto. Thomas Newman is on hand to provide the emotive score, while Matthias Koenigswieser makes war-time France (filmed in the Czech Republic) as eye-catching as a Ridley Scott commercial. One may sense where the story is headed, but there are surprises, as there are in any wartime setting. Ariella Glaser is a particularly striking presence as Sara and she is well supported by Schwerdt as Julien and by Dame Helen as the grande dame of Paris. It is to the film’s benefit that Forster has dialled back the performances, allowing for the injustice and horrors of anti-Semitism to provide the true drama rather than any scenery-chewing Nazis. As long as bigotry and fanaticism continue in a divided world, it is important to tell these stories to the next generation, particularly in a non-exploitative manner and without sensationalism. The French peasants may speak perfect English, but this haunting, poignant film deserves as wide an international audience as it can get.

Also known as: White Bird: A Wonder Story.

JAMES CAMERON-WILSON

Cast: Ariella Glaser, Orlando Schwerdt, Bryce Gheisar, Gillian Anderson, Helen Mirren, Patsy Ferran, Ishai Golan, Jem Matthews, Stuart McQuarrie, Olivia Ross, Jo Stone-Fewings, Priya Ghotane, Jordan Cramond, Teagan Booth.

Dir Marc Forster, Pro Todd Lieberman, David Hoberman and R.J. Palacio, Screenplay Mark Bomback, based on White Bird: A Wonder Story by R.J. Palacio, Ph Matthias Koenigswieser, Pro Des Jennifer Williams, Ed Matt Chessé, Music Thomas Newman, Costumes Jenny Beavan, Sound P.K. Hooker and William Files, Dialect coach Dale Wyatt.

Participant/Kingdom Story Company/ Mandeville Films/Media Capital Technologies/Lionsgate/ 2DUX² Productions-Lionsgate.
120 mins. USA. 2024. US Rel: 4 October 2024. UK Rel: 25 January 2025. Cert. 12A.

White Bird

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