World War 2 themed films have always been interesting to look forward to, and "The Book Thief", originally written as a best selling novel by Markus Zusak is no different when it comes to the quality what we would have expected it to be.
Zusak's book is loved and read by many, and the themes of death and Nazis mixed with the innocence of children made it a bit difficult to catagorise who the story should be aiming at, which made the film pretty widely anticipated, no matter how horrific the historical theme was.
Compared to "The Pianist" or even "Inglourious Basterds", "The Book Thief" still gave room for childlike innocence and curiosity as it was told in Liesel's point of view most of the time, so even if she did go through traumatizing events, her energy gave enough hope to the audiences watching. She made us all think that maybe this time the War wouldn't be so bad, even if it was just for a while.
Although the film's take wasn't that extraordinary compared to the book, it did hold it's own with beautiful cinematography and the pacing that was not too draggy and not too short, either. It was just right in many ways, but admittedly it didn't bring anything extra to the table, besides the actors' emotional performances and the ending that brought the reviewer to tears.
Brian Percival, who had directed modern television classics like "Downton Abbey" and "North & South" made his big screen debut by directing "The Book Thief" and his experience with television helped him creating outstanding sets and allowed him to use colour to portray the many emotions the movie was going through. His has a great eye for detail and he even knew how to translate the story from book to screen without it being awkward.
Geoffrey Rush and Emily Watson played the outstanding roles of Liesel's adoptive parents. It was even thought that newcomer Sophie Nelisse was born to play the role of Liesel. The rest of the cast were also brilliantly portrayed, and there was not one of the actors who failed to bring the book to life.
 |
| That Max, though~ |
Even if you have not read the book, the movie will still captivate and inspire you, and then leave you with uncontrollable tearducts. It might not be the greatest film you will watch this year, but it is still one of the films that you can't miss watching.
