Product Description
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Based on the beloved best-selling book comes this profoundly
moving story of a girl who transforms the lives of those around
her during World War II, Germany. Although Liesel (Sophie
Nelisse) is illiterate when she is adopted by a German couple
(O Winner Geoffrey Rush and Emily Watson), her adoptive
her encourages her to learn to read. Ultimately, the power of
words helps Liesel and Max (Ben Schnetzer), a Jew hiding in the
family's home, escape from the events unfolding around them in
this extraordinary, accled film directed by Brian Percival
(DOWNTON ABBEY).
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Skillfully pared down from Markus Zusak's celebrated young adult
novel, The Book Thief presents a somewhat sanitized glimpse of
Nazi Germany and the war from the uniquely innocent view of an
adolescent girl. At first the perspective seems to be from the
narrator, a bored, yet amused voice we learn is Death, presumably
taking a brief holiday to comment on the experience of young
Liesel (Sophie Nélisse) and the evolving disruptions around her.
After Liesel is separated from her brother and mother in sharp
and unsettling fashion, she lands at the home of protective,
penurious foster parents Hans and Rosa Hubermann (Geoffrey Rush
and Emily Watson) in a small village somewhere in the picturesque
German countryside. When she's teased at school for being
illiterate, the kindly Hans makes a fun project of teaching her
to read. Rosa is a persnickety presence for both of them, but
it's mainly a façade as the couple embrace Liesel tighter even as
the situation around them grows more dire. At a Nazi book burning
a horrified Liesel surreptitiously snatches a random volume from
the flames. The wife of the local Bürgermeister is the only one
who notices, and she compassionately allows Liesel to visit her
dead son's library, where she soon earns the movie's title
moniker. Liesel's newfound love of literature begins informing
her actions as more is revealed about the Hubermanns and the toll
of wartime village life becomes more desperate. Liesel makes two
friends who are vague romantic draws--her thoughtful, rebellious
neighbor Rudy, and Max, the Jewish son of a man to whom Hans owes
his life. The Hubermanns risk everything by hiding Max, a shining
light of idealized nobility for Liesel. The Book Thief is
lackadaisical and episodic, with an affecting spirit brought to
life by all the performances and the exceptional period detail.
Rush is superb as a lovable, complicated man, as is Watson, whose
stern manner is only a . Nélisse steals the show, along with
many hearts, by portraying Liesel as a malleable force whose
passivity develops into nascent intensity as she grows up with
the horrible changes unfolding around her. Death has a place, and
not just as a commentator. But the villainy of Nazism and shadow
of the Holocaust evades center stage as an overriding focus of
this moving story. Less a tearjerker than a tear-tugger, The Book
Thief steals heartfelt emotion, though it will mostly be gladly
given. The first-rate score is by John Williams, taking a break
from Steven Spielberg's production ensemble for the first time in
a long while. --Ted Fry