Sun, 22 Dec, 2024

Movie Review : The Book Thief

By Nikita Gautam

Everyone loved the movie "Life of PI". If you have enjoyed it, then get ready for another inspiring story "The Book Thief". This is a film based on the beloved international bestseller of the same name by Australian author, Markus Zusak. This is a film which has been centered to the core theme of the horrors that took amongst the Jews during the World War II. It displays the prospects of their lives that haunted them the most, the struggles for their own survival and combat against the fact that they even seem to not know. Liesel (Sophie Nélisse), a young, brave and pretty Aryan girl, along with her younger brother is being adopted by a German family, Hans (Geoffrey Rush) and Roza (Emily Watson), as her mother runs away from the Nazis. The movie begins with the idiomatic expression "One small fact, you are going to die. Despite every effort, no one lives forever." It seems to the audiences that the god has spoken these words by himself as he throws off signs of his existence. The lyric that pulled in an impact to the hearing were in fact "When the time comes panic. It doesn't seem to help". This symbolizes a fact that hard times come into every person's life. But does it help us if we panic? Or does it help us when we fight it back? Liesel is a young girl who cannot read and write, but now she finds a new family and a new home in the "Heaven Street". Here, she is able to discover words, read her first book, which she finds during the funeral of her brother. From this moment the journey of the book thief begins. Intrigued by the only book she brought with her, she begins collecting and stealing books from the parade. Liesel, unknown of the political influences, is forced to join the Hitler Youth. She was always disgusted with the Nazis' book burning ceremony. Slowly, she develops her love towards literature and borrows books from the Mayor's wife. Her foster parents hide a Jewish refugee under their basement. After the war breaks out, this man called Max, teaches her to write. She builds a strong relationship with Max. The moment when Max leaves really breaks her heart and so does ours. Words inspire her to create a magical world. Courage guides her and hope defines her to the meaning of the word "HOPE" which she was seeking to learn. "When life robs you, sometimes you have to rob it back." This phrase is something that appears to prepare herself a promise. This movie is a tragic sentimental approach to its audiences. Its obtuse approach to the history complements the story and its casts.  This is a well acted as well as well directed movie giving its audiences a real experience of what it was like being in the 19th century during the World War II. This is a story of a brave young girl who fights back against the world. Recently, the movie was screened during the English class of Batch 2017. Everyone seemed to have enjoyed the movie.