THE ISLAND ON BIRD STREET

Denmark/UK, 1997, 107 minutes, Colour.
Patrick Bergen, Jordan Kiziuk, Jack Warden, James Bolam, Suzanna Hamilton, Michael Byrne.
Directed by Soren Kragh- Jacobsen.

The Island on Bird Street is a ghetto and Holocaust film. It is based on a novel by Yuri Orlev. It is the story of a Polish ghetto, seen through the eyes of a boy. (The film was made in authentic situations in the Polish town of Wroclaw.) The re-creation of Poland during World War Two, the visuals of the ghetto are very strong indeed.

The film focuses on a Jewish family, the father played by Patrick Bergen, the uncle played by Jack Warden. The young boy is played by Jordan Kiziuk. When his father and uncle are taken away, the young boy is able to hide in the ghetto and survive for a long time. He scavenges for food, encounters some men from the Underground, goes to get the help of a doctor (James Bolam) whom he sees from his window playing chess. The doctor is also part of the Underground and helps. He is also taken to the church where he encounters the priest (Michael Byrne) whom he had encountered earlier. All help him. He is also attracted by a young girl whom he befriends when he ventures out into ordinary life. He is offered the opportunity to leave with them but decides to stay in the ghetto and wait for his father.

The film is strong in its presentation of the hardships in the ghetto – but accommodated for watching by a younger audience (as was The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas). It is in the vein, in some ways, of Schindler’s List, and anticipates some themes in later Holocaust films including the hiding out and isolation in the ghetto in Polanski’s The Pianist as well as the priest helping the young Jewish boy in Edges of the Lord, with Willem Dafoe and Haley Joel Osmont.

The film gives a younger audience an opportunity to visualise what happened during the war years and the effect on the Jewish community.

1. A Holocaust film, the story, Poland, the tradition of Holocaust films, the impact for the audience? The younger audience?

2. The re-creation of the ghetto, the buildings and streets, the factory, interiors, decay and poverty? Outside the ghetto, the doctor’s office, the streets, the lake, homes? Musical score?

3. Alex and his reading Robinson Crusoe? The paralleling of his survival with Robinson Crusoe’s story? Alex reading, Snow the Rat, the excerpts, their being inserted into the plot and the plotlines?

4. The focus on the family, a microcosm of the Jews during the war, the absence of the mother? Stefan and his work, care for his son, protection? His being threatened? The uncle, jovial, kind? His age, being assaulted and kicked by the officers? The selection process, father and uncle taken, engineering Alex’s escape, the uncle’s death, the father’s promise?

5. The fear of Selections, random, the troops coming into the ghetto, the commander and his brutality? The closing of the ghetto, the military searches, finally being bricked up?

6. Alex, his age, personality, a reader? His survival? Strong character? The rat as his pet, being taunted by the other children? His own hideaway, being saved from the troops? His family taken, his grief? Hiding in the hole, his safety? The rope ladder, the bag and the encounter with the priest? His collecting food and goods? Settling in? The search of the food and his taking the food, his death? Having the shower, a touch of comfort? The Robinson Crusoe parallels?

7. His watching the doctor play chess? The two men from the Resistance? The shooting, his using the gun (and the background of his father teaching him how)? Going to the doctor for help, the doctor’s wife and the goods? The man recovering? His friend not returning? Sharing, talking, reading, going out, the Latin? Alex going into the church, the icons, the sign of the cross, going into the confessional, encountering the priest again, his offer of help?

8. The boys, their taunting and anti-Semitic tone, Stasya and her friendship, her pretence, saving Alex? The meetings, talking, the family, the meal, the bed for the night, the mother offering to take him with them? His decision to stay?

9. The collapse of the ghetto, bricked up, his hiding in his hole, the change, his father’s return and finding him, reunited?

10. A boy’s eye view of the ghetto, anti-Semitism, the Holocaust and World War Two?