The Book Thief

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It is an obvious fact that historical dramas relating to the Holocaust and Nazi Germany will always leave a high emotional impact on the audience- but this movie takes it to a whole new level. It takes a few minutes to even process what you have witnessed, mostly due to the shocking swerve of an ending, which I frustratingly cannot write too much about.

The primary element that truly makes The Book Thief, at least in the first half, is the way in which it is able to show the horrors of Nazism, whilst still having an air of hope about it. This is also helped by beautiful cinematography, which really emphasizes the strength of the story being told, combined with the realism added by both the actor’s performances and the addition of German accents, which have irritatingly been left out of several other films on the same subject. The emotional impact of the film is also helped by the ominous narrator, Roger Allem as Death itself, who sounds inappropriately cheesy at first- however, this works to its advantage later on, as he is saying the most horrific lines, all with a voice you would normally expect to hear in something aimed at younger audiences, creating an often eerie contrast between the lines being said and the voice saying them.

In the last 20 minutes, the film becomes decidedly less hopeful, to the extent that the key theme of hope it tries to portray is lost slightly, but this is outweighed by the overall impact that the ending leaves on the audience, which is once again upon the strength of the story.

Although the film is set within the midst of the Nazi Regime, the subtle portrayal of the way in which they took hold of Germany is also very clever, especially in earlier scenes, as you can see Nazi influences, for example swastikas, in slowly creeping into the background- you almost don’t notice that these influences increase, until they have almost taken over the film itself.

Overall, The Book Thief is a well-made and emotive film, with wonderful cinematography and an even more wonderful story, which is well worth a watch- just make sure you bring some tissues…