The Book Thief, based on the novel of the same name by Australian author Markus Zusak, balances on a tricky dramatic tightrope. It takes place in Germany during World War II, and touches upon all the terrible things that happened there through the eyes of a young orphan girl just coming of age. The film finds itself juggling the harsh realities of Nazi-era Germany with the whimsy and idealism that springs from the film’s young-adult narrative. It is a recipe that could feel exploitative, but the film manages to mostly skirt around its more ghoulish impulses. At least for a while. The Book Thief ends on a pretty bitter note, but it’s a fine enough introduction to this tragic era of history.
The film opens in 1938. Liesel (Sophie Nélisse) arrives at the home of her adoptive parents Hans and Rosa Hubermann (Geoffrey Rush and Emily Watson), still mourning the recent death of her brother. She arrives illiterate, but under the tutelage of the kind Hans, she soon develops a real love for reading. Soon, Nazi Germany begins its purging of the Jewish population, and that’s when Max (Ben Schnetzer), the son of an old friend of Hans, shows up at their door. The Hubermanns hide Max from the Nazis, keeping him in the basement. There, Liesel strikes up a friendship with the young Jew, and becomes witness to the growing cruelty of the nation.
It’s a hard film to sum up. There isn’t much in the way of plot. The story is presented as little slices of life in this one fictional German village taking place as Nazi Germany wages war on the world. It becomes a picture of the compassion that persisted in spite of the environment, personified in these kind characters caring for this one Jewish friend. It posits literature as a salvific force, suppressed by those who wish to restrict freedom, and championed by anyone burdened with compassion. A talented cast of actors brings that compassion to the fore. Sophie Nélisse exudes youthful tenacity. Geoffrey Rush turns kindness into a conspiracy, a secret bit of mischief shared through glances. Emily Watson keeps a tight leash on her character’s more cartoonish qualities. And when her character finally lowers her defenses, the effect is quite moving.
But the specter of death hangs over the movie, and its real mettle is tested in how it deals when faced with actual tragedy. And here the movie falls short. It goes a little too far in underlining the tragedy that befalls some of the characters. What might have been a clever literary device in the novel ends up looking quite ghoulish on screen. The film ends up feeling whimsical about something rather horrific. There is a risk of giving too much away here, but the narration of the film lends an odd quality to the tragedy that doesn’t quite fit within the film’s historical context.
And things get even more problematic as the film heads into its final stretch, as it makes one last big tug for the audience’s heartstrings. Here it sacrifices all of its silent grace with one big melodramatic moment that leaves an awful taste. It is a moment of complete artifice, the sadness ringing false as the characters play out a horrible cliché.
Taken as a while, The Book Thief does offer up plenty of merit. If nothing else, it’s a decent way to introduce younger viewers to what happened in World War II. It opens them up to the compassion that still existed in such a difficult time, informing further reading into the subject. It’s just that the way the film ends is pretty difficult to swallow. Here, it trivializes the tragedy by insisting on an overly artificial aesthetic. It isn’t satisfied with being just sad. It had to be designed to be the saddest moment of all time. And here the film loses touch with the reality, thus exploiting the real history.
My Rating:
