The Book Thief is a study in contradictions: a personal account of life in German during WWII, but on a small enough scale that the cosmic relevance of such an existence gets lost. Viewers get to experience the dread inside the home when the SS is around, and the localization of such events does well to personalize the experience for viewers. But, at the same time, it mutes the overall horror and significance of WWII and the Holocaust on a global scale. One of the film’s strengths is also one of its greatest weakness; imagine someone wrote a somewhat-lighthearted screenplay from the Reader’s Digest version of Elie Wiesel’s Night and you’ll get the general idea.
Young Liesel (Sophie Nélisse) is the illiterate daughter of a filthy communist, sent away to live with foster parents Hans Hubermann (Geoffrey Rush), painter, and his frigid wife, Rosa (Emily Watson), who complains that she arrived on her own instead of with the brother that died in transit.
She is called “dummkopf” by her peers for her inability to read — a moniker with unfortunate staying power, despite her remedies — and “saumensch” by her overbearing, new mother figure for her crass, unladylike behavior. Herr Hubermann, however, has a softer hand and teaches young Liesel how to read, employing The Grave Digger’s Handbook, her last token of remembrance from her departed brother.
Liesel becomes pals and running mates with Rudy (Nico Liersch), the eager young blonde boy who shows up to escort her on her first day of school. That grows a bit more difficult when Max (Ben Schnetzer) shows up. Max is a young Jew whose father saved Hans’s life in the First World War, an obligation from which Hubermann does not shy.
Liesel helps Rosa with the laundry business she runs out of the home, putting her in contact with Frau Hermann, wife of the bürgermeister (think mayor with Nazi ties), who notices Liesel sparing a tome from the book-burning bonfire and offers her access to her expansive library. As Hans seems to be finding more work painting over shop signs (at least, those with ethnic Jewish names) than regular painting, Liesel’s and the Hubermanns’ daily vigil over Max grows ever more difficult.
It’s a shame the narrative and visuals whitewash the Nazi Germany experience, because all the mains turn in wonderful performances. Geoffrey Rush gives his most memorable performance since Shine (die in a grease fire explosion if you bring up the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise) and Emily Watson is the perfect foil as his wife.
While the rest are virtual unknowns to American audiences, Sophie Nélisse is both adorable and eminently sympathetic as Liesel, the beautiful ingénue with eyes full of curiosity and young wonder. Nico Liersch does well as Rudy, the unwitting phenotypical perfection of the Nazi ideal, and Ben Schnetzer, as Max, seems to be the Jewish, WWII-era answer to Josh Hartnett (good Hartnett, mind you).
The Book Thief offers an intriguing premise that you want to root for. But, perhaps because of failings in the page to-screen process, it ends up a watered-down account of the personal experience in Nazi Germany.
That can't have been the filmmakers' original goal.
