The Birdcatcher

I am fussy about detail....When the girl jumps off the truck in the middle of winter and falls into a river...she gets to shore and throws her wet coat away and walks away in the cold soaking wet and not even a chill...Dry hair blowing in the wind..

No, Esther did not really look like a boy, and a few other details were not totally realistic, but so what? Overall I found The Birdcatcher effective and I was engrossed from beginning to end. Often when watching films it's necessary to suspend disbelief and some films require it more than others. During the Holocaust, Jews did anything they could to not be captured by the Nazis. They were hunted prey. Some of the survival stories are hard to believe yet they happened. Imagine living in a sewer for a couple of years. Or a forest, or a crawl space.

The cinematography was excellent with gorgeous shots of Norway in winter. The plot which is based on a true story is, as I said, engrossing. There is some fine acting too. It's definitely worth watching unless you're into movies like Deadpool or Guardians of the Galaxy.

This Anglo-Norwegian production tells the story of Esther (SarahSofie Boussnina), a 14-year-old Jewish orphan in Germanoccupied Norway during WW2. Disguising herself as a Gentile boy, she seeks refuge with a collaborationist family. Serious suspension of disbelief is required to accept the heroine's masquerade, while emotional resonance is diluted by a streak of melodrama.

A young Jewish girl, against seemingly insurmountable odds, survives the war disguised as a boy. The film portrays her as a young woman of immense courage and determination - and it is brought home to the viewer precisely what someone in her position might have had to endure. A beautiful, sad and thought-provoking film..worth far higher a score than it received.

A completely different kind of WW2 drama, The Bird Catcher is an eloquent, elegant film. Esther is a Norwegian Jewish teen from the picturesque town of Trondheim, who dreams of becoming an actress. Escaping a brutal Nazi roundup,, she finds a strange, tense refuge on a farm that will soon require her to make use of all her talents in order to survive. But many other characters also struggle to survive their own nightmares - the Nazi collaborating farmer, his dysfunctional family and decadent German officers occupying the farm. Parts of the plot might be labelled predictable, but were really just inevitable. The quality of acting and directing kept me involved right through to the poignant ending that spoke of forgiveness and compassion.