Review: Kindness is the takeaway in the Holocaust-era-set ‘White Bird: A Wonder Story’

In 2017, the film “Wonder” was a surprise critical and commercial hit for Lionsgate. It’s now been seven years since “Wonder” came out, and the long-awaited sequel, “White Bird: A Wonder Story,” which has been plagued by delays both pandemic- and strike-related, is finally hitting theaters. Thus unfolds the real story of “White Bird,” which isn’t about Julian, who serves merely as a framing device and a tenuous link to the world of “Wonder.” “White Bird” is actually Sara’s story of her childhood in Nazi-occupied France and the harrowing events she experienced as a young Jewish girl there. If you’ve ever watched young-adult Holocaust films or fiction, “White Bird” will feel familiar. As a “Wonder Story” and a Holocaust story, the messaging of “White Bird” is unsurprising though important: Empathy matters, especially in action, and that often, caring for others can mean putting one’s own self in danger, but we should do it anyway.