The Book Thief
The Book Thief , directed Brian Percival is an American-German war drama film released in 2013, based on the novel written by Markus Zusak.
Film
The film presents Liesel, a young girl who is sent by her mother to live with a new family along with her brother, however as the journey starts, the surprise of her brother's spontaneous death, devastates Liesel and in remebrance of her brother, she picks up a book dropped by the grave-digger while burying her brother, 'The Grave-Diggers Handbook'. Liesel is then sent to her new foster home where she meets her new parents Hans and Rosa Hubermann and befriends a boy named Rudy. Throughout the film, Liesel embraces her new life with her foster parents, being especially close with Hans and eventually learning to read and write as she couldn't do so at the beginning of the film, even the Mayor's wife Elsa allows Liesel to come and read their books while delivering laundry (behind the Mayor's back).
Liesel's life then drives into a turn when her foster parents take in a Jew named Max, who had escaped from the dreaded and horrific event in our history called 'Kristallnacht' and has gone hiding at her home as Hans owes a debt to his family. As Max is hiding and staying in their house and eventually moved to the basement, Liesel befriends him and they share a bond and understanding when it came to family (as both of them lost their mothers). Later on in the film, Max ends up weak and sick and desperate to keep him alive, Liesel starts to 'borrow' books from the Elsa's library to read to him while he is shut away from the light and recovering.
The film, adds more complicating matters as Hans is conscripted into war, Max decides to leave as he didn't want to endanger the Hubermans any longer and Rudy was selected for the Hitler Youth training. Before leaving, Max gives Liesel a book to write her own stories and journeys, and as the film is reaching it's peak, before the ending, Hans returns, though he was injured, he was fine and that night, Britain launches a bomb attack on Germany and almost everyone on Heaven's street were killed, including Rudy, Rosa and Hans. Liesel was spared from the attack as she fell asleep in the basement, however is devasted of having lost important people to her. Two years later, Liesel is seen working with Rudy's father who survived the war, and Max returns, coming into the shop and sharing a reunion with Liesel.
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Concept of Journey
The concept of journey is depicted in many stories, and presented in different forms. A journey can consists of challenges and obstacles, motivation, impact and consequences, however the concept and structure of the plot and story is a key link that brings the concept of journey into action.
The type of journey that is explored throughout this film, is the intellectual and physical growth of Liesel Meminger and as always a journey starts with a beginning and I quote
"It started with a train, snow and my brother." - Liesel Meminger
The Motivation - Liesel had to deal with the fact she had to go to a new home and the spontaneous death of her brother, with these burdens already claimed deep in her heart, Liesel grabs the closest object in remebrance of her brother - 'The Grave-digger's handbook'. The film presents a close up shot of the book itself at the beginning of the film to show the motivation of Liesel's journey and the significance of the one book, that changes her life then on.
Challenges and Obstacles - Liesel is faced with several challenges during her journey. During the dark times of World War II, Germany under the power of Hitler led a war against many countries and started mass killings of Jews, communist, socialists ect. Liesel is faced against a physical journey, as she is sent and surrounded by new people (her foster parents - Hans and Rosa Huberman, and a boy named Rudy), a new environment (Heaven's street), and seemingly abandoned by her mother (who is later rumoured to be a communist) and saddened by her brother's death. Things then go in for a turn when her new foster family hides a Jew named Max in their household.
As well as a physical journey, Liesel also faces an intellectual journey as she had the inability to read and write prior to the beginning of the film. When she first attended school, the scene has proven her inability as she wrote 'XXX' on the board which meant she couldn't read or write, she was then teased and bullied being called 'dummkopf' by her classmates. With the help of Hans, her foster father, they both increase their knowledge and skills in literature and a bonus, their confidence.
The clip shows various close up and mid shot film techniques, presenting Liesel's motivation to read and write and how she misses her brother.
Actions and Decisions to Impact and Consequences - Liesel as any other human being makes decisions that lead to a positive or negative consequence. There are many decisions she has made that impacted on herself and others around her.
These include:
- Reading at the Mayor's library: Liesel was invited to read by the Mayor's wife, however after a few visits, she was discovered by the Mayor and therefore banned from the mansion and Rosa was fired from being their laundress. This affected the family as their income on money was really low and consequently went from three meals a day to two. This also greatly affected them because they had an extra mouth to feed secretly.
- Max's weather reportor: Max gave Liesel a job which is to report to him the weather outisde the walls he hides in. At a certain point in the film, Liesel brings him actual snow and it results in a snowball fight, and building a snowman. The downfall of the event was Max getting sick and being unable to move or wake up. He starts to freeze to death as the basement is the coldest part of the houses built in Heavens Street.
- 'Borrowing' Books: Liesel wanting to save Max in some sort of way, she starts to read books to him, and goes as far to steal books from the Mayor's library, claiming she is borrowing them to Rudy. Due to her constant reading, Max eventually wakes up.
Scene Deconstruction
When starting a journey, the protagonist or minor charactes may encounter a certain type of journey whether it be physical, emotional, intellectual and/or spiritual. The Book Thief is a film that presents an example of the type of journey Liesel has led during the film. Liesel experiences an intellectual and physical journey as she is thrown into an experience which changes her life forever. The intellectual side of her journey focuses on her motivation and determination to learn to read and write. Prior to the film, Liesel was known to be quiet, shy and couldn't read or write, which resulted in bullying and taunts from her own classmates, ironically the bully was the most dumbest kid in the school. Liesel, with the help of Hans, learnt to read and write and from then on, books became an importance to Liesel. By the end of the film, the movie, presents Liesel and her grouth physically. The physical part of the journey was being thrown into a mix of unknown people and not knowing what's happening. This is significant in the film through many mid and close up shots to present Liesel and the other characters to portray what Liesel is growing to learn and her decision making.
"All those pages, there for you to fill.' - Max Vandenburg