10. White Bird
Adapted from RJ Palacio’s hit novel, Wonder (2017) was a drama about Auggie (Jacob Tremblay), a boy who was bullied at school because of his facial deformity. White Bird is the sequel, but it isn’t the sequel you might expect. Rather than continuing Auggie’s story, it follows Julian (Bryce Gheisar), one of the boys who bullied him. And rather than focusing on Julian, it has Julian’s grandmother (Helen Mirren) recounting her memories of being hidden from the Nazis as a Jewish-French schoolgirl during World War Two. The film is directed by Marc Forster (A Man Called Otto, Finding Neverland, Quantum of Solace). “Sometimes life brings us the rare and beautiful possibility to inspire and uplift the human spirit through the act of storytelling,” Forster told Matt Grobar at Deadline, “and it is my heartfelt hope that this film will do just that. White Bird is a story about the power of kindness and its ability to grow exponentially once set free.”
Released on 25 August in the US
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