While subjected to the horrors of World War II Germany, young Liesel finds solace by stealing books and sharing them with others. In the basement of her home, a Jewish refugee is being prote... Read allWhile subjected to the horrors of World War II Germany, young Liesel finds solace by stealing books and sharing them with others. In the basement of her home, a Jewish refugee is being protected by her adoptive parents.While subjected to the horrors of World War II Germany, young Liesel finds solace by stealing books and sharing them with others. In the basement of her home, a Jewish refugee is being protected by her adoptive parents.
- Director
- Writers
- Markus Zusak(based on the novel by)
- Michael Petroni(screenplay by)
- Stars
Top credits
- Director
- Writers
- Markus Zusak(based on the novel by)
- Michael Petroni(screenplay by)
- Stars
- Nominated for 1 Oscar
- 9 wins & 17 nominations total
Videos7
Roger Allam
- Narratoras Narrator
- (voice)
- …
- Director
- Writers
- Markus Zusak(based on the novel by)
- Michael Petroni(screenplay by)
- All cast & crew
- See more cast details at IMDbPro
Storyline
In 1938, the young girl Liesel Meminger is traveling by train with her mother and her younger brother when he dies. Her mother buries the boy in a cemetery by the tracks and Liesel picks up a book, "The Gravediggers Handbook", which was left on the grave of her brother and brings it with her. Liesel is delivered to a foster family in a small town and later she learns that her mother left her because she is a communist. Her stepmother, Rosa Hubermann, is a rude but caring woman and her stepfather, Hans Hubermann, is a simple kind-hearted man. Liesel befriends her next door neighbor, the boy Rudy Steiner, and they go together to the school. When Hans discovers that Liesel cannot read, he teaches her using her book and Liesel becomes an obsessed reader. During a Nazi speech where the locals are forced to burn books in a bonfire, Liesel recovers one book for her and the Mayor's wife Ilsa Hermann witnesses her action. Meanwhile Hans hides the Jewish Max Vandenburg, who is the son of a deceased friend that saved his life in the war, in the basement of his house and Liesel becomes his friend. One day, Rosa asks Liesel to deliver laundry to the Mayor and Ilsa invites Liesel to go to her library and tells that she can visit her to read whenever she wants. But in times of war there are many threats and the lives of Liesel, her family and friends will never be the same. —Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- Taglines
- Courage beyond words.
- Genres
- Certificate
- K-12
- Parents guide
Did you know
- TriviaOne of the books that Liesel read to Max when he was sick is actually the book The Book Thief itself, containing the sentence: "what came to her then was the dustiness of the floor, the feeling that her clothes were more next to her than on her, and the sudden realisation that this would all be for nothing".
- GoofsWhile in the basement, Hans comments that the snowman will not melt because "it's freezing down here," yet no character's breath can be seen in the air, despite the fact that all are breathing heavily. The visibility of breath in the cold is determined by not only the temperature, but also the relative humidity, so it is possible for it to be cold without the characters' breath showing.
- Quotes
[from trailer]
Max Vandenburg: If your eyes could speak, what would they say?
- ConnectionsFeatured in 71st Golden Globe Awards (2014)
- SoundtracksWiegenlied: Guten Abend, Gut Nacht, Op. 49, No. 4
Written by Johannes Brahms
Top review
Don't listen to the poor reviews.
Orange Wednesday's are a weekly escape from the monotony of the working world (New Teacher - Little money - Stressed - Used to do absolutely nothing at Uni). Therefore over the last couple of years, as you can imagine, the cinema has been overused and a plethora of films have been watched, reviewed and loved. Being a sap myself and an ability to completely immerse myself within a movie; the usual comment coming out of the cinema is: "That was the best film I've ever seen!"...
Obviously that is never actually true, and probably isn't for this film, however I again came out the cinema saying the same thing. Within the first two months of this year: Wolf of Wall Street, 12 Years a Slave, American Hustle and Dallas Buyers Club...Now The Book Thief!
Now I had no idea what the film was about before stepping in the cinema, except a girl who steals books in the war. Even half way through I thought this film was a heart warming film about the war through a child's eyes. I was WRONG! If you know nothing about the story, the film is beautifully written, acted, portrayed (Life of Pi creators, done it again) and has bags of shocks, emotion and heartache. The other lad who viewed the film with me(In the same boat work wise) I have never seen cry. That man was broken!
The young actress, is going to be a superstar. Geoffrey Rush, although portrayed a "Disney Dad" as some reviewers suggested; was inspirational and perfectly cast, when compared to the book, which I have now read.
Another reviewer trashed the use of "bits of German" - You sir, are a fool. This is not Hollywood tact, the book does exactly the same thing and therefore the film took that same role.
Another reviewer gave the film "1 star" (Mainly due to the film not being realistic in 3 parts, which all played no real role in the film and therefore a poor point to make) It's a story based on some real life events, not a true story.
Rant over though, this film truly moved me (23 year old male) I know, I hid it well in the cinema! The film is just a Must see and although I probably wouldn't rate it 10 star (I never rate that highly) I felt I needed to raise the profile, due to people who have too much time on their hands to pick holes in minor parts of films and have to have their films more like a documentary, then a masterpiece for all warps of life and ages.
I will be using this in school as soon as it is out and will be a fantastic tool for developing writing!
Cracking film!
Obviously that is never actually true, and probably isn't for this film, however I again came out the cinema saying the same thing. Within the first two months of this year: Wolf of Wall Street, 12 Years a Slave, American Hustle and Dallas Buyers Club...Now The Book Thief!
Now I had no idea what the film was about before stepping in the cinema, except a girl who steals books in the war. Even half way through I thought this film was a heart warming film about the war through a child's eyes. I was WRONG! If you know nothing about the story, the film is beautifully written, acted, portrayed (Life of Pi creators, done it again) and has bags of shocks, emotion and heartache. The other lad who viewed the film with me(In the same boat work wise) I have never seen cry. That man was broken!
The young actress, is going to be a superstar. Geoffrey Rush, although portrayed a "Disney Dad" as some reviewers suggested; was inspirational and perfectly cast, when compared to the book, which I have now read.
Another reviewer trashed the use of "bits of German" - You sir, are a fool. This is not Hollywood tact, the book does exactly the same thing and therefore the film took that same role.
Another reviewer gave the film "1 star" (Mainly due to the film not being realistic in 3 parts, which all played no real role in the film and therefore a poor point to make) It's a story based on some real life events, not a true story.
Rant over though, this film truly moved me (23 year old male) I know, I hid it well in the cinema! The film is just a Must see and although I probably wouldn't rate it 10 star (I never rate that highly) I felt I needed to raise the profile, due to people who have too much time on their hands to pick holes in minor parts of films and have to have their films more like a documentary, then a masterpiece for all warps of life and ages.
I will be using this in school as soon as it is out and will be a fantastic tool for developing writing!
Cracking film!
helpful•8122
- ryzah
- Feb 27, 2014
Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Official sites
- Languages
- Also known as
- Boktjuven
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $19,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $21,488,481
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $105,005
- Nov 10, 2013
- Gross worldwide
- $76,586,316
- Runtime2 hours 11 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.35 : 1
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