The Book Thief (2013)

From the title, I was not at all surprised to learn that this is adapted from a book. More surprising to me is the mixed response: Less than half the critics on Rotten Tomatoes like it, yet the mainstream audiences mostly do. And this isn't some dopey entertainment fest.

In the '30s, at age 12, Liesel (Marie-Sophie Nélisse) gets transferred from her mother to foster parents Hans (Geoffrey Rush) and Rosa (Emily Watson) in a fictitious German town, for reasons she doesn't immediately understand. Having lost her kid brother to illness en route, she starts a habit of swiping fictitious books for comfort, despite being illiterate at first. That deficit and her habitual silence toward new acquaintances make it hard for her to make friends, and Rosa's cranky to begin with, tho at least neighbor Rudy (Nico Liersch) has a semi-requited crush on Liesel. But she gets a bit more practice with friendship when a nearly dead young Jewish man, Max (Ben Schnetzer), calls in a family favor for shelter from the Nazis.

Hans and Rosa, of course, do not openly defy the regime, and they forbid Liesel to do so either. She and Rudy are official members of the Hitler Youth, but even Rudy isn't gung ho about it; he idolizes Jesse Owens. I'm not sure when Liesel decides to hate Hitler, but it sure doesn't take long.

The dialog is generally in English but sprinkled with German. Get used to hearing "Saumensch," which I understand to be somewhat offensive but not enough to surpass PG-13.

Apart from vocabulary lessons, the two main things TBT has going for it are acting and scoring. Rush and Watson each got nominated for a different brand of award; Nélisse took home four. Meanwhile, John Williams, taking a rare break from Spielberg, got five nominations and a win.

We actually don't see many book thefts herein. Liesel considers herself a borrower, sometimes gaining permission. And unlike certain characters, I'd hardly call it theft when she rescues a book from a bonfire. I understand that the Markus Zusak novel of TBT goes into the titular aspect in more depth, which may point to a reason for critics' disapproval.

Another interesting feature more prominent in the novel is the first-person narrator (Roger Allam). It took me a long time to pick up on who he is, and once I did, my perspective shifted a good deal. Let's just say he's famous but not human, and I've rarely heard him sound so approachable.

For a story set in Nazi Germany, there are few signs of persecution, let alone crimes against humanity. They're not near a camp. Liesel and Rudy rarely fear for their own safety, and Max seems to be in more danger from his own poor condition than from searchers. But that doesn't mean there's no great turn for the tragic. And the only comic relief in the whole piece comes when Liesel and Max speculate on how Hitler's mom would nag him.

The conclusion is mercifully beautiful, if a bit rushed, making the movie about as undepressing as Nazi-focused non-comedies get. I didn't mind sitting through the 130 minutes. You may or may not, and your reaction may depend in large part on whether you read the novel.