Quick Take: The Painted Bird is an evocative, painfully stunning cinematic achievement that celebrates the perseverance of the human spirit (if you’re brave enough to watch it).

The only thing I knew prior to watching The Painted Bird was its infamous receptions from both the 2019 Venice and Toronto Film Festivals. At TIFF, The Hollywood Reporter claimed 40 people left the 522-seat theater during its nearly 3-hour runtime. I’m here to tell you that, after having watched the controversial historic drama based on Jerzy Kosiński’s brutal novel, the film lives up to its shocking reputation.

Set in a desolate part of Nazi-occupied Eastern Europe during WWII, The Painted Bird follows a young Jewish boy (Petr Kotlár) as he singularly navigates through horrible circumstances in order to find safety with his family. After the death of his elderly caretaker, who was safeguarding him from the hideousness of the War, the boy is left to fend for himself as he bounces around from person to person, almost all of whom take advantage of his youth, body, naivete, and heritage. As one can imagine, the more the story unfolds, the harder it is to stomach, especially when you think about the fact that this narrative isn’t that farfetched from the reality of those times.

Masterful in its composition and performances yet nearly unbearable to watch, The Painted Bird sees a possum set on fire, human eyeballs scooped out with a spoon, and sodomy with a wine bottle, and that’s all just within the first hour. Director Václav Marhoul places heavy emphasis on the atrocity and brutality towards this young boy to show a mentality that despite how feeble and vulnerable one is, if he is “different,” he is “worthless.” Shooting on 35mm black and white film at a 1:2.35 aspect ratio offers a richly emotive format that brings out the film’s strongest qualities: the performances. The slimness of dialogue is more than made up for in the close-ups and layered performances from newcomer Petr Kotlár and veteran actors Stellan Skarsgaard, Harvey Keitel, and Udo Kier. The Painted Bird is an evocative, painfully stunning cinematic achievement that celebrates the perseverance of the human spirit.

Distributed by IFC Films, The Painted Bird is available on VOD this Friday, July 17th.