"Movies, after all, are only an illusion of motion comprised of thousands of still photographs. The imagination, however, moves with its own tidal flow. Films, even the best of them, freeze fiction- anyone who has ever seen One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and then reads Ken Kesey's novel will find it hard or impossible not to see Jack Nicholson's face on Randle Patrick McMurphy. That is not necessarily bad... but it is limiting. The glory of a good tale is that it is limitless and fluid; a good tale belongs to each reader in its own particular way."
If you have not read The Book Thief by Markus Zusak then the first thing you should do is put this down and pick it up. Like on most occasions when a beautiful piece of literature is produced for the big screen, Percival's adaption of The Book Thief does not do it justice. There is much that is missed out, which is necessary in order to fit into the 130 minute running time, but leaves a lot of the tale untold. The character of Max in particular is hugely underdeveloped in this movie, we see little of his thoughts, dreams and complexities. Anyone who wishes to truly understand the magic and intricacy of the story, and to live the events along with the characters, should take a leaf out of Liesel's book and read it.
Accepting then, for the moment, that a film adaptation will never successfully portray the wonder of the story in written form, I shall attempt to review this movie as independently as possible.
Geoffrey Rush was perfectly cast as Hans and, as always, did a fantastic job. He was warm, and likable, with twinkling eyes, the perfect portrayal of a friendly step father to an abandoned child. His performance of despair after realizing he had put his family in danger was incredibly heart wrenching and powerful and definitely deserving of awards. Sophie Nelisse too should gain credit for her strong performance as Liesel. Her German accent however, like with many of the characters, is rough and almost painful to the ear. The accents in general in this movie sound like an amateur drama group at a secondary school rather than a Hollywood blockbuster!
To begin with, Rosa (Emily Watson) and Hans are almost one dimensional, and Rosa verges on the pantomime. However, it is possible that Percival was attempting to show us them through Liesel's eyes, as a scared child in an unfamiliar environment. As the movie goes on, and Liesel becomes closer with Rosa, she becomes far more likable and the depth to both her and Hans grows. This is important because the ending would have nowhere near as much impact without the characters finally receiving that dash of reality.
The touches of wartime Germany were powerful and touching, portraying the people as just the same as the British, seeking protection in Bomb Shelters, singing and telling stories to keep morale up. The film deliberately avoids too much focus on the Nazi movement itself, focussing on the war time struggles of the every day people. This has been criticized by many such as Bradshaw who writes, "It's a worryingly lenient and obtuse approach to history and historical evil, which are smothered in feel good tragi-sentimental slush." Yet, in there scarcity, the scenes which do zone in on the Nazi's then, stand out as far more dramatic. We, along with characters, are jolted out of a focus on the small everyday, and reminded of the worse horrors occurring outside of the street. The book burning scene in particular serves as a grim reminder of the Nazi regime, as books such as H G Wells The Invisible Man are piled on a bonfire while the crowd sings about destroying communists and Jews. The arrest of a German man after his birth certificate revealed he had Jewish heritage also served as a reminder of the brutal, no tolerance attitude of the regime and the march of the Jews through the street with their yellow starts pinned dismally to their chest, gives the first real mention of the holocaust in the film.
The film therefore makes some way to answering the question, how did ordinary people in Germany allow the holocaust to occur and the Nazis to control? Fear obviously is one factor. But the film demonstrates how easy it was for ordinary people to focus on the problems in their own bubble of life, their own streets, only faced with the real severity of the outside situation on rare occasions.
The handling of death in the movie was so nearly done well. The biggest issue of it was the way the cameras fell through the clouds during his opening narration, giving the appearance of Peter Pan or some other Disney movie. However, Death's narration at the end of the movie was hauntingly perfect and there is little criticism I can make there.
This adaptation has been criticized for being too soft to deal with the hard issues in the novel. Indeed, it might have benefited from being a certificate 15 to allow a more real portrayal of the material. Writing for the Guardian, Macnab argues "The swirling John Williams score and unabashed sentimentality don't help a film that would have benefited from taking a tougher approach." However, what the film does do is create a beautiful tale of strength and heroism in small acts and every day people, which is "swirling" and "sentimental" enough for children, yet dark and hard enough for adults to enjoy too.
Few viewers will regret watching this movie, it is heartwarming with a touch of the tragic. However, to really fall in love with this tale, please, please, pick up the book.
Sources
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/the-book-thief-film-review-dark-material-but-this-film-plays-like-a-typical-comingofage-story-9158494.html
http://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/feb/28/book-thief-review-film-markus-zusak
King, Stephen (2011) 'Preface' in The Stand USA: Anchor
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