Review of The Book Thief (2013) by Dark E — 18 May 2014

The Book Thief , based on the novel by Markus Zusac, is a 2013 film directed by Brian Percival with Geoffrey Rush, Emily Watson and Sophie Nelisse .

The film is set in Nazi Germany of Hitler and has as its protagonist a young Liesel , a young girl who is adopted by Hans and Rosa Huberman . With her there had to be the little brother but died shortly before. In the new school Liesel is teased because he can neither read nor write , but he manages to make a friend , Rudy Steiner , a boy who falls in love with her.

Nevertheless, Liesel is intrigued by the books and with the help of Hans soon learn to read. However, the situation will become very difficult with the outbreak of the Second World War and with the arrival of Max, a jew Hans decides to protect as the father of the first saved him during the First World War.

The film turns out to be very interesting in several places although in certain parts could be made ??better.

Meanwhile, let's start with the themes of the film ; as you can imagine we will talk about the persecution of the Jews, of martial law and war. These topics in the film , there are shown in a brutal manner , letting us see the horrors of that period ( such as did Schindler 's List) , but they are told in order to be accessible to all , that in order to be seen and understood even by smaller .

But not only are these the main themes of the film , there's another one in the film that proves to be the central one , which is the importance of culture . The culture that allows us to see things with greater awareness and makes us truly understand who we are , all represented during the dark period of Nazism, where ignorance seemed to reign supreme.

Particularly interesting in the film is the fact that at certain points in the main narrator is nothing less than Death. I found it particularly deep and great monologue that is the end.

The film , however , as I said before , it has some flaws. The main problem it can be found towards the end of the film that was supposed to represent the most dramatic part of the story (and a little ' dramatic it is) , but fails to hit deep in the viewer. Another small flaw (perhaps in some cases are a bit ' perfectionist but some things it is better to point out ) are the books that Liesel law . Ok that the film is an American production , but the film is set in Germany and then I would have liked to see them written in German not in English.

The actors , however, are all of great, away from little Sophie Nelisse who plays Liesel , to Hans and Rosa interpreted both by a great Geoffrey Rush and fantastic Emily Watson.

Talking about the technical side , the film is very nice, especially photography and soundtrack. The photography Florian Ballhaus proves to be accurate and in some places can do very artistic shots .

The soundtrack instead was done by one of the most talented and legendary composers of film, namely John Williams (do not know which of his films to mention , I will be spoiled for choice). Regarding the latter I have to say that , like all the scores made ??by Williams, is of great quality and an Oscar nomination if all is well deserved ( although I must say that if it would be well deserved as he deserved even those de The Hobbit: The desolation of Smaug ) .

I conclude by saying that , although it is not a masterpiece , the film turns out to be very nice ( and lasts 130 minutes ) and will succeed for sure make you appreciate the many characters in the film.