The Book Thief

I wanted to see this film once I saw the names of Geoffrey Rush and John Williams on the poster. I value the story of a movie more so than most of the other cinematic aspects but this film's story is based on a popular book; of course it is good. What is noteworthy is that the filmmakers were able to create a decent adaption. The film could have been more powerful in the hands of a more creative and experienced director but I can overlook this because of the acting.

This is Nazi Germany as seen through the eyes of a child. I personally didn't mind that this was a safe depiction of World War II Germany. From "Schindler's List" to "Captain America", this time in history has been portrayed in a variety of lights. Not all WWII movies need to be realistic. I like how "The Book Thief" showed the horrors but toned things down a bit. In some scenes, the colors are quite warm and inviting. I took notice of the children singing over scenes of vandalism by the soldiers. The story itself wasn't predictable and I was grateful for that. Having "death" as the narrator probably worked really well on the page and does it create some drama on the screen. Having not read the book, I felt that the narration created hopelessness at times when we needed a different omniscient voice to reassure us. Then again, World War II wasn't exactly a hopeful time. I did find a problem with the mixture between English and German. Both languages are spoken and appear in print in the film. They should have set some better rules for that. There was genuine suspense thanks to the character of Max. My favorite part of the story was how Rosa went from being cold to motherly. Oscar-nominated actress Emily Watson accomplished this very sincerely. All the cast members played very well off each other. Geoffrey Rush, another Oscar-nominated actor, created a realistic character that was different from his past roles. I was also impressed by the talents of Sophie Nelisse and Levin Liam. Roger Allam did very well in his narration too. Here is the biggest piece of criticism having to do with "The Book Thief" and it is concerning the marketing. On the poster, we read "From the studio that brought you 'Life of Pi'". This is referring to Fox 2000 Pictures. That is the lone connection between the two very different movies. If you want to reference another film in order to attract moviegoers, you can't make a connection like that because a studio can make a variety of movies. No major crewmember from "Life of Pi" worked on "The Book Thief". Even the lists of producers for each film are different. It's like they are playing "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon" and will do anything to make a connection in order to win. When Disney made "National Treasure" for example, they didn't mention "Cool Runnings" in the advertizing even though director Jon Turteltaub made both Disney films. I really dislike it when studios reference another film they did which has no real relation in order to promote their latest flick. On a more reputable note, I love how recently John Williams is able to create musical scores that sound unique from his past masterpieces. By the way, this is the first time since 2005 that John Williams has scored a non-Spielberg movie. Fittingly, his most recent Oscar win was for "Schindler's List" in 1993.

Speaking of Oscars, John Williams gets his 49th Oscar nomination thanks to his work on this movie. I found nothing wrong with the film itself. It is true that few risks were taken but the final product could have been worse. In "The Book Thief", you had great acting and the telling of the story was respectable.

4 Stars