The Book Thief (2013): A Review

The Book Thief (2013): A Movie Review

Set in the time of Nazi Germany, The Book Thief tells the story of Liesel, a girl who has just lost her beloved ones and is forced to start a new life with total strangers in the same country. In contrast to Schindler's List and the film versions of The Diary of Ana Frank, the story deals with the struggle of a non-Jewish girl and the suffering that she and her closest ones have to face inbetween the horrors of Nazism.

Based on a best-selling novel written by Markus Zusak, the story’s theme focuses on the lives of non-Jewish Germans and their struggles in a war that would be responsible for thousands of deaths in history.

The Book Thief gets rid of stereotypes and generalizations, and deals with how and why there were some who, hearing their conscience, were trying to keep essential values; while, on the other hand, the Hitler Youth movement and the Gestapo were trying to trap people into Nazi indoctrination in schools and public demonstrations. Will Liesel be taught something good by somebody else, or will she be brainwashed by Hitler’s regime?

The originality of the story is good enough to catch the public's attention from the beginning 'til the end. Unlike The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, the movie’s message is not only of despair but also of hope. In contrast to La vita è bella, hope does not come from imaginative optimism, nor from music (as in the The Pianist), but from words of realistic wisdom and practical love that always keep themselves on the line of realistic events, come what may.

With a professional production incorporating special effects, an excellent acting, and a fascinating plot that inspires, The Book Thief is worth-watching and its succes is understood to be the result of a memorable film that sets itself as a classical movie about the WWII and the Nazi Germany.