Review of The Book Thief (2013) by Dawdlingpoet — 20 Nov 2021

I thought this film was very good - the story I thought was particularly good, as I felt the characters were quite likeable, even the stern and very strict foster mother, Rosa, who seems unnecessarily harsh but in time we learn some of the reasons why she is so. I felt that this film did well in portraying life in one part of Germany during the years it covers - personally, I was relieved that it didn't cover, especially in any graphic sense, the more horrific elements of the war, as I've seen some pretty unpalattable war footage (real and fictionalised) in the past and I try to avoid very upsetting films. I felt that this film did a great job of portraying things how they must have seemed, if we were the main character, that of Liesel.

I thought it was generally quite atmospheric - I enjoyed certain scenes set in large houses, where, for example, a large library is shown, with tall rows of shelves and a sliding step ladder for accessing one higher up. Visually it was a good watch. I thought the music used was well chosen - it didn't seem overbearing or too cheesy. It mostly consists of classical music played in the background of key scenes, although you do also hear the father figure, Hans, play the accordion on some ocassions as well. Cast wise, Sophie Nelisse plays the main character, Liesel. I felt she gave a great performance - she looks very much the innocent young child, trying to make sense of what may have happened to her mother and what may lay ahead, of what the future holds. She seems quite confused and angry at times and she seemed to play her role very convincingly. It would be hard not to feel emotionally concerned/attached to her, to some extent. I found myself feeling quite sorry for her when it became clear that she struggled to read and I found it heartening that she has such an interest in reading, probably mostly as I read quite a lot myself.

Emily Watson plays the no-nonsense mother figure, Rosa. As already mentioned, she seems quite stern and looks the part of a maternal disciplinarian, thus I think she did well in this role. Meanwhile, Geoffrey Rush plays Hans, the father figure. He seems at first perhaps a bit gruff, a little bit of a loner of sorts maybe, keeping himself to himself when not with Rosa but he clearly becomes attached to Liesel and I liked the interaction between the two characters, when one tries to help the other. It felt, to me, like quite a realistic family relationship, I'd have thought. Other cast members include Nico Liersch as Rudy Steiner, Liesel's good friend and Ben Schnetzer as Max Vandenburg. The film features some ocassional narration, with some witty dialogue. It is relatively thought provoking. Overall, it is inevitably somewhat sobering but it is a quality film, well made. If I had to criticise it, then I'd say that there are one or two plot details which I felt seemed a little 'convenient' and perhaps didn't feel entirely realistic (a case of 'would that really have happened like that?') but otherwise, there's little for me to complain about or criticise really.

Content wise, there is relatively little likely to especially offend or upset people, aside from the main war based theme but then, as I've said, this film doesn't focus on the most horrific elements of it, which may be a relief for some (me included). However, there is some mild violence, with fist fights shown and some instances of bullying, plus there are some corpses shown but there is no nudity and such people aren't shown with any kind of bloody injury or wounds, also said corpses are of people recently passed, so they aren't as horrific to view as perhaps footage in other (war related) films. There is little in the way of offensive language and there are no sex references. In light of this, the film has been given a 12a rating in the UK.