The Book Thief {Movie Review}

It's after three in the afternoon, and I haven't written anything today, so I think I'll write about the movie I just saw, The Book Thief. Now, I literally saw this movie less than an hour ago (it got our at 2:30), so it is very fresh in my mind. Normally with a post like this, I'd spend most of the time comparing it to the book, but since I haven't actually read the book (I know, I know, please don't be too mad), I won't do that.

Instead, I think this is going to be more just observations about the movie in general. Be warned, there will be spoilers.

First of all, I liked the German/English mix up thing they did. The accents all sounded pretty good (though what do I know?  They could have been terrible), and I liked the way they did occasionally switch to German (Nien! Nein!). It felt German without being hard to understand.

I spent a lot of the movie trying to remember where I recognized Hans (Geoffry Rush) from. It wasn't until just now (after I googled it) that I realized it was from Pirates of the Caribbean. He looked (and acted!) quite differently here. The accent didn't help either.

Spoilers coming, so consider yourself warned.

The movie was very dark visually, which definitely set the tone well. While I expected the movie to be sad, and I knew people would die, I wasn't really expected so many people to die at once. This is I'm sure where the fact that I didn't read the book is becoming really obvious. I would have known that if I had.

Particularly sad was Rudy's death, mid sentence. Everybody in the theater (all seven of us, literally) sighed at the same time. At an earlier point in the movie, when it seemed like Rudy was about to kiss Liesel, but didn't, the older ladies behind us all went "Oh, come on! Kiss her!" It was pretty funny.

I'm not sure exactly how long this movie has been in theaters, but, including me and the friend I was with, there were seven of us in the theater, and we were the youngest by probably forty years. Of course, it was a day time movie on a week day, but it still seemed really empty to me. We sat almost in the exact middle of the theater, and there was no one in front of us, which was great.

I had a hard time telling how old Liesel was supposed to be, particularly considering how they jumped forward several times. I was guessing she was supposed to be about eleven or twelve at the beginning, thought she looked younger. I just looked up the actress (Sophie Nelisse) and I was surprised to see that she is only thirteen! I think she was really good, especially for being that young.

Okay, that's the end of my randomness for the day. I do intend to read the book as soon as possible, and when I do, I'll review it here right away!