The Bird Catcher

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.

This film tells a heart breaking story set during a Nazi occupied Norway. It tells the story of a brave girl who tries very hard to survive. It is easy to feel sympathetic towards Esther. Even the supporting characters are well developed, and I really feel for Aksel and his parents. In short, it is a very engaging and touching story. It is beautifully shot as well. I recommend this film wholeheartedly.

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.

Norway isn't an area that our home knows a great deal about, so it was surprising that some of their folk during WW2 actually supported Nazi Germany. I would suggest it unlikely that 1 young female would go through so much on her own. However, this pulls no punches as to how difficult is was for any jewish person living in Norwegian society during the war. In this case, we have a young girl hiding out in on a farm, the lead actress doing a very good job with her part. The ending is, perhaps, a surprise and possibly unlikely. Perhaps you will take a serious look at this movie which tells one story of a young womans struggle without any involvement of "Hollywood", it has a "no holds barred" approach to some of the realities of war. Nazi Germany had much to answer for.

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..