Markus Zusak's The Book Thief is an enormously successful novel that has sold more than eight million copies and has moved many of its readers, me included. I try not to compare films too scrupulously with their source material but fans will be intrigued to know if the film manages to capture the horror, irony, courage and humanity of the original pages.
Regrettably it doesn't, although director Brian Percival has created a dignified and handsome film, filled with impressive performances and an emotional finale that will have you fumbling for a tissue.
The film is set in Germany between 1939 and 1943 and is narrated by Death (voiced by Roger Allam), who goes about his job objectively even if he is perplexed and haunted by how people conduct themselves.
He tells the story of 9-year-old Liesel Meminger (Nelisse) who he meets when her younger brother dies on a train on the way to the fictional town of Molching, Germany. Their mother, who is on the run from the Nazis, was delivering the siblings to a childless couple, the Hubermanns, and Liesel must now stay with them alone.
Geoffrey Rush and Emily Watson are well cast as the Hubermanns. Watson is just as you imagine Rosa: thin-lipped, austere and impatient with all those around her, but beneath the harshness has a warmth and fondness for her infuriating husband and new daughter.
