The Birdcatcher (2019)
1h 37m | PG-13
Norway, 1942, during World War II. After being separated from her family, Esther, a young Jewish girl from Trondheim, arrives at an isolated farm where she must assume a new identity in order to survive the Nazi persecution.
Director: Ross Clarke
Studio: Reliance Entertainment Productions Scandi
Genre: Drama, Thriller, War
Video: 720p
Cast
Sarah-Sofie Boussnina
as Esther
Arthur Hakalahti
as Aksel
Jakob Cedergren
as Johann
Laura Birn
as Anna
Johannes Bah Kuhnke
as Fred
August Diehl
as Herman
Reviews
An enjoyable, if fairly routine story of a young Jewish girl who manages to escape the clutches of her Nazi captors during WWII. She cuts her hair and dresses/acts as a boy and seeks refuge working on a remote farm. What's new? The difference is, this one is set in the harsher climate of Norway and her predicament is incorporated into the broader theme of the Quisling-run kingdom's own difficulties with the Nazis. The family that adopts this new "boy" has plenty of problems of it's own and so there are plenty of sub-plots to complement the principal story. The pretty much entirely Nordic cast are all fairly competent, if not exactly outstanding; and it does offer a different take on the usual approach to this subject. The cinematography is beautifully bleak at times, and generally contributes much to this watchable war story.