The Book Thief

Nazi's. Children. The power of learning. A strong family bond. Death. Drama. What does it all mean? I'll tell you what it means. An Oscar powerhouse. Or at least, one that can be advertised as that.

Hey, guess what. I didn't read the book. What a shock.

So I think my biggest problem with this film is the one glaring obvious problem. This is not a movie that should be toned down. It is a Holocaust movie. It is not okay. When we see dead bodies completely untouched by war, cleanly being dragged along, it doesn't work. It's like Wolverine slashing people with no blood being revealed, or like in the first Chronicles of Narnia where the kid is stabbed and there's zero blood. It doesn't work for me. This doesn't just apply to moments of violence, but to dumbed down moments of politics. Sure, I get that it's from a kids perspective. But it's not like she would be completely oblivious to the happenings around her because she's reading books. I guess at points it works. But at others it really bugged me that this movie was talking down to the audience as if the symbolism wasn't there.

That out of the way, the story is certainly an interesting one. For those uninitiated to the book like I was, this story is about a young girl adopted into a new foster family just as the Nazi's began to take over. One night, the family finds a young boy, a family friend, who needs to be hidden due to his Jewish name and heritage. The film goes through the expected moments of house searching, questioning the trust in close friends, etc. It has its own power, a soft spoken one.

It's my understanding that Death narrates the entire book. In the film, Death pops in and out. That bothered me. I feel like a narration from Death in a story intended for children is a BRILLIANT choice. But it didn't go all out. It only used it as a novelty, as a reminder throughout that death was coming. But this doesn't work unless it's used more frequently, AND the story uses death as a constant theme. Without one or the other, it feels like a gimmick. And it didn't work for me at all.

So as with all movies of this style, it will absolutely work for many people. And I'm sure it will work for many people far better than it worked for me. So don't take my word for it. But if you want to know what I think of it, it was decent.

Rank - 3/5