The Book Thief

By Linda Winsh-Bolard

Roger Allam, as the voice of Death, narrates the story of 1938 small town in Germany, where Liesel Meminger (Sophie Nelisse), who lost her whole family in events she can barely comprehend, is send. Liesel's parents seem to have been leftist in Hitler’s new Germany and are gone, her brother does not survive the winter journey.

Alone, Liesel faces two unknown adults, who are to be her substitute family, Rose Hubermann (Emily Watson) and Hans Hubermann (Geoffrey Rush).

On her second day with Hubermanns, she meets her new, and lasting friend, Rudy Steiner (Nico Liersh), a talented runner. A wonderfully touching moment comes when Rudy asks Rose to let Liesel walk with him to school and Rose replies: "What makes you think, you are good enough for my daughter?" Liesel adjusts slowly to her new school, family and life.

The director, Brian Percival, uses her adjustment to show glimpses of life in Nazi Germany. A show of books burning, very pagan, with full night fire, flags and singing, a glimpse of Kristallnacht, a choir of young German Aryan girls singing laudatory racist hymn to new Germany, a march of starved Jews to transport, and Max (Ben Schnetzer), the Jew Hubermanns are hiding. Fear of “them” is present most of the time.

This is where the film becomes, at the very best, controversial: who are those “them”? Historically, most Germans joined the Nazi willingly and enthusiastically. Taking over Jewish property and “getting rid” of them, thus never admitting the Jews were killed, was as acceptable to Germans, as was forced labor and concentration camps’ slaves sent to German factories to work, until they died of starvation, to produce arms for German army to take over the world.

There might have been some opposition, but most of the members would have been in the concentration camps as enemies of the state. Yet, in this film, Germans exhibit almost overall revulsion to the “new order” and majority of the characters are decent people. One wonders, how the SS and SA ever came to existence among such people. Then comes the final air raid on Himmel Street, where the Hubermanns live,and kills many of the characters.

Death explains, that the raid was a map misread, with tragic consequences. I wonder, how would “Death” explain Coventry.

The Book Thief, as a film, when its dubious ideology is put aside, is very well done. The photography is beautiful, Florian Ballhaus ( Devil Wears Prada) makes it often romantic, playing full palette of shadows and light, showing the pageantry of the Nazi system, the winter landscape of small town, the minutia of life to best possible effect.

Acting, particularly by Emily Watson and Geoffrey Rush, is excellent. They are so much the people they play, that even a critic forgets, occasionally, that this is just very professional acting job. The director had chosen an array of ordinary looking people to accompany the main characters and they all do very well. That makes the character of Max even more controversial, not only he is the one who leaves his Mother behind, but of course, he is so “Jewish” looking. Martin Ontrop who plays Herr Lehmann, the one Jew dragged away, is just an ordinary man, but Max must present the accepted “Jewish look”, not a blond one, or a brown haired one. More is the pity; it was not the looks, nor the faith that made Jews victims of the Holocaust. The Nazi were the cause of the Holocaust.

The film is not introduction to Holocaust, nor is it particularly about growing up, in war, or otherwise. It seems to intend to show the randomness of death in war, but by omitting the cause of the war, and brushing away much of the violence, it achieves a half hearted pretense of taking the blame off of the Nazi. That leaves an unpleasant aftertaste to otherwise somewhat soppy, young girl's memory of major events in her life.

I am told that the book is far crispier, with better story telling; perhaps. It has been a bestseller for five years.

Based on novel of Marcus Zusak, adapted by Michael Petroni.