The movie stars Sophie Nélisse as Liesel Meminger, Geoffrey Rush as her foster parent Hans Hubermann, and Emily Watson as his wife Rosa.
SUMMARY
The Book Thief opens with a voice narrating the beginning of Liesel's story. She is on a train with her mother and ill brother. The train makes an unscheduled (yet necessary) stop, during which Liesel finds a book dropped in the snow. She picks it up and hides it in her coat.
Eventually, Liesel is taken to a foster home (we are not told why her mother is sending her, but it is implied that she might have been a Communist). Rosa Hubermann, her new foster mother, displays her rough personality. Her prodding does not get Liesel to budge from the car. After Rosa gives up, Hans goes to the car and invites Liesel outside, calling her "Your Majesty." That does the trick. Liesel begins to learn how to live with the Hubermanns, though Rosa is convinced Liesel is a mute, as she will not speak. On her first night, Hans shows acts of kindness to her, and a special bond begins to form between the two.
On the first day of school, Liesel is accompanied by Rudy Steiner. However, things are worse at school than at home. Liesel cannot write and signs her name with "X"s. Later, she is taunted by fellow classmates, and a fight breaks out. Through this, Liesel finds a second true friend in Rudy.
After school, Hans tells Liesel that he is not a very good reader, and they can help each other. They start by using the book Liesel stole while the train was stopped. Hans soon sets up a blackboard in the basement, where Liesel can keep track of every new word she learns. Liesel Meminger becomes quite the reading aficionado.
As time goes on, Liesel becomes part of the Hitler Youth and (at a Nazi book burning) is forced into throwing books into a massive bonfire. However, after the crowd leaves, "the book thief" manages to find a book that escaped the fiery fate.
Eventually, the movie reaches the historic event known as Kristallnacht (or "the Night of Broken Glass"), a night of great violence and persecution towards Germany's Jewish population. Max Vanderburg, a Jew, is able to escape the massacre. He flees to the Hubermanns' home, as Hans was a friend of Max's father. The Hubermanns hide Max in their basement, and he befriends Liesel, as they both love books and words.
The Hubermanns, Liesel, and Max undergo struggles and a final, climatic disaster.
CONTENT
While The Book Thief has a lot of dialogue, there are some tense scenes. Within the first few minutes, a small child dies, and blood comes from his nostrils. Liesel also fights the school bully, but the worst is a skinned knee. However, there are several wartime bombings and one scene in which an army truck explodes violently. Also, the Kristallnacht scene depicts some violent persecution of the Jews. Toward the end of the film, the audience is shown the dead bodies of several people. One scene also includes a crowd of weary people being prodded and hurried along by Nazi soldiers (the victims are clearly Jewish).
There is one use of h*** and a few uses of G*d. Hans also utters two phrases: "God in heaven" and "Christ on a cross..."
The Book Thief is refreshingly clean from sexual content, besides a small bit of flirting from Rudy to Liesel.
The story is narrated by Death personified. He is not said to be God, Satan, or a specific spiritual individual. The movie is, sadly, void of any reference to a living God and where the characters find refuge during the Nazi trouble. Without God, they turn to books; even good books are passive, though, and are no substitute for our Lord.
With that aside, however, the film brings out some great things about the use of words. Max tells Liesel "words are life," which is true in a certain sense; our earthly lives can change based on what we say to someone or write on paper. Another quote from Max is when he asks Liesel, "If your eyes could speak, what would they say?" As Christians, how can we translate what we see into our spiritual lives?
Also, as a John Williams fan, I do have to add that his music expands the emotions felt in this movie, and I found some songs being reminiscent of his music from Schindler's List.
The Book Thief may not be an amazing film, but it is a very good one; it is one that brings out good points about the power of words. Sophie Nélisse and Geoffrey Rush shine marvelously as Liesel and Hans (Emily Watson was rather good, as well). The movie is obviously not a choice for the entire family, but it is one from which even adults can benefit.
GENERAL INFORMATION
Length: 131 minutes
Rating: PG-13 (for some violence and intense depiction of thematic material)
Director: Brian Percival
Producers: Karen Rosenfelt, Ken Blancato
Music: John Williams
Year of release: 2013
Primary audience: Pre-teens, teens, adults
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