Review of The Book Thief (2013) by Harry W — 14 Mar 2014

Although The Book Thief received mixed reviews, I can't miss out on a film adapted from a popular Australian novel that features legendary Australian actor Geoffrey Rush.

Before I get down to detail let me say that I thoroughly and honestly did not enjoy watching The Book Thief.

The Book Thief barely explains why so many books were being burned. It suggests that the books are being burned by the Nazis because it is some kind of propaganda, but the audience has to make that conclusion. The first book that Liesel and Hans read agree the big book burning is The Invisible Man by H.G. Welles, and it can only be presumed that such a book was burned because the author was a communist or Jewish, but I was never certain. The Book Thief doesn't explain why the Nazis are burning literature very well, and it doesn't explain much of the context about the war. The Book Thief pretty much just identifies WWII as a time when people put up red flags with the Nazi symbol and burnt books, barely ever actually portraying the horrors of the war and the true fear of being a Jewish person in a time where you are wanted for the crime of being Jewish, punishable by death. The Book Thief plays it too safe and doesn't identify the true nature of WWII. It attempts to dramatise what limited dramatics it has, and it just doesn't work because in reality WWII wasn't a reader's nightmare, it was a time or torture and suffering. Unfortunately, the story in The Book Thief isn't effective enough to distract viewers from what WWII really was, and instead it just hides itself from everything and makes it a story about a little girl wanting to read in a time and place ruled by the Nazi regime. The Diary of Anne Frank his itself from World Was II for 171 minutes and I didn't enjoy that, so a film which is a fictional story about being a little girl wanting to read against the backdrop of a war setting in which the film was actually able to go out and explore the world but chose not to is not interesting to me. The Book Thief felt too melodramatic to me and it stretched the melodrama too much for too long. It simply did not appeal to me.

More than an hour in, the film no longer becomes about her reading so the subject of books is off the table, so The Book Thief doesn't even stay true to its title.

And with the melodrama came predictability. The story is constantly following a thin line which is full of melodramatic plot dynamics everywhere, and few of them have any surprises. Little of them actually have dramatic effect on the film which is a shame because the film is about the world of WWII and should have more dramatic effect, intensity and originality and less repetitiveness or an actual development in the story. I look back on The Book Thief as time wasted in a boring and directionless film which director Brian Percival could not save.

The Book Thief may succeed on a juvenile level by taking a light look at the effects of the war and therefore could be used to educate you get crowds on the horrible situation without driving them into fits of terror, but those requiring more thinking and more drama will not find it in The Book Thief, so I can reccomend that unless you want a tediously nihilistic look at reading through a children's eyes then you examine better films than The Book Thief.

It turns out that the whole time God was who was narrating the story. This annoyed me for a few reasons. I'm an atheist and don't believe that god exists, so I don't think that a fictional character who isn't a character from the story should be narrating a film. But since the film is set in a world where he does exist, I don't think its appropriate for the person who in his "infinite wisdom" should be commenting on WWII when he's the reason behind it. If God exists, he is said to be the one who decides in and allows everything to happen, so if he's the one that said that all Jews should en exterminated and sent Adolf Hitler to do his bidding then I wouldn't be listening to him. Adolf Hitler shouldn't narrate the film for the same reason god shouldn't, because they are the two causes of the holocaust which is arguably the most inhumane and disgusting moment in history.

The Book Thief doesn't respect it's viewers enough to take an honest look into the effects of war, it simply uses the context as a backdrop for a coming-of-age story which isn't even a good one. I'll just summarise and say that the story written for this fm is a shallow and boring one, and not one that I learned anything from or felt the effect of. If anything, I was annoyed.

But The Book Thief has some other qualities.

For one thing, the cinematography is beautiful and the production design is mostly convincing in achieving the intended setting of the film, so the film is visually strong.

And the musical score is really good, and I would expect nothing less from John Williams himself. It at least sets the atmosphere for the film, even if it didn't reach me emotionally.

And one aspect of the film I was thoroughly impressed by was the talented cast.

Sophie Nelisse is the most talented actress in The Book Thief and is the quality of the film that I will most remember for enjoying. Her juvenile charm and absolute sweetness makes her a great presence, and her smile and friendliness makes her all to likable. In The Book Thief, Sophie Neliss is the most important cast member as the entire story revolves around her, and she holds a firm grip over every inch of the drama in the story. She has an incredible dedication to the emotional drama of the story and you can tell it through her facial gestures and ability to cry whenever she deems it appropriate. Frankly, Sophie Neliss completely embodies her character and makes the legitimacy of the story feel more realistic. She has the charm and appearance similar to Chloe Grace Moretz in The Book Thief, and it was like her performance in Hugo which was arguably her greatest performance, and yet in The Book Thief Sophie Neliss manages to hold the screen herself for more than two hours. She is an incredibly talented actress who has no problem putting herself in the role of someone else and embodying it as she does for the role of Liesel, and she is the perfect choice for the lead in The Book Thief.

Geoffrey Rush does an excellent job as well. With him around, there is always a feeling that characters are safe because he supplies a warm and friendly presence to The Book Thief which is even good for a few laughs in places, and an actor of his calibre is honestly one you could expect no less from. His performance in The Book Thief makes it all the more compelling to watch and his ability to interact with the people around him is excellent.

Emily Watson is good because of her chemistry with Sophie Nelisse. At first, her character isn't very likeable at all. But as time goes on and the connection between the two actresses' character grows the film becomes better. Eventually, Emily Watson becomes very easy to care about and she becomes an enjoyable screen presence. And her gradual development into that is one of her greatest assists as an actress and a cast member in The Book Thief. She proves to be a viable asset to the success of The Book Thief and while I didn't enjoy the film, the performance of Emily Watson was very good.

Nico Liersch is a charming young lad in The Book Thief, and he shares an enjoyable childish chemistry with Sophie Nelisse which makes the film more compelling. He is a very likable addition the cast and a charming young actor.

Ben Schnetzer also does a good job as Max.

But aside from good production values and the strength of a talented cast, The Book Thief is ultimately too scared of being dramatic and misguided in its direction to be thoroughly satisfactory.