Full Of Misery, 'The Painted Bird' Can Still Dazzle

The Painted Bird, by Czech filmmaker Václav Marhoul is not for the faint of heart. The film comes from a 1965 novel by Jerzy Kosinski about a young boy, possibly Jewish, sent from some eastern European city to a village to keep him safe from the Nazis during World War II. What follows is a series of encounters of unbearable barbarity. The boy – who has no name and rarely speaks – is beaten and whipped. He’s attacked by ugly villagers with few teeth and grubby faces radiating hatred, and of course fear.