The Book Thief (2013); drama film review

Spanish poster artwork for the drama film The Book Thief.

Liberating Literature by Linh

The Book Thief is a film adaptation of the Markus Zusak book of the same name, and is quite faithful to the original novel. The film closely mirrors the book’s themes, emotive pull and narrative style, particularly with Death as narrator throughout the film. The story may appear grim at the beginning with Death narrating, yet it appears apt as the film is set during World War II in Nazi Germany with death as a recurring theme. However, the slight difference is the book does not immediately name the narrator as Death, thereby giving the reader opportunities to determine the identity of the narrator based on the narrator’s observations. The film’s opening scene is ambiguous at first, giving the impression that an angel or God is narrating due to overhead scenes of sky and clouds being shown. Within several seconds, the viewer understands it is neither of them.

COMPETITIVE COMPANIONS: Liesel (Sophie Nélisse) finds a true friend in Rudy Steiner (Nico Liersch) in the drama film The Book Thief. Image: Twentieth Century Fox.

The film begins with Death introducing the story and the focus is on the early life of a young German girl named Liesel Meminger (Sophie Nélisse) on a train with her mother (Heike Makatsch) and younger brother (Julian Lehmann). Her brother dies during the train ride and is buried soon after. At her brother’s funeral, the grave digger (Gotthard Lange) drops a book, which Liesel picks up and keeps with her. Liesel’s mother then sends her away for adoption and mysteriously disappears. Liesel’s foster parents are Hans Hubermann (Geoffrey Rush) and his wife Rosa (Emily Watson), who are very poor. Hans discovers Liesel is illiterate and helps her learn to read and write using the basement walls as a giant dictionary for Liesel to write the words she just learnt. The first book Hans teaches Liesel to read is the one she picked up at her brother’s funeral – The Grave Digger’s Handbook.

One of the locals in Liesel’s neighbourhood is a German boy named Rudy Steiner (Nico Liersch) who loves playing soccer and running. He immediately likes Liesel and becomes one of her closest and dearest friends in the film. As the Nazis continue arresting Jews, Hans takes in Max (Ben Schnetzer), a young Jewish man whose father saved Hans’s life in World War I. Liesel and Max become friends as she reads to him in the basement amid the growing danger he faces if the Nazis find him. As World War II intensifies and many more people die, Liesel finds courage, enlightenment and hope in the words found in books.

SHARING STORIES: Liesel (Sophie Nélisse) keeps Max (Ben Schnetzer) company in the basement with books and conversation in the drama film The Book Thief. Image: Twentieth Century Fox.

The Book Thief depicts a balance of cruelty and inhumanity in some scenes and kindness and generosity in others. An example is the archival footage of Jesse Owens winning gold medals at the 1936 summer Olympics in Germany, which may have been included to show Hitler’s chagrin, while being an inspiration for Rudy Steiner to become a faster runner and make Owens his role model for athleticism. The film shows the growing power of Hitler’s influence during the 1930s and1940s, such as the choir of young children singing the German anthem with Nazi flags and swastikas prominently displayed; the book burning scene; Nazi soldiers smashing and destroying property belonging to Jews then beating them in public before arresting them for persecution. These scenes are contrasted with kindness by Hans and Rosa in helping to hide Max from the Nazis thus risking their own lives if Max is captured; Ilsa Hermann forgives Liesel for stealing her books and then lets Liesel read them in the library with her; Hans, Rosa, Liesel and Max having a snowball fight then building a snowman in the basement for Christmas.

BOOK BORROWER: Liesel (Sophie Nélisse) sneaks into the private library of Ilsa Hermann in the drama film The Book Thief. Image: Twentieth Century Fox.

The cast, that includes Australian, British, German and Canadian actors, is excellent, the performances are compelling and the filming in Germany brings an authentic feel to the time when the terrible events occurred. The use of some German words such as ja/yes, und/and, nein/no or dummkopf/stupid person among the English spoken words may seem awkward at first, but viewers will gradually become accustomed to it and understand it adds a sense of authenticity to the setting, people and time of the film’s events.

Sophie Nélisse (Monsieur Lazhar, Pawn Sacrifice) is captivating as Liesel, the protagonist in the film who finds books are a source of comfort and inspiration. Nélisse is convincing as her character discovers how friendships with Hans, Rudy, Max and Ilsa Hermann (Barbara Auer) help her to understand the importance of using words to stimulate good or evil. Liesel feels robbed of so many loved ones in her life that she tells herself “When life robs you, sometimes you have to rob it back.” However, Liesel uses words to maintain friendships, share in her joy of storytelling and to distract her from the oppressive horrors of the war. On the other hand, Hitler uses words to control a nation, influence the minds and hearts of citizens and to persecute.

The pairing of Geoffrey Rush (The Best Offer, Gods of Egypt) and Emily Watson (Molly Moon: The Incredible Hypnotist, Belle) as the Hubermanns is sheer delight, with a mix of nasty name-calling and gestures of love between this dynamic couple; the young Nico Liersch is brilliant as Liesel’s friend Rudy who secretly loves her and eventually gains her trust; Roger Allam (The Iron Lady,The Angels’ Share) is wickedly cynical yet comforting and kind-hearted as Death.

AIR RAID ANGUISH: Rudy (Nico Liersch), Liesel (Sophie Nélisse) and Rosa (Emily Watson) hide with others in a bomb shelter during an air raid in the drama film The Book Thief. Image: Twentieth Century Fox.

The film is beautifully scored by John Williams whose musical compositions have an emotive flow particularly during the traumatic events of Liesel’s life in Nazi Germany. The Book Thief is not a Holocaust film but it does deal with many elements of the human condition using the events of World War II as a backdrop and the characters as a means to link the power of words to do good and triumph over acts of evil and terror. The film has moments of poignancy and sadness, yet is uplifting and joyful, with enough to be on par with the book.

Director: Brian Percival

Writers: Markus Zusak (novel), Michael Petroni (screenplay)

Cast: Sophie Nélisse, Geoffrey Rush, Emily Watson, Nico Liersch, Kirsten Block, Rainer Reiners, Ben Schnetzer, Levin Liam, Barbara Auer, Rainer Bock, Roger Allam, Heike Makatsch, Julian Lehmann, Hildegard Schroedter, Oliver Stowkowski, Carina Wiese, Gotthard Lange

Producers: Redmond Morris, Karen Rosenfelt, Henning Molfenter, Charlie Woebcken, Christoph Fisser, Ken Blancato

Cinematographer: Florian Balhaus

Original Music Composer: John Williams

Film Editor: John Wilson

Production: Simon Elliott (Production Designer), Bill Crutcher (Art Director), Anja Müller (Art Director), Jens Löckmann (Art Director), Mark Rosinski (Set Decorator)

Costume Designer: Anna B. Sheppard

Languages: English and German with English subtitles

Running Time: 2 hours and 15 minutes