The Book Thief

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I dunno what happened, but I missed this film in the theater. I was hoping it would have had much more success with such an amazing cast, story and the beauty of this film in the time of war. Of course, you know, the story is an emotionally packed and I seriously thought the movie was, too. Its now on DVD, so you can have your box of tissues ready for those moments that really get to you.

Even the opening grabs you. Especially, when the narrator is death.

Canadian actress Sophie Nelisse stars as Liesel. She's been in plenty of French Candian films and even won awards. She has a certain essence of innocents an pureness about her. Her Liesel doesn't even know how to read, but she steals a book anyway when her younger brother is buried by the railroad tracks.

“I guess people like to watch a little destruction. Sand castles, houses of cards, that’s where they begin. Their great skill is their capacity to escalate.”

—	Markus Zusak The Book Theif

It is a time of war and though the film might not be in German, Everyone has a German accent.

“The only thing worse than a boy who hates you: a boy who loves you.”

—	Markus Zusak, The Book Thief

Oh, I so adored Rudy, played by Nico Liersch who becomes Liesel's best friend when she is adopted by a German couple played by the amazing Geoffrey Rush and Emily Watson.

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Perhaps, the film was looked over because it did deal with a time that many aren't fond of what Germans were going through at that time. But I feel this movie does give a better understand that it wasn't a time where folks were lining up in the streets cheering on the Nazi's. And not everyone was as supportive of the cause as one might think.

Also, Ben Shnetzer plays the young Jewish man Max that her adoptive family hides in the basement. His Max was extraordinary, who becomes a friend that the whole family think a lot of.

The movie might not have won any Oscars, but it is a special movie. I loved that the story is built around words, even when it was a time that one had to use their words carefully. I felt the movie had a wonderful balance of strife and ingenuity that made you want to cherish these characters.

STORYLINE: The 550-page, World War II-era novel, narrated by Death, tells the story of Liesel Meminger from the time she is taken at age 9 to live with a foster family in a German working-class neighborhood. Liesel arrives having just stolen her first book, "The Gravediggers Handbook" -- it will be the beginning of a love affair with books

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