WARNING: Spoilers
"I am always amused by how excited people are about war. They think that they hasten to meet their enemy, but instead they hasten to meet me." -Death
The Book Thief is a film that will steal your heart and leave the pages of your soul touched. It is visually a Les Miserables set in Germany. The scenes of the Swastika swaying in the wind of the stone clad streets and alleys of abodes leaves you with a surreal feeling. The Book Thief is two movies. It is about a young little girl named Liesel Meminger (Sophioe Nelisse) who finds a new life with her foster parents in a German ghetto during WWII. It is also a narration and reflection by Death on humanity and It's complexities.
Lisel's story begins on a train and it there that Death makes her acquaintance. Her younger brother dies and is buried in a graveyard near the rail road tracks. From there Young Lisel's is taken from her birth mother and placed into the care of her foster parents Hans (Geoffrey Rush) and Rosa (Emily Watson). Hans is a tender man, the kind that every one of us wishes was our father or grandfather. He immediately charms Lisel with his wit and kindness, calling her "Your majesty." Rosa on the other hand is cold and direct. She seems cruel to the heart, but as the film reveals, she is also tender beneath her brave armor.
As Lisel learns to adjust to her new life, The Third Reich sweeps through Germany and the persecution of Jews and westerners begins. At one demonstration or moment of theater, Nazis have a book burning session. Lisel who has coveted a book that was used for her brother's burial, is forced to throw it into the fires. After the flames and fanaticism subside, Lisel stands over embers looking over the remains. There she finds a book barely singed and takes it up into her surcoat. It is this moment that will shape Lisel's reputation as Book Thief or Book Barrower as she prefers to be called.
It is difficult to sum up the experiences and enigmic yet enjoyable characters you come to know. There is a young boy named Rudy, who is blond and the best friend of Lisel. He is sweet young lad who has a passion for running track and for his friendship with Lisel. The charming boy is taunted and mistreated by a stronger and more facist boy. Yet Rudy despite the Third Reich, does not lose his humanity. He retains a reverence for honor and does not reveal the secrets of his friend Lisel. There is another character, a pivotal role by the name of Max. Max is a Jew who hides in Lisel's home and bonds with the Lisel over the written word. Max says something very profound in one scene when he gives a diary to Lisel. He says, "In my religion words mean everything. There is a word in everything and it is life. Words are life. Write life." Markus also mentions that there is only one word or letter difference between man and clay in his language (Hebrew), which is fascinating because in Genesis 3, we are told that man is made from the dirt or clay.
There is not a moment of poor acting or cinematography. Everything is seamless and done in way that captures the viewer with wonder. Even in the menace of Hitler's Empire, you feel at home. There is empathy that awakes while watching the German people. For once the Western Propaganda of Nazis being inhuman and devils seeking to devour free people is debunked. We see how complex and harsh it was to live under Nazi Rule. You feel for Rudy's father who must go off to war in the name of the Reich; and the knowledge as he hugs his dear wife and children that he is a father, husband, and a man. It is well known that many who served in the German Forces during WWII were forced to be soldiers via threats to their families.
Death enters the film with his sentiments like a scythe, harvesting our emotions and reminding us that the dream that we are watching has a poignant reality: It will not last. Lisel's happy life is struck one night while she writes with great loss. In that moment, emerging from the ashes and debris she finds that Death has claimed her loved ones. In that moment you feel the sheer raw feeling of being robbed. You have lost your father played by Geoffrey Rush, though you never believed he was an actor. You have lost your mother Rosa, who suffered and sacrificed to make sure you would survive. You have lost your best friend Rudy, who was too young to die.
The Reaper knows that he has ripped at the soul of each member of the audience. We had lived with Lisel, Hans, Rosa, Max, and Rudy. They had become our family and then they are taken from us. The effect is beyond grievous. You realize the real thief is not Lisel, but the Angel with the scythe. Death reflects on the queer and strange nature of humans. He says, "I do not understand how the greatest evil and beauty can be within a person. The perplexity of his words are finished with the last line, "The only truth that I truly know is that I am haunted by humans."
Death being personified is very remisecent of Death Comes to Dinner, a book that was adapted into a film, Meet Joe Black, where Death is played by Brad Pitt. However, unlike Meet Joe Black, Death is not center stage, but an interloper. He interrupts the other story that is being told. The story is that of life and only when death enters the scene does the story stop. Death cannot coexist with life, if he is curious and tries to engage with humans they die. Which creates a poetic nature to the Grim Reaper. It is as if there is a romance between Life and Death; but when they get together Death destroys Life. The two opposite circles cannot every come together without causing Life to perish or Death to resurrect; a philosophical thought that haunts the mind. This thought in fact is what has bound many and perplexed those who hear of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. How can he that died come back to life? Jesus breaks the two circles altogether and marries what could never coexist.
I should mention is that Christianity is not present in the film save for a vicar who says a Death Mass in German. Most of the film is focused on Judaism. It is difficult to separation Judaism from Christianity, actually impossible because Jesus Christ was a Jew and so were his Twelve Disciples and the Great Apostle Paul. Christianity is in fact a fulfillment of Judeo beliefs. It is a shame that Hollywood cannot come to terms with this and realize that Christians are actually believers of the Torah and the same God Jehovah, but we believe also that Jesus Christ (Yeshua) is the Messiah and the Son of God who died for all mankind's sins. In fact, the Jews of 30 A.D. called Christians a Jewish Sect who believed the Savior had come. So to love Max and his Jewish theology is not a sin for a Christian, because it is apart of our belief system as well. However, not making the fulfillment (Jesus Christ) of the prophecies of Isaiah, Ezekiel, Psalms of David, and the many major and minor prophets known does a discredit to the film. Germans are predominately Christian. After all Martin Luther, who was the Father of the Protestant Reformation learned and lived in Germany.
On the other hand, this film was made in Hollywood. Perhaps even it was wise not to feature the Third Reich Christianity which was a heresy and would have made moviegoers cringe and their stomachs turns from the Gospel. So I do not make this a discredit of the film, but it would have been nice to have seen some mention of Eternal Life and a ending like Les Misrables.
The Book Thief is a complicated high concept film that will leave you pondering what life is really about. This is good conversation starter for Christians to share the Gospel and an opportunity to convict people who have issues with family and need to resolve them. As I said in the opening paragraph it is a film that will steal your heart and leave the pages of your soul deeply touched.
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