When I saw this movie it didn't impress me at all. Rather ordinary Dutch kids movie, what would place it under average Scandinavian or French movie of same genre and target audience.
However, several repeated watching made me change my mind, and each time I've had a chance, I did it more carefully, what rewarded me with many new details, topics and issues that I've overlooked before. No, I still don't see much of Oscar potentials in it (maybe it was a bad year and the competition was weak), but there are many things that can make you think a while after the movie's over.
The title. If Bluebird is really a bird that brings happiness... is it really adequate for the main character, Merel? Who does she bring happiness to? Not even herself. This title misled some people to see her short talks to stranger in the train (who gave her that nickname) more important than they actually were. Yes, we can once again notice that men in European movies can meet and talk to kids without jeopardizing them, without being predators or molesters - check "Tyven, Tyven" to see where false accusation lead to, and Kragh-Jaocbsen went furthest in beautiful "Skyggen af Emma" "Emma's Shadow". Here, similar to Emma, we see that Merel achieves best communication with a total, adult stranger, something that she can't manage in family and completely fails among peers. In this light we can see these train conversations just as an additional explanation of Merel's personality, nothing more.
Handicapped children have also gained place in modern movies, being no more just subplot characters, either to be laughed at, or to give middle-age women a reason to cry. They are here around us, and they are treated as persons who have equal right to be main characters as any other kids. But these children are still usually used as catalyst of drama, leading to somebody's trouble and pain. That makes movies disturbing in range from serious but hopeful family movies like "Engelchen flieg" to dark psychological and sociological analyzes like "Les diables". Bluebird stays somewhere in the middle, Merel's handicapped brother is a person like any other just with some disabilities and therefore some special needs. Unusually human approach (and without political-correctness-preaching).
The main topic, however, seems to be bullying. Unlike any other movie that I can remember, we can find a hint why this girl is bullied, or I'd rather say tortured. Kids who are bullied usually want to be accepted, and suffer everything hoping this is just a temporary cruelty, so they return to their perpetrators ("Spielen wir Liebe", "Saning eller konsekvens", many old English movies, and in USA best example is Clark's "Kids"). We don't ever see Merel doing that, she tries to avoid them and escape torturing (like Marko in "Iluzija"). But what makes this movie almost unique is the reason why the girl becomes a victim.
Directors usually avoid bullying kids that are simply rejected by peers make audience feel sorry enough; showing them doesn't take much effort and needs no analyzes and descriptions. If bullying appears, victims are usually losers (physically weak or even invalids, fat or ugly, or kids from disturbed families, belonging to national or religious minorities etc "Saning eller konsekvens" or "Elina"). Merel is everything but a loser: she is too perfect. She sings, acts, she is best student, she is a sport champion, she loves reading (books far ahead for her chronological age), obeys parents, cares a lot for her handicapped brother (often doing things parents should do). So how should an average kid feel for her? It is most likely that all of them heard their own parents saying repeatedly "Why can't you be like Merel?". And one more thing: people who are lucky to have such a kid consider it to be a fortune like having a Ferrari in a garage or a house in Malibu. So they encourage kids for more and more successes telling them how smart, clever, different they are; soon enough kids believe they are above others... an attitude that screams for a revenge of ordinary mediocre kids. When we watch "Bluebird" we may feel sympathy for Merel... but as soon as we try to imagine ourselves as one of her schoolmates, I guess we would at least think that she deserved all that.
There is something else about Merel's parents... Kasper is not their biological child, they have adopted him. Probably saving her career or figure, mother didn't want to get pregnant again and chose adoption instead. But imagine parents that on purpose adopt a handicapped child, and then leave a great deal of care to their own, only few years older kid whose childhood is already reduced by countless activities anyway...
So, there are interesting issues in the movie. However, the ending of the movie is completely weird. In the middle of the plot, when most of things still wait to be solved (or not), a long scene of nothing and closing credits appear... It is difficult to be handled by adults - what can you expect from obviously younger (early puberty) target audience? I hate, I despise sequels. Every time anybody on IMDb mentions that sequel of any movie should be made, I jump to bite his throat. But the ending of this movie simply makes us pray for one. This end makes us so confused, so shocked, and forget and lose all the values of the movie. Maybe that's why it seemed so shallow and empty the first time I've been watching it. Don't repeat my mistake. This movie is worth some brain activities after turning the TV off.
However, several repeated watching made me change my mind, and each time I've had a chance, I did it more carefully, what rewarded me with many new details, topics and issues that I've overlooked before. No, I still don't see much of Oscar potentials in it (maybe it was a bad year and the competition was weak), but there are many things that can make you think a while after the movie's over.
The title. If Bluebird is really a bird that brings happiness... is it really adequate for the main character, Merel? Who does she bring happiness to? Not even herself. This title misled some people to see her short talks to stranger in the train (who gave her that nickname) more important than they actually were. Yes, we can once again notice that men in European movies can meet and talk to kids without jeopardizing them, without being predators or molesters - check "Tyven, Tyven" to see where false accusation lead to, and Kragh-Jaocbsen went furthest in beautiful "Skyggen af Emma" "Emma's Shadow". Here, similar to Emma, we see that Merel achieves best communication with a total, adult stranger, something that she can't manage in family and completely fails among peers. In this light we can see these train conversations just as an additional explanation of Merel's personality, nothing more.
Handicapped children have also gained place in modern movies, being no more just subplot characters, either to be laughed at, or to give middle-age women a reason to cry. They are here around us, and they are treated as persons who have equal right to be main characters as any other kids. But these children are still usually used as catalyst of drama, leading to somebody's trouble and pain. That makes movies disturbing in range from serious but hopeful family movies like "Engelchen flieg" to dark psychological and sociological analyzes like "Les diables". Bluebird stays somewhere in the middle, Merel's handicapped brother is a person like any other just with some disabilities and therefore some special needs. Unusually human approach (and without political-correctness-preaching).
The main topic, however, seems to be bullying. Unlike any other movie that I can remember, we can find a hint why this girl is bullied, or I'd rather say tortured. Kids who are bullied usually want to be accepted, and suffer everything hoping this is just a temporary cruelty, so they return to their perpetrators ("Spielen wir Liebe", "Saning eller konsekvens", many old English movies, and in USA best example is Clark's "Kids"). We don't ever see Merel doing that, she tries to avoid them and escape torturing (like Marko in "Iluzija"). But what makes this movie almost unique is the reason why the girl becomes a victim.
Directors usually avoid bullying kids that are simply rejected by peers make audience feel sorry enough; showing them doesn't take much effort and needs no analyzes and descriptions. If bullying appears, victims are usually losers (physically weak or even invalids, fat or ugly, or kids from disturbed families, belonging to national or religious minorities etc "Saning eller konsekvens" or "Elina"). Merel is everything but a loser: she is too perfect. She sings, acts, she is best student, she is a sport champion, she loves reading (books far ahead for her chronological age), obeys parents, cares a lot for her handicapped brother (often doing things parents should do). So how should an average kid feel for her? It is most likely that all of them heard their own parents saying repeatedly "Why can't you be like Merel?". And one more thing: people who are lucky to have such a kid consider it to be a fortune like having a Ferrari in a garage or a house in Malibu. So they encourage kids for more and more successes telling them how smart, clever, different they are; soon enough kids believe they are above others... an attitude that screams for a revenge of ordinary mediocre kids. When we watch "Bluebird" we may feel sympathy for Merel... but as soon as we try to imagine ourselves as one of her schoolmates, I guess we would at least think that she deserved all that.
There is something else about Merel's parents... Kasper is not their biological child, they have adopted him. Probably saving her career or figure, mother didn't want to get pregnant again and chose adoption instead. But imagine parents that on purpose adopt a handicapped child, and then leave a great deal of care to their own, only few years older kid whose childhood is already reduced by countless activities anyway...
So, there are interesting issues in the movie. However, the ending of the movie is completely weird. In the middle of the plot, when most of things still wait to be solved (or not), a long scene of nothing and closing credits appear... It is difficult to be handled by adults - what can you expect from obviously younger (early puberty) target audience? I hate, I despise sequels. Every time anybody on IMDb mentions that sequel of any movie should be made, I jump to bite his throat. But the ending of this movie simply makes us pray for one. This end makes us so confused, so shocked, and forget and lose all the values of the movie. Maybe that's why it seemed so shallow and empty the first time I've been watching it. Don't repeat my mistake. This movie is worth some brain activities after turning the TV off.