The Movie Waffler Controversial Holocaust Drama THE PAINTED BIRD Comes to UK/ROI Cinemas in March [Trailer/Poster] | The Movie Waffler

Controversial Holocaust Drama THE PAINTED BIRD Comes to UK/ROI Cinemas in March [Trailer/Poster]

the painted bird
Vaclav Marhoul’s unflinching wartime drama comes to UK/ROI cinemas in March.


the painted bird poster



How best to depict the horrific events of WWII in a way that will impact modern audiences? Through comedy, ala JoJo Rabbit, or through unflinching horror? Czech director Vaclav Marhoul’s The Painted Bird, adapted from the novel by Jerzy Kosinski, certainly opts for the latter category, so much so that mass walkouts occurred at its Venice Film Festival premiere, with many audience members unable to endure its confrontational imagery.

Much like Volker Schlöndorff's The Tin Drum and Elem Klimov's Come and See, The Painted Bird is focussed on the horrors of war as seen by a child, in this case a young Jewish boy (Petr Kotlár) left to fend for himself in a hostile and hellish environment. The international cast features Udo Kier, Stellan Skarsgård, Harvey Keitel, Julian Sands and Barry Pepper.

The Painted Bird is in UK/ROI cinemas March 27th.

Check out the trailer below.


The official synopsis reads:

The film follows the journey of a boy, entrusted by his Jewish parents to an elderly foster mother in an effort to escape persecution. Following a tragedy, the boy is on his own.  Wandering through the desecrated countryside, the boy encounters villagers and soldiers whose own lives have been brutally altered, and who are intent on revisiting this brutality on the boy. When the war ends, the boy has been changed, forever.