MOVIE REVIEW - The Book Thief

The Book Thief is being heralded as one of the years best movies.  That may be a bit overstated.

This is based on a best selling book that is set in the years before, during and after WWII of a young girl named Leisel.  She is a 11 year old foster child in Germany beginning in 1938.  She is sent to live with an aging couple.  She cannot read and quickly learns that she has a love of books as she then learns to read.  She goes to great lengths and some extreme peril to read, and acquire books in an era in Nazi Germany when the government was actually burning books and isolating itself.

She also learns to love her new parents who give her the only home she has ever known.  As the war begins, the harsh reality of the Nazi's begins to take hold in their lives.  They decide to hide a young Jewish boy in their basement, Max that Leisel befriends. Their bond grows as they both share the love of learning and books. But his presence is putting them in great danger and if caught, it would be death to them all.

Now if this sounds a bit deep, and depressing, it is.  But there is some to like here, and some to love.  First to like?  This is wonderfully filmed with amazing costumes and terrific sets.  This really transports you right into 1940s Germany.   Geoffery Rush is very good as Leisel's Papa, Hans.  He is seldom not good in anything.  The supporting cast though is average and not really compelling and that is one of the movies weak links. 

To Love?  Young actress Sophie Nelisse as Leasel.  Her performance in this very large role is sensational.  She is 13 years old and performing in a role about an era she cannot possibly understand and really pulls it off.  This is about as good as you will see any child actor in any movie. She is everything you would want any actor at any age to be in any movie. This movie had to have performance to work, and she delivered. I can't wait to see her next movie.  She was easy to watch, and delivered her dialogue with amazing emotion and depth.

But this movie does have some flaws that are hard to overlook.  In short, this is draggy at times, and dull at others.  Many scenes have the same look as the last,. And after a while, you wonder if this is really going somewhere, or just spinning it's wheels.  To be fair, this is a move that can use a narrator at times, and they have one. But the narrator is "death", and that just doesn't work, and frankly stuck out like a sore thumb.   It was tiring and needless after a while.  Also, this movie makes the big mistake of ending about 3 times, and that was awkward too.  Too drawn out at the end.

The Book Thief.  This is certainly not a bad movie, but this should and could have been a whole lot better.  Some fine performances mixed into a movie formula that was not nearly as fine.   But Sophie Nelisse is worth a ticket.  A star is born.