The Island on Bird Street

The Island on Bird Street (1997) is a wartime drama directed by Søren Kragh-Jacobsen, available to watch online on iFILM. Jordan Kiziuk plays Alex, an eleven-year-old boy left alone in a bombed-out Warsaw ghetto after his father and uncle are taken away during a Nazi sweep.

No food. No adults. Just a white mouse and a battered copy of Robinson Crusoe that Alex reads aloud to keep himself sane. He rigs a hiding place in the rubble, dodges SS patrols, and waits — trusting that his father will come back. Patrick Bergin and Jack Warden appear in supporting roles as the fleeting adult figures who cross his path.

Based on the novel by Israeli writer Uri Orlev, the film strips away all battlefield spectacle to focus entirely on a child's experience of survival. No speeches, no heroics — just ingenuity and stubborn hope inside an empty, broken street. Stream The Island on Bird Street online on iFILM.