The Book Thief

On paper, this film must come across as a disproportionately drawn-out and highly sentimental amalgamation of all the clichés one can recall from stories about evil Nazis and the power of friendly values in times of war. But I confess that I found the final form, its effective narrative strategies, the performances, the approach to the viewer and the way the film presents itself so unobtrusively yet compulsively impressive that I have to subjectively increase the lower objective rating. On the poetically ironic commentary of an unusual narrator, on the light tones of Williams's soundtrack, and on the purely humanistic messages through the lens of uncorrupted human souls, I rode comfortably to a powerful cinematic experience that may be too pleasant given the gravity of the subject matter, but what it wants to convey, it conveys effectively and without fail. (16/10/2016)

I like these small – but at the same time very important to each and every one of us – WWII stories. Because they prove that these people had to live through hard times, but they were able to shake it off and go on living. I am incredibly fascinated by that and every single story of these people should be engraved in our souls to realize that our problems are not small, but they can be dealt with gracefully at the same time. The Book Thief is such a beautiful movie, although I have a number of criticisms about it. For example, throughout the entire movie, I kept wondering whether it was a good choice that they were speaking both English and German; the lead actors were speaking English and everybody around them was speaking German to add a proper atmosphere of Germany. To be honest, that really irritated me. On the other hand, I must say that the Görlitz scenery was absolutely flawless. I’ll immediately go there as soon as I get the chance. All that history is downright emanating off it. The story itself is a proper WWII affair. It’s got gorgeous camerawork, the filmmaking is very delicate and the acting is good and proper. Apart from the language barrier, I couldn’t find a single problem with this movie. (11/04/2014)

Some people criticize that the film is too naive and sentimental, that it has an unbelievable view of war, that it's typical Hollywood kitsch, and so on. We must realize that The Book Thief is a stylized spectacle, where we observe the horrors and cruelty of war and Nazi orders through the eyes of a child who approaches the threshold of adolescence and platonic love during the narration but does not cross it. There is a certain naivety and innocence that pertains to this age. The story is not particularly innovative, but the execution is fine, the director knows how to play with details and is able to work with chilling poetry in certain places. In addition, the cast is quite luxurious, Geoffrey Rush and Emily Watson are among the best in their categories that film studios can hire, and even though I had a small problem with Sophie Nélisse, I cannot deny that she has a certain charm. Yes, the film wants to move you, but you don't have to be ashamed of being moved by it. If American studio productions were always like this, then we could congratulate ourselves. Overall impression: 75%. (16/08/2017)

The film has moments that are inventive, interesting, but it still heavily relies on the fact that it is a story from World War II, seen through the eyes of a rather young girl who has to come to terms with the fact that adolescence is different in such times. It is beautiful, it is human, it is sometimes a bit simplistic, but it still managed to touch my heart. And that is thanks to the brilliant Geoffrey Rush. (20/04/2014)

The beautiful story is only separated from perfection by a strange linguistic entanglement. The characters speak English with a German accent (except for the mayor's fiery speech, which is all in German), German words "ja", "nein", "und", "Saumensch" and so on are sometimes slipped into their English sentences, there are German signs on all the houses, and yet the books are written in English and so are the people... That's just something you don't have to deal with when you read the book, but you do in the film. But otherwise I have nothing to complain about in The Book Thief. Amazing performances by Sophie Nélisse, Geoffrey Rush and Emily Watson, a number of unforgettable scenes backed by Williams' out-of-this-world music (the snow battle leads the way), perfect narration... I'm so glad I watched The Book Thief on the big screen. (21/01/2014)