The Birdcatcher

Set in Norway in 1942, during the German occupation, the film follows Esther, a young Jewish girl from Trondheim who is separated from her family and left to survive on her own. She finds refuge on a remote farm, where she must hide her identity, passing as a boy to avoid detection by the occupying forces. A boy named Aksel helps conceal her at the farm, and the arrangement demands constant caution. Much of the story concerns the strain of sustaining a false identity while living among people whose sympathies are divided, including a farm owner aligned with the Nazis.

Ross Clarke directed the film, his second as director and one made after his earlier feature. Trond Morten Venaasen wrote the screenplay, and Leon Clarance, Clarke and Lisa G. Black produced. Sarah-Sofie Boussnina plays Esther, with Arthur Hakalahti as Aksel, Jakob Cedergren as Johann, Laura Birn as Anna, Johannes Bah Kuhnke as Fred and August Diehl as Herman. The production was a British, Norwegian and American co-production, with a credited cast of 46 and crew of 60, and runs 97 minutes.

Audience response has been moderate. On IMDb, the film holds 5.9 out of 10 from around 2,000 votes, while on TMDB it has 5.5 out of 10 from roughly 66 votes. The larger IMDb sample suggests a middling but not dismissive reception, while the much smaller TMDB group rates it slightly lower.