The Painted Bird’ Caused Walkouts With Its Pedophilia, Bestiality, and Nazis. It’s an Extraordinary Film.
Nick Schager | Updated Jul. 16, 2020 8:09AM ET | Published Jul. 16, 2020 4:23AM ETThe Painted Bird is a masterful epic about a young unnamed Jewish Boy (Petr Kotlár) navigating a bleak Eastern European landscape during World War II, and when it had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival last September, it was equally praised and decried as brutal and harrowing thanks to its horrifying scenes of murder, pedophilia and bestiality. Ask Czech writer/director Václav Marhoul about that reaction, however, and he confesses that he views his third feature—a nearly three-hour, black-and-white adaptation of Jerzy Kosiński’s 1965 novel of the same name, boasting supporting turns from Stellan Skarsgård, Harvey Keitel, Udo Kier, Julian Sands, and Barry Pepper—in a far different light.
“It’s about hope,†the 60-year-old Marhoul states via Skype a week before the film’s July 17 VOD debut. That optimistic perspective, he believes, is why following years of struggle, he was able to secure the rights to Kosiński’s acclaimed book. Pitching his take as about “the three most important things in life: love, good and hope,†Marhoul suspects that, “maybe they were shocked because they expected another reason why I’d want to make this movie. I was trying to explain that it was based on the opposite. I feel hope and good and love is so important in life, mostly when we are missing those three important things. Maybe that was the reason why they said okay, Václav, we’ll give it to you.†. . .
https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-painted-bird-caused-walkouts-with-its-pedophilia-bestiality-and-nazis-its-an-extraordinary-film?ref=home
The book by Jerzy Kosinski is the most horrible story I have ever read. After the first chapter, you think it couldn't possibly get any worse. But it does. The symbolism of the title is that if one captures a bird, paints its feathers different colors, and then releases it, the bird will be viciously attacked and eventually killed by its own flock members.
Not for the faint of heart, but I look forward to seeing this film adaptation, especially from an Eastern European vantage. We should never sweep under the rug the underlying causes for the Holocaust, no matter how unsettling they may be. History must not be repeated here.
.
×œ×¢×•×œ× ×œ× ×¢×•×“