SCORE: B+
I liked this film... but it seemed sort of too close to the story of Anne Frank.
That being said, Geoffrey Rush plays one of his most lovable characters ever, the adopted father of Leisel, the main character. Emily Watson (whose name I mistook for Emma Watson), who plays the hard-ass adopted mother, also does a good job, but her character is hard to like. But it turns out that she has a soft underbelly after all. Sophie Nelisse, the eponymous book thief Liesel, also does a great job.
There’s some nice stuff with Liesel and Rudy, a young boy friend of hers. It’s a little too cute in a film about Nazi Germany during WWII, what with Leisel and Rudy racing through the snowy streets followed by a scene of the Kristalnacht. I guess the filmmakers were trying to show the dichotomy of it all. There’s another scene in which the school children sing beautifully in a choir... but there’s a swastika behind them and their singing about how democracy and Jews are evil.
But I enjoyed watching it. I remember the music being good and again, all of the performances are good. I was under the impression that this film had been up for many awards during the Oscars, but it turns out that wasn’t the case.
The film is oddly narrated by Death (Roger Allam), who tells us with his soothing voice that he is interested in humans.