This film was recommended to a friend who put it on when I came over to hang out. I was actually curious to see the picture as this movie sounded like it had justified great reviews. This was a great movie but I will caution anyone who is curious that it has a very tragic scene towards the end that makes me feel sad even as I write this.
The Book Thief tells the story of a young girl named Liesel (portrayed by Sophie Nelisse) living in Nazi Germany, the people around her, and how they live during that time. Interestingly our narrator is Death. Liesel is adopted by an older couple Hans Hubermann (portrayed by Geoffrey Rush) and his wife Rosa Hubermann (portrayed by Emily Watson). Shortly after moving in with the couple, a boy named Rudy (played by Nico Liersch). Liesel first becomes attached to her adopted father who is kindly and patient with her as opposed to her shrewish adopted mother. Soon after she begins to get used to her new life, Liesel observes her adopted parents taking in a young Jewish man named Max (portrayed by Ben Schnetzer) in the middle of the night. Afterwards Liesel begins to truly love both of her adopted parents as she sees a different side to her adopted mother. After rescuing a book from a book burning gathering, Liesel befriends the Burgermeister's wife Ilsa (played by Barbara Auer). The film's title comes from Liesel stealing books from the Burgermeister's library to read them as she has no other way to access other books besides school books and such.
The film was wonderful in that it is another great example of a movie that shows how some Germans lived and felt just before and during WWII. It was interesting to me that both Liesel and Rudy as young children weren't fully aware of the events unfolding around them and yet to an extent they took part in them. For example both attended a book burning event and sang Nazi German propaganda songs without being aware of why. At one time Rudy is so enthusiastic about being like the fastest man in the world at the time Jesse Owens, that he puts mud on himself to make himself more like his hero. He had no way to know how dangerous his actions were.
What was also interesting was that the parents of the children in the film didn't make an effort to caution their children against saying and doing things that were dangerous at the time to do. It was nice though because I felt that it showed that A)the adults were trying to let the children live as normal lives as possible by being able to be themselves as much as possible and B)they probably felt that by not saying anything, the children would be protected. The exception to this of course was that Liesel is told to not say anything about Max and she is told why.
This whole movie was filled with memorable, excellently portrayed characters. All of the characters felt so sincerely written and portrayed that as frustrating or mean or bad as they could be and yet I appreciated why they did the things that they did.
Liesel was particularly special not just because she was our main protagonist but she also had spunk. She could be so willful and bratty and yet at the end of the day she was loving and kind. She is admirable for her bravery and strength in the face of the circumstances that she faced.
Overall the film was great and deserves all of the great reviews and critical acclaim that it received. The entire cast and writing was amazing as a whole.The cinematography was beautiful and somehow added warmth and a trace of hope despite the difficult and tragic circumstances that surrounded the characters.
Darkness comes and the night can be so dark but there will be daylight sooner than later. Even if the daylight that comes turns out to be overcast, the sun will eventually come out from behind the clouds.
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