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.
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 ...Written by
Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Liesel gets called "dummkopf" by her schoolmates; this is German for idiot. See more »
Goofs
When Liesel is seeing Hans off at the train depot when he's been conscripted, she is standing several cars down from the engine, facing toward the front of the train as Hans steps aboard one of the passenger cars and we can see at least one other such car between his and the engine. The camera angle then changes and we see Liesel has not moved but as the train begins to move forward, she is beside the coal car. See more »
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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In 1938, the young girl Liesel Meminger (Sophie Nélisse) 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 (Emily Watson), is a rude but caring woman and her stepfather, Hans Hubermann (Geoffrey Rush), is a simple kind-hearted man. Liesel befriends her next door neighbor, the boy Rudy Steiner (Nico Liersch), 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 Major's wife Ilsa Hermann (Barbara Auer) witnesses her action. Meanwhile Hans hides the Jewish Max Vandenburg (Ben Schnetzer), 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 Major 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.
"The Book Thief" is an American-German production with a beautiful, sensitive and heartbreaking story of love, friendship and obsession for reading books in one of the darkest period of mankind history. The screenplay is original, with Death narrating the plot. One important point of this movie is that it is not about the Holocaust like most of the war dramas. Liesel, Hans, Rosa, Rudy, Ilsa are German common people with feelings, fearing and suffering and eventually dying but they do not necessarily agree with what the Nazi do. The performances are top-notch, highlighting Geoffrey Rush, Sophie Nélisse and Emily Watson. My vote is eight.
Title (Brazil): "A Menina que Roubava Livros" ("The Girl Who Stole Books")
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In 1938, the young girl Liesel Meminger (Sophie Nélisse) 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 (Emily Watson), is a rude but caring woman and her stepfather, Hans Hubermann (Geoffrey Rush), is a simple kind-hearted man. Liesel befriends her next door neighbor, the boy Rudy Steiner (Nico Liersch), 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 Major's wife Ilsa Hermann (Barbara Auer) witnesses her action. Meanwhile Hans hides the Jewish Max Vandenburg (Ben Schnetzer), 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 Major 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.
"The Book Thief" is an American-German production with a beautiful, sensitive and heartbreaking story of love, friendship and obsession for reading books in one of the darkest period of mankind history. The screenplay is original, with Death narrating the plot. One important point of this movie is that it is not about the Holocaust like most of the war dramas. Liesel, Hans, Rosa, Rudy, Ilsa are German common people with feelings, fearing and suffering and eventually dying but they do not necessarily agree with what the Nazi do. The performances are top-notch, highlighting Geoffrey Rush, Sophie Nélisse and Emily Watson. My vote is eight.
Title (Brazil): "A Menina que Roubava Livros" ("The Girl Who Stole Books")