Moving “White Bird” thrives on the power of love
At a time when candidates are calculatingly sowing seeds of hate for political gain, “White Bird” attempts to administer the antidote with its themes of tolerance and understanding. It doesn’t always work, at times confusing schmaltz for sentiment, but maintains its relevance with a story firmly rooted in the past but with a cautionary lesson about what may be our future.
As the second film treatment based on the “Wonder” series by young adult author R.J. Palacio, “White Bird” has all the depth of an after-school special geared toward attention-deficient teens. But it resonates in unexpected ways due in no small part to a stunning debut by Ariella Glaser as a French Anne Frank. We first meet her Sara in the carefree days before a Nazi invasion of her small town sends the 15-year-old Jew fleeing for her life, assisted by Julien (Orlando Schwerdt), an ostracized classmate stricken with polio.
At great risk to himself and his parents, Julien conceals her in the family’s rustic barn for months on end as suspicion mounts that he’s much more than just an easy target for his bullying peers. That includes Sara who never bothered to learn Julien’s name, instead joining with her friends, however tacitly, in labeling him Tourteau (French for crab) because of how he sidles in his heavy leg braces. But once he becomes Sara’s protector, she finally sees him for the gentle, tender-hearted hero that he is.
Fans of “Wonder,” the surprise 2016 blockbuster starring Julia Roberts and Owen Wilson as the parents of a child with a facial disfigurement, will no doubt instantly recognize the similarities in plot and messaging. And if by chance you don’t, we have the previous film’s bully-in-chief, Julian (Bryce Gheisar), on hand as part of a framing device that clunkily ties the two movies together. Although Gheisar is more than 5 years older than when last seen, we’re asked to accept that his Julian starts over at a new school just weeks after his expulsion for bullying Auggie, the protagonist in “Wonder.” No big deal, but just saying …
The point is Julian hasn’t learned much from past experience, as evidenced by how quickly he gravitates toward the “cool kids” at Yates Academy. When he tells his visiting grand-mère (Helen Mirren) about his new arrogant pals, she sits him down to impart some wisdom she gained about acceptance as a teenager in France, circa 1942. Her name? Sara. Yup, the very same one from the barn.
So, back and forth we go between the present and past, with Mirren losing a little more of her erratic French accent with each sporadic check-in. At least she gives it a shot. The rest of the cast eschews all efforts at sounding French or German by resorting to the clipped tones of the upper-class British. It’s jarring at first, but you get used to it. It’s part and parcel of a disappointing lack of authenticity on the part of director Marc Forster (“Finding Neverland”).
He and writer Mark Bomback, tasked with adapting Palacio’s graphic novel, prefer a more fantastical approach. Sure, there are scenes of disturbing brutality and abhorrent cruelty, but the film persistently favors the fanciful, with Julien and Sara often indulging in escapism. Like hopping into a dilapidated truck inside the barn and fantasizing they are navigating the streets of Paris and New York, or traversing the African savannah observing zebras.
It’s charming in multiple ways, illustrating the capacity of children to cope with trauma through imagination. But it also diminishes the movie’s potential to shake us out of our inertia with reminders of the dangerous places division can direct us. I also could do without the cartoonish villainy characterized by Jem Matthews’ Vincent, a junior Nazi and anti-Semite deriving rabidly sadistic pleasure from getting his classmates killed or imprisoned.
Still, I can’t say the budding star-crossed love story between Julien and Sara didn’t get to me. The two actors have terrific chemistry and the eagerness with which their characters support each other is admirable, not to mention inspiring.
The duo and their fate will surely move you and, hopefully, serve as a wake-up call to our splintered nation and forewarning of its frightening flirtation with fascism. For them, it’s too late. For us, there’s still time. But how will we choose to invest it? That’s the partisan question “White Bird” seems to put forward as the titular avian (a symbol of hope and peace) is shown not-so-subtly flying past Trump Tower before the screen fades to black.
Movie review
White Bird
Rated: PG-13 for thematic material, some strong violence and language
Cast: Helen Mirren, Ariella Glaser, Orlando Schwerdt, Bryce Gheisar and Gillian Anderson
Director: Marc Forster
Writer: Mark Bomback
Runtime: 2 hours
Where: In theaters Oct. 4
Grade: B-
