The Book Thief (2013)

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:

Brian Percival

Writers:

Markus Zusak (based on the novel by), Michael Petroni (screenplay by)

Stars:

Sophie Nélisse, Geoffrey Rush, Emily Watson

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 9 wins & 15 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Roger Allam	...	Narrator / Death (voice)
Sophie Nélisse	...	Liesel Meminger
Heike Makatsch	...	Liesel's Mother
Julian Lehmann	...	Liesel's Brother
Gotthard Lange	...	Grave Digger
Rainer Reiners	...	Priest
Kirsten Block	...	Frau Heinrich
Geoffrey Rush	...	Hans Hubermann
Emily Watson	...	Rosa Hubermann
Nico Liersch	...	Rudy Steiner
Ludger Bökelmann	...	Football Urchin
Paul Schaefer	...	Football Urchin
Nozomi Linus Kaisar	...	Fat Faced Goalie
Oliver Stokowski	...	Alex Steiner
Robert Beyer	...	Jewish Accountant

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 ...

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Plot Keywords:

book | nazi | nazi germany | book burning | world war two | 

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Taglines:

This is the tale of the Book Thief, as narrated by death. And when Death tells a story, you really have to listen. It's just a small story really, about, amongst other things: a girl+an accordionist+some fanatical Germans+a Jewish fist fighter+and quite a lot of thievery.

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Genres:

Drama | War

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for some violence and intense depiction of thematic material

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official Facebook [United Kingdom]

Country:

USA Germany

Language:

English German

Release Date:

27 November 2013 (USA)

Also Known As:

Ladrona de libros

Filming Locations:

Berlin, Germany

Box Office

Budget:

$19,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$105,005, 8 November 2013, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$21,488,481

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$76,586,316

Company Credits

Production Co:

Fox 2000 Pictures,Sunswept Entertainment,TSG Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

131 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby SDDS Datasat Dolby Atmos Dolby Surround 7.1

Color:

Color Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Konrad Duden wrote the Duden Dictionary and Thesaurus.

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Goofs

During the September 1939 scene, a boy on a bicycle holds a newspaper and excitedly exclaims Hitler has declared war. This is factually incorrect. Britain and France both officially declared war on Germany on 3 September 1939. Germany did not declare war on either nations. Hitler was hoping both Britain and France would come to the negotiating table as they had done previously over Czechoslovakia (The 1938 Munich Agreement). This led to a period known as "The Phoney War" when both side did little after the fall of Poland. The boy doesn't actually say that Germany declared war. His exact lines are, "England declared war on us! We're at war with England!"

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Quotes

[first lines]
Narrator: One small fact: you are going to die. Despite every effort, no one lives forever. Sorry to be such a spoiler. My advice is when the time comes, don't panic. It doesn't seem to help.

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Connections

Referenced in Film '72: Episode dated 19 February 2014 (2014)

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Soundtracks

Silent Night
Music by Franz Xaver Gruber (as Franz Xaver Gruber)

User Reviews

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!