The Book Thief (2013/Fox Blu-ray)

Picture: A Sound: A Extras: B+ Film: A

The Book Thief is a beautiful film from frame one. Based on the bestselling book by Markus Zusak and directed by Brian Percival (Downtown Abbey), the film takes place in World War 2 Germany and follows the story of a little girl named Liesel (Sophie Nelisse). The first scene of the film is absolutely gorgeous. Starting in the clouds and then moving down towards a thundering train running down a railroad. Inside the train, we move past several period specifically dressed persons up to Liesel and her Mother who is holding her small Brother. After a moment, Liesel looks at her Brother in shock as she sees that he is no longer breathing. The Mother's screams are matched with the screeching of the train as it thunders past the camera. The scene is beautifully executed and sets the stage for the troubled life ahead of Liesel, who is on her way to Germany to be adopted by a new family. At her Brother's funeral, a Gravedigger drops a book that Liesel steals and hangs onto. First earning her the title of book thief.

Clasping an old photograph of her Mother, Liesel meets her new parents - Geoffrey Rush and Emily Watson, who adopt her in an attempt to get some extra money for their family. Oscar Nominee Emily Watson is Rosa Hubermann, a tough housewife who has a good heart but is something of a nag. Oscar Winner Geoffrey Rush plays Hans Hubermann, a wonderful loving father figure to Liesel and a private opposer of Hitler's reign. When first attending school, it is revealed that Liesel doesn't know how to read or write her name though soon Hans teaches her and changes her life forever. Soon she becomes more engaged in school activities and starts to find her place amongst her peers. A young blonde haired boy named Rudy Steiner (Nico Lierash), usually armed with a basketball, has a crush on her and follows her around to and from school. The two have a powerful scene where they race down the street - winner gets to kiss the girl. Even though Rudy doesn't win, the haunting score by John Williams helps carry the film through whimsical scenes like this one while highlighting calmer ones.

Another powerful scene is a book burning sequence where the townspeople are forced to participate. Liesel is forced by her schoolmate bully to throw her book in but later in a dark alley when she privately walks with Hans Hubermann, we discover that she has nestled the charred book under her arm. He hides the book and keeps it a secret, but it's an important moment where Liesel is shook and reminded of where she is. She also soon discovers that her Mother was a communist and that Hitler was in part responsible for her death. This makes her hate Hitler when Hans tells her again that you can't always say what you feel.

Soon, Hans and Rosa take in an injured Jewish boy named Max, who is hiding from Hitler's army and agrees to hide him in his home as Max's Father stood up for him in the past. At first Max is very sick and quickly befriends Liesel who looks up to him and finds a red book that he has to be interesting. Telling her the book is about Hitler and not for children. Max starts to get bed sores so its imperative that he get up and move around. Always living in fear of his discovery, Rosa and Hans allow him to stay in their basement for shelter. As the relationship between Liesel develops, he asks her to describe the outside world to him in her own words. One day, Liesel brings him some snow and the unlikely family have a glorious snow fight in the basement and eventually build a snowman. These scenes really make you feel like you have known the Hubermann's for a lifetime. The happiness that they share amidst all of the turmoil in the surrounding world is a great contrast. Due to the coldness of the snow and all of the commotion, Max starts to get sick again. Soon the family starts to worry for his health - what will they do with his body if he dies? No sooner than a day or so later, a German Officer comes to search their house for Jews and a tense scene shows Max asleep under a Nazi flag, near discovery.

Things start to look up when Max starts to feel better and there's a great scene where Rosa visits Liesel at school to her. Because of Max's secrecy, she acts as if she's being punished for a household chore being neglected but when she takes her into a back room she tells her that Max is feeling better. Coming with this however, is Max's decision to leave home and head back to his country. There's a very sad scene where he leaves the house and looks at Liesel through the window where is crying. Soon, her friend Rudy finds that he has been chosen to enlist and Hans has to leave for duty. Everyone is leaving. Liesel says as she agrees to look after Rosa as she isn't as tough as she makes herself out to be. The war starts to escalade and there's a great scene where Rosa, Rudy, and Liesel hide underground with other families as alarms and destruction and heard outside happening all around them.

The film takes a sad turn here, which I won't spoil for you but a few of our favorite characters perish under the harsh battle of World War 2. The final scenes of the film show us the powerful journey that Liesel has taken and how far her character has come from the first scene of her on the train with her Mother. This film is simply beautiful, funny, and powerful and the last scene just really seals the whole thing up nicely.

The cinematography is as I mentioned before, breathtaking and mostly thanks in part to the glorious 2.40:1 Widescreen 1080p high definition transfer. The audio is equally beautiful boasting a English DTS-HD Master Audio (MA) lossless 5.1 with additional tracks for English Descriptive Audio 5.1, Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1, French Dolby 5.1 tracks.

Extras include: A Hidden Truth: Bringing the Book Thief to Life with highlights of An Inspirational History, Finding the Thief and Her Family, Bringing the Past to Life, The Legend and the Music and deleted scenes.

All in all, The Book Thief is a great movie that is not to be missed. I've seen several films that have taken place in this era but none that carry with it such loveable characters that you feel as if you can really relate to and grow with.

- James Lockhart