The Book Thief 2013

      This film is based on a 550 page WWII era novel set in 1938 with the same title written by Brian Percival.  In the beginning, Liesel is on the run with her mother and younger brother.  Her brother dies and Liesel Meminger is taken at the age of 9 to live with a foster family in a German working-class neighborhood.  She arrives with a book, The Gravediggers Handbook.  Her new father teaches her how to read and books become a big part of her life.

     There are facts in this film that are not explained?  Who were Liesel’s parents, what happened to them, what happened to her brother? Why was she sent to a poor family with barely enough to feed themselves and why is Liesel mocked as being illiterate on her first day of school?  Time passes but no one gets any older?.  3* (This movie is OK) 

 

131 min, Drama directed by Brain Percival with Sophie Nelisse, Geoffrey Rush, Emily Watson, Roger Allam, Nico Liersch, Ben Schnetzer.

Note:  Imdb 7.6 out of 10, 46% critic 76% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Roger Ebert 1 ½*.

Special Note:  The character narrating is supposed to be the voice of death.  The name of the street where the family lives is Heaven Street?