The Book Thief: A Movie Review

There are no real winners in war; all are losers.

But behind the pandemonium, as in many disasters, is a champion—not the villain strategists, the soldiers nor the bombers, but the greatness and goodness of the human spirit. Wars may represent all the evils in the world,but the tiny and unnoticed details prove otherwise.

The Book Thief, based on the novel of the same title authored by Markus Zusak, succinctly provides the grim realities of war and the price every soul has to pay. Casualties and bombed buildings in rubble may quantify its damages, but its unspeakable horror goes beyond every poor soul: a child longing for love and affection, families that have to part because of segregation and forced duties.

Set during the aristocratic rule of Adolf Hitler in Germany, the movie follows the story of Liesel, a girl who has all the right to be mad at the world but chose not to. Hers is an admirable story of a soul-searching little girl looking for answers to the questions that haunt her. Life has been grossly unfair to her,and every episode in her life is mimicking that of a bomb's explosion loud enough to tear your heart apart.

The movie starts and ends with a narration by death, who in the finale told that it has constantly overestimated or underestimated the human race. Faced by many misfortunes, death wondered how the same thing could be so ugly and glorious,and its words and stories so damning and brilliant.

What I like about the movie is its love for words, most especially how death narrated his amazement at humans. The discourse between Liesel and Max and his adoptive parents are equally thought-provoking. I just wonder how words both written and spoken can mean so much in time of chaos; how it comforts in time of despair and fear; how it offers hope amidst a helpless situation.

In times of war, these words are much louder than exploding bombs. I have never been so interested in the evil rule of the Nazis under their self-righteous Führer until last night after watching the film, especially after learning for the first time a book-burning ceremony to get rid of"intellectual dirt." This adds up to the kristallnacht during Hitler's time, which calls for a violence and death against the Jews.

Poetically delivered in the movie,the dialogues trigger certain emotions enough for you to connect in each character, most especially to Liesel and her parents. These dialogues and lines blend well with excellent cinematography, which makes it one of my early favorite movies this year. The visual scope of The Book Thief is indeed remarkable. And did I mention that the Academy Award-winning John Williams provided the musical score for the film?

The words written in this movie review doesn't compensate the thrill of watching it in the big screen. It tells of the goodness and the greatness of the human spirit that even death wondered how it is to live:

"In my job, I'm always finding humans at their best and their worst, and you always wonder how the same thing can be both. I've seen many great things, attended the world's worst disasters, worked for a great many villains."

Referring to Liesel, death narrated:I took great pleasure that she had lived her ninety years so wisely. She was one of the few souls that made me wonder what it was like to live.

Despite the grim realities of war, Liesel indeed taught us what it was like to live and embrace every episode with a brave heart and a soul never seeking for revenge.

Louie.