Review of The Book Thief (2013) by Roxanne R — 13 Apr 2014

I was going to give this motion picture three stars but the last 15 minutes changed my decision and therefore I am awarding four stars because although depressing, I agree with the main point of the story.

There is something unexplainable about the extreme duality that people exhibit. Death makes the comment just after explaining that he wished he could tell Liesel about the glories and atrocities, wonders and horrors humans are capable of, and it's clear that what haunts death the most is humanity's capacity for both extreme good and extreme evil.

So many of us (including myself) are scared of dying; sometimes I wonder what my last moments on earth will be like and I pray to God that I spend them in the company of my future husband or family or best friends and I hope I still have many, many decades left.

The film for some reason is not wholly satisfying to me; it's missing something and I found the first hour to be somewhat slow; the last 40 minutes were better. The overall feeling as I watched the film is sadness, grim future, hopelessness and living in such miserable conditions and under the fear of being caught too painful to ensure I imagine.

I am very much aware of what transpired during Hitler's regime and frankly I do not want to spend another two hours watching similar films. On the bright side our heroine survives and has a long and successful live (Liesel) and so did Max.

Recommended as long as you are a positive, cheerful and hopeful human being but if you are currently under meds for depression, anxiety, suicidal thoughts, etc. then I think you should pass on it.