The Book Thief

What a wonderful book The Book Thief is. I remember that when I read it (it's been a few years) I absolutely loved it. The idea of the story being told by Death himself (I always thought of the narrating Death as a he and apparently so did the people making the film) was different and interesting. All the bitterness and hope that the story held made it a very rewarding reading experience, however sad the book may have made me.

Of course, they would make it into a film. And even though this is a valiant effort, there are just so many little things that didn't sit well with me, which took away immensely from the experience.

My biggest problem, one that almost made me turn off the film several time during the first half hour or so, is that most of the dialogue is in English - with German accent. Why? Can filmmakers please make up their minds. If you want to be realistic, you will have to have German speaking actors and subtitle the film. Or, if you want to tell the thing in English than fucking do so. Nobody needs to hear a German accents (and at times a bad imitation of one) to know that the people portrayed in the film are supposed to be Germans. I hated that!

And if you find a girl that can play the lead role and sort of master the accent (just imagine, they got an actual German boy to play a German boy!) why don't you give her anything to do but look at everything and everyone like a deer in headlights. She can do wide eyed. Bravo! Beyond that, we have no idea whether or not this girl can act.

All of this made me enjoy the movie far less than I should have, because it was a constant source of annoyance that kept me from actually getting into it.

Read the book instead.

3/10