This disturbing portrayal of a child at war will have you on the edge of your seat – ready to run, but unable to stop watching
At the 2019 Venice Film Festival, 12 members of the audience attempted to escape The Painted Bird screening, lashing out and falling up the stairs in the process. Why? Because this horrifying drama exposes the absolute worst of mankind, as collected from survivor testimony, shown through the eyes of a child. And, at almost three hours long, it’s distressing watching to say the least.
Adapted from Jerzy Kosinski’s 1965 novel of the same name by Czech director Vaclav Markhoul, this black-and-white drama forms a truly disturbing sequence of accounts following a young, unnamed boy (Petr Kotlár) in war-time Eastern Europe.
Despite portraying the most controversial scenes of grave terror, Kotlár carries the entire film excellently. His character is known as ‘The Boy’ until the final minute of action, which adds a touch of sentimentality to an otherwise brutal watch. However, this makes the violence and extremely graphic scenes no easier to stomach.
Kotlár depicts a Jewish boy left in the care of his aunt during World War II, but he is abruptly thrown into the deep end after her sudden death, initiating the savage storyline. Varying accounts of those The Boy ends up staying with illustrate the narrative – their names separating each story – as he becomes older and more disturbed with each harrowing experience.
The transformation into a traumatised adolescent is no surprise; Kotlár’s character is involved in sheer ruthlessness, shown sexually explicit darkness and startling ulterior motives. As a result, he becomes more anguished with every scene, developing the skills to murder in order to survive and soften the blow of victimisation in such a barbaric world.
Considering there are 169 minutes of this morbid doom, the saving grace comes in an understated gesture towards the boy’s heartbroken father upon finally being reunited with his troubled son and extradited from a place of such horror. Although the boy refuses to acknowledge his father on his return, his realisation of his father’s experiences running concurrently with his own forces a (very) slight emotional response, albeit while his father sleeps.
One for the faint-hearted this is not; the line of comfortable viewing is crossed dramatically. With The Painted Bird Markhoul has managed to simultaneously produce a grotesque piece of cinema that is at once too traumatising to see, but impossible to stop watching.
By Dani Silver
The Painted Bird is released in UK cinemas Friday 27 March.Visit thepaintedbirdfilm.co.uk to find your nearest screening.