Review of The Book Thief (2013) by Bm2759 — 09 Mar 2014

To my surprise this was a nice film which covered a lot of emotional content and giving us a fictional yet believable story of ordinary people in Germany during WW2.

Credit goes to the use of death as the narrator of Liesel's story which was refreshingly different. It enabled the story to be presented in a more pleasant and child-like manner than a typical tragedy of suffering.

One further positive is the effort taken to replicate a believable Stuttgart. Characters spoke realistic sounding German, English with a German accent or a mixture of both. Very few films enable the audience to understand another language whilst also telling a story in their own language. Also the use of real propaganda like posters, school choir songs, outfits, living conditions and public atmosphere all benefit the film and allow us to appreciate it better.

Each of the 5 main characters are all very well acted. Geoffrey Rush nails a caring yet slightly silly father beautifully as does Emma Watson as the tough mother with a big, yet hidden, heart. The standout is Sophie Nélisse as Liesle portraying wonder, innocence, joy, sadness, or empathy with us ease; they definitely chose the correct actress. Nico Liersch as Rudy was solid as light-hearted, joyful best friend of Liesel. Ben Schnetzer as Max portrayed a jew in hiding we've not seen before, i.e. confident, understanding and caring towards those who are keeping him alive, without being frightened , tormented or helpless.

My main criticisms are:

* Mama coming to school to give Liesel good news - why do that and risk being exposed when such news can be delivered at home?

* Bodies of those who died from their homes being bombed looking like people asleep. Surely if the filmmakers go to the effort of having vocal coaches for realistic German accents, then why not also give us authentic looking corpses.

* Max appearing at the end. Where did he go and how did we survive? Not even some dialogue to explain how or why? His appearance lacks any impact upon the audience and lines up too nicely to be believable, i.e. cheap.

* The film skips from sometime in 1943 to 1945 when Americans arrive in Stuttgart. What happened to Liesel in that time? The most interesting part of her story is what happened to her after the town was severely bombed.

* The last 5 minutes of the film was quite rushed where it seemed to hurry up and finish the story without giving many details. I wanted to see a little more of what happens to the characters.

* The ending is beautiful and a positive. However why can't we see how she ended up in Manhattan, New York. And why New York? Of all the places she would have emigrated to surely choosing New York was too cliched. I suspect it was chosen because many Europeans emigrated to the USA and New York is likely where they arrive. Despite being an open-minded and multicultural city it is unrealistic she'd remain there her whole life.

A few small grievances aside this is a film I'd recommend to anyone wanting to see a story of how regular Germans experienced life under Nazi Germany.