The Painted Bird (2019)

Directed by: Vaclav Marhoul | 169 minutes | drama, war | Actors: Petr Kotlár, Nina Sunevic, Alla Sokolova, Stanislav Bilyi, Ostap Dziadek, Zdenek Pecha, Michaela Dolezalová, Udo Kier, Lech Dyblik, Jitka Cvancarová, Daniel Beroun, Marika Sarah Procházková, Marie Stripkova, Milan Simácek, Martin Naháln , Dominik Weber, Petr Jenista, Irena Máchova, Josef Bedlivy

Based on Jerzy Kosiński’s bestseller of the same name, The Painted Bird is the long-awaited passion project of Czech director Václav Marhoul. While the original 1965 book already caused a lot of commotion (Kosiński was accused multiple times for plagiarism), the film adaptation goes one step further. At the Venice Film Festival in 2019, the film quickly gained a reputation due to its failure during the premiere. While some critics viewed the film as a daring masterpiece, there were others who couldn’t leave the theater fast enough. They say the film is too violent. Now war films often contain violence, but according to them ‘The Painted Bird’ would cross a moral line; the film is said to horribly glorify violence and make fun of the Holocaust. As befits festival films, this criticism is quite excessive, but in the case of ‘The Painted Bird’ it must be admitted that the violence is indeed the biggest problem.

In ‘The Painted Bird’ we follow the journey of a nameless boy through Eastern Europe. During the early days of the Second World War, his parents house him with his elderly aunt. When she suddenly dies, he has to make it on his own. The boy moves from village to village, but is always chased away by the population. During his search for a new home, he witnesses ignorance, exploitation and cruelty. Traces of kindness and compassion are almost impossible to find. The boy soon learns that survival is the top priority and that trust in others can be deadly.

It is never an easy task to portray historical atrocities on the big screen. On the one hand, the force of events must leave its impact on the viewer. On the other hand, the filmmaker must avoid the temptation to dwell too long on images of brutality. Unfortunately, director Václav Marhoul isn’t particularly successful at walking this thin line, often falling into the second trap. In some scenes, Marhoul believably captures the reality of the war, but most of the scenes fluctuate between absurdist and overly grim. A scene where an entire village is massacred by a group of fierce soldiers is a good example of this. This must be shocking, but when a villager is stabbed in the chest with a crucifix of Jesus, only to hear a Wilhelm scream less than a minute later, you soon unintentionally start laughing. Additions like this are completely out of place in a movie full of gruesome executions and graphic murders. It’s something that wouldn’t look out of place in a satire, but it’s out of place in a grim drama.

Amid the exaggerated violence, ‘The Painted Bird’ also struggles with a lack of psychological and thematic insight. The film suffers from an identity crisis and doesn’t seem to know what it means. Our main character’s journey could expose all sorts of interesting themes, but most of the time the film doesn’t get past the assumption that humans are evil through and through. The film believes that cruelty is fascinating in itself, and each time it descends to pure nihilism. Is this interesting? Not really.

However, the monotonous mood of the story is in stark contrast to the visual style of the film, which Marhoul distinguishes his work from other films about the Second World War. Shot in moody black and white, ‘The Painted Bird’ offers many impressive shots, sometimes reminiscent of the work of Andrei Tarkovsky. Some longtakes are surprisingly well done and given the few special effects, the devastated European landscape is portrayed very realistically. The representation of this place and time is also credible and it is evident that a lot of time has been invested in this.

The film certainly has qualities, but ultimately lacks streamlining and a gripping story. In combination with the large dose of violence, it is difficult to recommend the film, despite the attractive film style. This makes ‘The Painted Bird’ a typical case of doubt. There is plenty to enjoy, but you constantly have the idea that this could have been a better movie.