The Book Thief (2013)
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Critics Consensus: A bit too safe in its handling of its Nazi Germany setting, The Book Thief counters its constraints with a respectful tone and strong performances.
Critics Consensus: A bit too safe in its handling of its Nazi Germany setting, The Book Thief counters its constraints with a respectful tone and strong performances.
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Movie Info
Based on the beloved international bestselling book, The Book Thief tells the story of an extraordinary, spirited young girl sent to live with a foster family in WWII Germany. Intrigued by the only book she brought with her, she begins collecting books as she finds them. With the help of her new parents and a secret guest under the stairs, she learns to read and creates a magical world that inspires them all.- Rating:
- PG-13 (for some violence and intense depiction of thematic material)
- Genre:
- Drama
- Directed By:
- Brian Percival
- Written By:
- Michael Petroni
- In Theaters:
- Nov 8, 2013 Limited
- On DVD:
- Mar 11, 2014
- US Box Office:
- $21.5M
Cast
-
Geoffrey Rush
as Hans -
Emily Watson
as Rosa -
Sophie Nélisse
as Liesel -
Ben Schnetzer
as Max -
Nico Liersch
as Rudy -
Roger Allam
as Narrator/Death
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Critic Reviews for The Book Thief
All Critics (134) | Top Critics (38) | Fresh (61) | Rotten (73)
The movie lacks the nerve to treat death as anything more menacing than the tooth fairy.
Markus Zusak's enormously successful young-adult novel seems to have been adapted as a movie for middle-aged children.
"The Book Thief" may not be perfect, but it may steal your heart.
Pretty visuals give an unexpectedly painful twist to other parts of the story.
You just wonder if this film's audience might be happier at home, curled up with a book. "The Book Thief," perhaps.
A tale of WWII Germany as seen through the eyes of a young girl, "The Book Thief" is unobjectionable, sentimental, and not a little dull.
Ultimately not much more complex than the moment in which two children yell "I hate Hitler" across a lake, it imparts the message that Nazis are bad, books are good, and Geoffrey Rush would make a great dad even in WWII Germany
This extremely moving drama suggests the Holocaust story Ray Bradbury might have written: Events are seen through a child's eyes; books are shown to contain a healing, transformative power; and the supernatural is real, if symbolic.
Zusak's story is stirring, and it holds the film up during most of its predictable parts, but The Book Thief never rises too far above that. The narration from Death only serves to make it more like some sort of fantastical fairy tale.
Regrettably this poignant and profound story, does not feel very poignant nor profound at all.
Showing tragic events through a child's eyes can be a powerful storytelling strategy, but there's something altogether too cosy and bland about Downton Abbey director Brian Percival's handling of the material here.
Tthe film sees Nelisse give a wonderful performance; indeed, the performances are all round good, but the film lacks emotional depth.
Tries to blend heartwarming moral observation with ill-fitting metaphysical contrivance.
The film-making style seems disconcertingly glossy given the downbeat themes.
The Book Thief must be accounted a failure: even Downton fans will find the rampant cosiness just a little hard to bear.
It's certainly pretty to look at, reminiscent of those Disneyland parades where horses are much in evidence, but their excrement (thanks to neat little sacks attached to the creatures' nether regions) never soils the ground.
It's a worryingly lenient and obtuse approach to history and historical evil, which are smothered in feelgood tragi-sentimental slush.
It looks marvellous: browns, beiges and greys setting off the startling red of the ubiquitous swastikas. But there is no real feeling for the catastrophe that is gathering pace in the background.
What is The Book Thief saying? Unknown. I can't even tell you what its intentions are, or whom it is intended for, only that it lacks even a whiff of emotional heft.
Since the story is essentially Anne Frank re-gendered, why bother at all?
[Percival] certainly makes everything look pretty, although neither he nor Michael Petroni, who wrote the script, seem able to give the story a sense of momentum or tension, or even locate it in a world that's recognisably real.
While there's a strong story in here about the power of literature and the fragility of life, this movie takes a far too wistful approach, so it feels like a cheesy bedtime yarn rather than a look at horrors of Nazi Germany
A frank and adventurous portrayal of love in the margins.
The performances are admirable and engaging but the story is short on drama and emotional impact.
A little more darkness and a little less gloss may have better served the story.
Ultimately something of a disappointment, thanks to sluggish direction, a curiously uneventful screenplay, a general lack of suspense and a surfeit of forced sentimentality.
Audience Reviews for The Book Thief
The narrative style that this movie takes isn't the worst part of this movie. Occasionally funny and sweet but not enough to save you from the boredom that ensues!
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Super Reviewer
Messy as this aseptic drama is from a narrative point of view, with language inconsistencies and dozens of pointless elements, it is also a mystery what it wants to say after all, lacking emotional weight and tension while being completely detached from the real world.
MoreSuper Reviewer
Courage beyond words.
Great Film! "The Book Thief" has wonderful photography by Florian Ballhaus, an excellent musical score by Golden Globe and Oscar winning John Williams, and best of all, marvelous acting from Sophie Nelisse as the young girl, Geoffrey Rush and Emily Watson as her adoptive parents, and Ben Schnetzer as the Jewish boy they hide. Many of the core scenes with Nelisse, Watson, and Rush should be required viewing at any acting school. If the film has any fault at all, it is the decision by the film makers to try to walk a fine line between drama and fable. Having "Death" as the narrator right from the start seems to suggest fable, but the story itself veers sharply to drama for most of the 2+ hours, and then, noticeably at the end, reverts to fable. Some viewers may find this disconcerting. But the power of the story and the acting generally compensate for this short coming.
Based on the beloved bestselling book, THE BOOK THIEF tells the story of a spirited and courageous young girl who transforms the lives of everyone around her when she is sent to live with a foster family in World War II Germany.
Super Reviewer
Super Reviewer
The Book Thief Quotes
- Hans:
- I?m not sure what it all meant. Everything he went through. Everything we did.
- Liesel:
- We were just being people. That?s what people do.
- Death:
- I am haunted by humans.
- Hans:
- Better that we leave the paint behind, than ever forget the music.
- Liesel:
- It was not always mine.
- Hans:
- Did you steal it?
- Max:
- It was not always mine.
- Liesel:
- Did you steal it?
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