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Alan Ng reviews “White Bird,” now playing in theaters.
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0:03
all right white bird hey white bird is
0:06
uh is one of lion Gates uh another
0:09
Lion's gate movie it comes from their
0:10
faith
0:11
brand uh it is supposedly the sequel to
0:15
Wonder but it's actually just a
0:16
continuation of this story uh it takes a
0:19
different direction uh our antagonist in
0:21
Wonder the bully Julian uh has been
0:23
kicked out of school for his bullying uh
0:26
he is now in a new school where he keeps
0:28
his head down uh where he just tries to
0:30
fit in and just be normal and not be
0:33
noticed H and then uh he goes home one
0:36
day his parents are gone uh they went
0:39
off to some party and left is his
0:42
grandmother who uh he forgot was going
0:44
to visit grandmother is played by Helen
0:46
mirin and uh when he talks about his day
0:49
uh he's he just goes off you know I I'm
0:53
just trying to get through the day and
0:55
she says well you need to be better than
0:56
that she tells him her story when she
1:00
was a young girl in France uh a Jewish
1:03
girl and uh at this time the Nazis were
1:06
just starting to uh to take over France
1:09
and start rounding up uh the Jewish
1:12
citizens of of France and they go to uh
1:15
her school and they began rounding up
1:18
the and she
1:20
escapes uh and uh and in and almost
1:23
getting caught she is saved by a young
1:26
man Julian who is uh disabled has
1:29
trouble walking uh because of polio and
1:33
he decides that he's going to take her
1:35
in um and and basically hide her from
1:38
the Nazis uh and her they they hide her
1:41
in the family Barn uh Julian and his
1:44
parents uh mother played by Jillian
1:47
Anderson and uh this is uh I'll say this
1:51
there are a lot of Holocaust movies and
1:53
this is another holocaust movie um is it
1:56
like Diary of Anne Frank slightly
1:59
shades of slightly I mean they're
2:02
they're parallels let's just put it that
2:04
way um you know but again we l cost
2:08
movies and you know I guess we keep
2:11
these stories out there we we retell
2:13
these stories to get them get the
2:15
stories out to a new generation because
2:17
quite frankly the the stories are
2:19
important but there are a lot of these
2:21
stories um uh just one thing uh it takes
2:25
place in France but everyone has British
2:26
accents and Helen mirin kind of slips in
2:29
and out of for French and British accent
2:32
um now as much as I say that we've seen
2:34
a lot of these movies I will say that
2:36
there are moments that kind of resonate
2:38
to today uh first of all this idea that
2:42
neighbors are basically becoming Nazi
2:45
sympathizers and Outing their Jewish
2:48
neighbors uh you know these uh the Jews
2:52
in in uh this city in France are not
2:55
able to go into store uh into stores and
2:58
restaurants because they kind isn't
3:00
wanted have we heard this story recently
3:03
um and so I I think it's weird how the
3:07
these elements of those stories kind of
3:09
resonate more today than I than I have
3:12
seen it in the past and um but I think
3:16
yeah go ahead no no no go
3:18
ahead yeah so I'll tell you so um so the
3:22
movie points out a couple things one is
3:24
the the idea that a of a community
3:26
turning on its own uh you know and how
3:31
you know you get that and also the story
3:34
itself um it's more than just kind of
3:36
telling uh uh Helen mir's story uh her
3:40
name is uh I forget the got the notes I
3:45
forget the character's name uh but the
3:48
story is really about a higher calling
3:50
that we all have you know for Julian he
3:53
just wants to keep his head down and and
3:55
the story that his grandmother is trying
3:57
to tell him is um you you were made to
4:00
be better than that you're we as people
4:02
are not allowed to just sit back and let
4:05
life go by but there's a high higher
4:07
calling there are people who need uh us
4:10
to stand up for them and that we need to
4:13
do that's kind of what this story does
4:16
um but again I we've seen it but I think
4:19
this is a good story if you want to take
4:21
your kid to a mild Holocaust type story
4:24
uh this is probably a good one to take
4:26
take them to uh and I'll say this um
4:30
Lionsgate is failing but I think it's
4:31
their faith movies that are gonna that
4:33
are the only ones that are succeeding
4:35
and I think uh this is a good family
4:38
film the subject matter do you recommend
4:40
it I recommend it I'll give it a seven
4:44
uh I I remember reading The Diary of
4:46
Anne Frank as a kid and it really
4:50
affected me I mean I and it was
4:53
horrifying to learn that you know she
4:56
was later killed and that book had a
5:00
profound effect on me as a kid but I so
5:05
so I the story sounds very you know
5:08
similar to that but my I'll just say to
5:12
your comment uh my daughter last year uh
5:15
she she must have had a Bas teacher
5:17
because uh one of the assignments was uh
5:19
Ellie wasel's night and uh my daughter
5:23
had to read that and I started reading
5:24
it with her and that is a haunting book
5:26
just how how how when the na took over
5:30
how subversive it was and how fast it
5:32
was and how everyone was caught off
5:34
guard even though people were warning
5:36
them Beware of the Nazis you know get
5:38
out basically they were saying and
5:40
people just stay behind and uh you know
5:43
and you just feel like um you know maybe
5:47
history may repeat itself one day yeah
5:49
it's well it was sad something that
5:52
relates but um Elon Musk put a tweet out
5:55
about um telling people you're voting
5:58
for uh your voting for Trump or you're a
6:00
republican in California and he talked
6:03
about the push back and reaction he got
6:06
I mean you even said we've been working
6:09
together seven years on film threat
6:12
together I mean you kept getting bum you
6:15
started as a writer and then became the
6:17
editor but saying we've known each other
6:20
professionally working together seven
6:21
years and you admitted to me one time we
6:24
were in a car going to a screening or
6:26
something and you're
6:28
afraid what was it you tell it from your
6:30
side no I it was just uh I wasn't going
6:33
to come out and say I was a
6:35
conservative right and you were afraid
6:37
but that shows you how people feel and
6:40
first of all by the way I don't care yes
6:42
I have friends who are on all I very
6:45
liberal Progressive friends I have
6:47
conservative and I have religious
6:49
friends uh my friend uh Jeremy
6:52
who's been on this show he produced
6:54
Napoleon Dynamite he's Mormon and he did
6:57
that movie um he did that uh Star Wars
7:00
documentary on the holiday special you
7:02
know a disturbance in the forest so that
7:05
is a thing and I think it's weird to
7:08
experience this religious and political
7:12
bigotry like you think that we have
7:14
enough Knowledge from the past that we
7:17
would have learned and that doesn't seem
7:19
to be the case so yeah I mean I'll say
7:21
this not to get political but the the
7:24
vice presidential debate a couple days
7:26
ago was very interesting because I mean
7:29
weird ly enough it felt
7:31
civil it felt like that uh you may not
7:34
have agreed with one side or the other
7:36
but you know there was many
7:37
opportunities where the both of them
7:38
said you know you and I probably agree
7:40
on this you and I probably agree on that
7:43
Al Allan Allan Allan we have so much to
7:45
get to we have so much to get to we've
7:48
got to move
7:49
on you're the one this conversation so
7:54
I'm just saying we can still be civil we
7:56
can still be civil go go to next movie
8:09
be
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