The creators and cast of “White Bird” appear together at its New York City premiere, Sept. 26, 2024. Author R.J. Palacio is second from left. (Michael Loccisano\/WireImage)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cReminding people about the Holocaust and learning from lessons of the past should not be something that\u2019s left to Jewish people alone,\u201d Palacio told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. \u201cHaving a Jewish husband also just kicked that into high-gear for me \u2014 and having two sons who share this heritage as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
She was inspired by Martin Gilbert\u2019s \u201cThe Righteous,\u201d a book dedicated to non-Jews who risked their lives to help Jews during World War II. The influence is clear in Palacio\u2019s story: When German troops occupy Sara\u2019s French village, another student named Julien (Orlando Schwerdt) \u2014 bullied at school because he has lost the use of one leg to polio \u2014 helps her hide in his family\u2019s barn, aided by his selfless parents, for over a year.<\/p>\n
Julien\u2019s altruism contrasts with the opportunistic cruelty of Vincent, a classmate who was attractive to Sara before the Nazis marched into their village and he rushed to help them. \u201cWhite Bird\u201d delves into the greatest charm and the greatest danger of children \u2014 their malleability.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is an emotional but also a very inspiring time in a person\u2019s life,\u201d said Palacio. \u201cWhen they\u2019re 10 to 13, they are kind of exploring who they are, who they want to be, trying on their different personalities. They\u2019re making little moral choices all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n
The moral poles represented by Julien and Vincent are as digestible for Sara\u2019s grandson as they are for viewers of \u201cWhite Bird.\u201d The lessons contained in their story \u2014 primarily the importance of empathy, tolerance and integrity \u2014 are made simpler by the medium of Holocaust fiction. In the vast turmoil of World War II, many rescuers acted out of altruism, neighborliness and love. Others were motivated by money and abandoned Jews when the money ran out. There were selfish people who made one choice to save a life, and generous people who made one choice to look away. But in a fiction about children with clearly outlined principles, it is easier to find the moral takeaway.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhite Bird\u201d joins a new wave of efforts to make learning about the Holocaust more accessible for relatively young children, including an exhibit about Danes who saved Jews from the Nazis at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York that says it is for children 8 and up. Advocates of this approach to Holocaust material argue that children have too long been hammered over the head with shocking atrocities, and younger children especially are more receptive to stories about fairness and hope \u2014 which they can more readily parallel to experiences in their own lives.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhite Bird\u201d punishes Vincent with a Grimm fairytale-style demise, involving wolves who pounce in the forest while he chases after Sara. It\u2019s the most dramatic incident of storybook imagery that traces the children\u2019s fantasies in \u201cWhite Bird,\u201d which also includes imagined trips to Paris and New York from the confines of Sara\u2019s hiding place. Forster, who translated the fantastical episodes from Palacio\u2019s book into film, said the story\u2019s emotional authenticity allowed him to play with magical realism.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you tell a story with magical realism, at the beginning the key is to really find the foundation in realism,\u201d Forster told JTA. \u201cYou feel that the story is real, the characters are grounded, the world is grounded \u2014 once you have established that connection, the characters can take you into their imagination.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although Vincent does not get redemption, Julian does. The recent bully, named for Sara\u2019s rescuer, is a changed person after learning about how his grandmother was hunted down solely for her identity and saved by another outcast. He apologizes to a classmate he treated rudely at the start of the film and even joins his school\u2019s social justice group.<\/p>\n
\u201cI really thought it was important that kids who saw themselves in Julian \u2014 who might be bullies themselves \u2014 understand that their paths are not predetermined, and one bad mistake doesn\u2019t define you,\u201d said Palacio. \u201cEveryone has a chance to start again.\u201d<\/p>\n
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