The Painted Bird (Czech: Nabarvené ptáče, Interslavic: Kolorovana ptica[11]) is a 2019 internationally co-produced black and white war drama film written, directed and produced by Václav Marhoul.

It was selected as the Czech entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 92nd Academy Awards making the December shortlist.

[19][20] Its brutal scenes led to walkouts from audiences at the Venice, Toronto and London film festivals.

[23] In an unidentified area of war-torn Eastern Europe, a young boy lives with his elderly aunt.

After the miller gouges out the eyes of a younger man seen exchanging glances with his wife, the boy runs off.

A man named Nikodém comes to the orphanage, greets the boy tearfully as his son, and takes him home.

His son notices a number tattooed on his father's arm and with his finger writes his name, Joska, on the bus window.

Václav Marhoul announced his intention to adapt Jerzy Kosiński's The Painted Bird in September 2012 when he secured rights for the story.

The film crew was shooting around Váh river, at Mlynská Dolina and in Malý Dunajec.

[28] Shooting moved to Lipno Dam and Kvilda in February and March 2018. the crew had to deal with bad weather as they needed ice on the lake.

The site's critics consensus reads: "Brutally uncompromising in its portrayal of Nazi Germany, The Painted Bird is a difficult watch that justifies its dark horror with searing impact.

"[42] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 72 out of 100, based on 23 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

The Daily Mail described it as "a panoply of depravity.”[44] Overall reception was positive as the film received a long ovation from the audience and some unofficial responses called it one of the front-runners for Golden Lion, but ultimately lost to Joker.

[47][48] Xan Brooks of The Guardian gave the film five stars, calling it a "savage, searing three-hour tour of hell" and "phantasmagorical horror, rattling around ravaged eastern Europe for just shy of three hours."

He called the film "muscular, savagely realized Jerzy Kosiński adaptation puts an unnamed Jewish boy through a challenging litany of Holocaust horrors.

Club praised the film's cinematography while criticizing its bleak tone, saying "The Painted Bird is, in the end, the kind of slog that treats shopworn insights about the brutality of man as justification for drowning us in the evidence.

[54] The Painted Bird was nominated for 11 Czech Lion Awards and has won 9 of them including the Best film.