What Page Does Liesel Read in the Bomb Shelter

Movie Review

A Refuge Found in Pages

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Brian Percival, the director of "The Book Thief," narrates a scene from his flick.

The Volume Thief

Directed by Brian Percival

Drama, War

PG-13

2h 11m

• Nov. 7, 2013

Speaking in the honeyed, insinuating tone of the Wolf cajoling Petty Red Riding Hood to do his behest, the narrator of "The Book Thief" is none other than Death himself (Roger Allam), although he coyly refuses to disclose his identity. This irritating know-information technology-all regularly interrupts the story of Liesel (Sophie Nélisse), a bright-eyed girl living with foster parents in a fictional German language town during World State of war II, to comment obliquely on human nature and bloodshed.

Except for the Nazi flags hanging from every edifice, the town, nether a glistening blanket of snow, could exist the cozy setting for a holiday greeting carte du jour. The pieces of the story, which begins in 1938, are so neatly arranged that the movie has the narrative flow and comforting familiarity of a dearest fairy tale.

A contradiction between a veneer of innocence and the realities of Nazism and the Holocaust is a signature characteristic of "The Volume Thief," Markus Zusak's immensely popular young-adult novel, from which the picture, directed by Brian Percival ("Downton Abbey"), was adjusted, with a screenplay past Michael Petroni ("The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader").

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Credit... Jules Heath/20th Century Play a joke on

The years-spanning picture show, which observes traumatic historical events through Liesel'south optics, looks and tastes like a giant sugar block whose saccharinity largely camouflages the horrors of the war. Similar a caring dentist reassuring a frightened child, it purveys a message: "Don't be afraid. I'll effort not hurt y'all, although you might feel a little pinch."

At that place's 1 scene of Jews wearing yellow stars and being herded grimly out of the town. There's some other of Nazi officers searching houses for Jews concealed in cellars. And belatedly in the movie, the town is leveled past bombs. Although the damage is catastrophic, the bodies laid out on the street seem untouched, as if the victims were fast comatose and ready for instant send to heaven.

Liesel'south foster father, Hans Hubermann (Geoffrey Rush), is an impoverished, kindhearted house painter and "good German," suffering from deprivation because he never joined the Nazi Political party. He plays the accordion, and even in the darkest moments, its lilt conveys a spirit of bonhomie. His married woman, Rosa (Emily Watson), is a fearful scold when Liesel meets her for the outset time. Merely a soft centre beats nether the surface.

The actors play their characters like storybook figures imagined by a smart, curious kid. From character to character, their accents vary from heavily Germanic to British; the language spoken is English seasoned with German exclamations.

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The Times critic Stephen Holden reviews "The Volume Thief."

Liesel is a picayune princess whose foster father teaches her to read after her schoolmates taunt her for illiteracy. Afterwards witnessing a volume-burning rally, she borrows, then steals, volumes from the home of the local burgermeister, whose wife (Barbara Auer) lets her visit her tardily son's personal library. Memorizing what she reads, she distracts fearful Germans huddled in a bomb shelter with her recitations.

Liesel'due south all-time friend and next-door neighbor, Rudy (Nico Liersch), is a towheaded angel who idolizes Jesse Owens, the track star of the 1936 Berlin Olympics, and is taunted for painting his face black in imitation. When he is selected past the Nazis for elite armed services training, he rebels and runs off with Liesel to a secluded location, where they both shout, "I hate Hitler!"

The Hubermanns risk their lives when they shelter Max (Ben Schnetzer), the impossibly noble son of a Jewish army buddy who saved Hans's life during World War I. At that place are hints of a possible romantic competition between Rudy and the older Max for Liesel, whose portrayal by Ms. Nélisse is appealing only bland.

I can't imagine that the creators of "The Volume Thief" were aware of their movie'south underlying message that it really wasn't that bad. John Williams's score — a quieter, more somber echo of his music for "Schindler'southward List" — lends the film an unearned patina of solemnity, for "The Book Thief" is a shameless piece of Oscar-seeking Holocaust kitsch.

"The Volume Thief" is rated PG-xiii (Parents strongly cautioned) for scenes of violence.

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Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/08/movies/the-book-thief-world-war-ii-tale-with-geoffrey-rush.html