A pain in the neck or something like that

Rating: 6/10 (5 February 2014)

I went to catch this movie on screen without knowing any aspect of its main plot, so everything felt brand new to me. It's important to mention that I'm not familiarized with the book either, I only knew its title because I live on Earth and everyone has already heard about it somehow. "The Book Thief" tells a story about a girl that is "adopted" by a German family during the World War II, so you can imagine how difficult they life may be. Not only that, but they have to hide a wanted Jewish in their basement, which deliver some tense moments. After around 30 minutes of running I discovered why the story is called "The Book Thief", in the burnt scene, and I confess I didn't see that coming. All the characters involved in the plot are well developed and charismatic, each one in its own way, and the promising cast really helps it to flow. The photography direction is beautiful to see, delivering some bucolic scenes, usually helped by a careful overall directing. What bothered me the most was the slow-placed plot that took too long to deliver interesting moments; I mean, the film spent almost two hours to make us believe something powerful would happen, but almost all the promising scenes end up too simply-- despite the deaths scene, which was well made. For a dramatic story like this, I believe filmmakers could have given us a stronger final scene, no matter what was the conclusion in the book-- we are in the cinema anyways, aren't we? For a film to me remarkable, spectator needs more than just a regular story that happened to many people. That's maybe the reason why this movie didn't impress me that much, making me feel like there are better stories out there. In the end, some people found it extremely touching, but I didn't, even if recognizing its production values.