White Bird

Rated PG-13 • Theaters

It’s too bad movies about the Holocaust never stop being timely. No matter how many times we decry the horrors the Nazis perpetrated on the Jews, social media and college campuses seem to be rife with anti-Semitism. Lionsgate’s White Bird—nominally a follow-up to the popular film Wonder—introduces these heavy themes to kids in an age-appropriate way.

Based on the 2019 graphic novel of the same name, White Bird tells the story of a young Jewish French girl named Sara Blum and the family—particularly the crippled boy named Julian—who helped her hide during the Holocaust. Helen Mirren plays an old Sara Blum, who tells her grandson this story as a series of flashbacks to impress upon him the importance of being kind and standing up for the weak. She tells this story partly because her grandson was kicked out of his school for being cruel to another classmate (the events depicted in Wonder).

The movie walks the audience through multiple facets of the Nazi terror through the eyes of its young protagonists. We see people initially denying the threat the Nazis posed in occupied France, ordinary people helping the Nazis round up children, others (including Christians) helping hide Jews, and survivors experiencing grief at losing their loved ones. These scenes are clear and vivid, easy for children to follow along but containing a ring of authenticity for adults.

White Bird adds its own unique flourishes to the standard Holocaust story. Sarah and Julian invent whimsical and poignant fantasies of adventure while they’re hiding from Nazis. And their attempts to encourage each other despite their insecurities, like when she tries to convince him that he’s not weak just because he’s a cripple, have surprising emotional complexity. Unfortunately, long stretches of the film merely check the boxes of better Holocaust movies without adding much new. The movie also relies too heavily on Helen Mirren’s voiceover narration to explain story and character beats rather than showing them to us, blunting their emotional edge.

However, the film effectively shows the horrors of the Holocaust in a way that is reasonably safe for younger viewers. The movie is heartbreaking, particularly when characters we have grown to care for die. But depictions of death remain tame, basically bloodless and usually occur off-screen or from a distance. The movie’s central unifying message—that it’s important to defend the weak rather than bully them—offers a good framework to look at these events. 

So while those familiar with the historical events portrayed here may find little need for White Bird, families who want to pass these lessons to their youngest members will find much help. It’s a shame these lessons are still needed.