Blu-ray Review: The Book Thief

Blu-ray Reviews, Reviews

The one downside to Hollywood is that it sometimes makes films that substitute a particular setting for proper plot development and atmosphere. The Book Thief is proof that just throwing in Nazi imagery and World War II into an otherwise unremarkable plot won’t automatically generate a great film or a plethora of awards. Think more The Boy in the Striped Pajamas as opposed to Schindler’s List.

Simple premise. Sophie Nelisse is Liesel, a young child adopted by a couple (Geoffrey Rush, Emily Watson) who teach her to read, among other things. When a young Jewish man (Ben Schnetzer) hides with them from the Nazis things change a Liesel’s love of reading generally tends to fall out of line with Nazi ideals. What follows is a trite, mediocre film about surviving with a love of reading in Nazi Germany.

The problem is that if you transplanted this into a generic setting with a dictatorship and it’s not a very good film. It becomes a boring film about a little girl who just wants to read, and believes in the power of the written word, in any other setting but Nazi era Germany. The imagery is so powerful, and the specter of World War II looming so strong, that it feels more important and deeper than it really is.

Otherwise The Book Thief is a fairly boring film that tries (and fails) to be emotionally manipulative with its setting and nothing more. The Book Thief is nothing more than awards bait that only managed to be noticeable for its fairly impressive score. You’re better off buying that on CD and listening to it than buying this on Blu-ray; the best parts are the music.

There’s a piece on the Book vs. the Film, and another one on the score (from John Williams), but otherwise there isn’t anything special on the Blu-ray (or the DVD) release of The Book Thief.

20th Century Fox presents The Book Thief. Directed by Brian Percival. Written by Michael Petroni based off “The Book Thief” by Markus Zusak. Starring Geoffrey Rush, Emily Watson, Sophie Nélisse. Running time: 131 minutes. Rated PG-13. Released: March 11, 2014.