Amiable but Tame

Rating: 6/10 (28 October 2014)

"The Book Thief" (2013), the début film of Brian Percival, who previously directed episodes of TV shows like "Downton Abbey" and "North & South", is adapted from the 2005 novel by Markus Zusak. In its telling of a coming-of-age story of a young girl, growing up in Hitler's Germany during World War Two, the film works amiably enough. Certainly, Percival elicits fine performances from his cast, particularly Nélisse as the precocious heroine, Rush as the kindly surrogate father and Watson playing the frosty mother. They provide an emotional centre that's crucial to the picture's success and while their characters are never as sketched-in as one would hope, the capable actors allow the audience to identify and empathise with them as they undergo wartime trials and tribulations.
For a first feature film, Percival brings an eye for the small-scale from television; despite taking place in a limited location (mainly the Heaven Street where Liesel lives), he avoids any feeling of constraint. He crafts a slow rhythm to the life of Liesel that's appropriate for the small town it's set-in, a commendable illusion of verisimilitude immeasurably aided by Florian Ballhaus' cinematography. The wide-angle shots of snowy landscapes and dramatic red-and-white swastika flags all contribute to grounding the movie in the atmosphere of its specific epoch.
However, the film suffers from a number of different elements. The rather arch conceit of having Death narrate the movie (voiced by Roger Allam), while it might work on the printed-page, seems out of place and ultimately places a comfortable distance between us and the tragedies on screen. In particular, the sugar-coating of its downbeat ending removes any real pain, leaving only a vague pathos. This is compounded by John William's Oscar-nominated score, redolent of his soundtrack for "Schindler's List" (1993), and in its heavy emphasis on string instruments, blatantly attempts to emotionally manipulate the viewer and push the sentimentality to the extent that it feels forced and un-earned.
So many clichés, from stiff Nazi villains to the triumphant message of the power of reading, are presented unquestioningly, as po-faced as possible and without the saving grace of irony. This is fundamentally a gentle film; the horrors of war are delicately kept out of the way and even when the family is apparently starving, Liesel looks the epitome of a healthy young child. If taken on its own terms and in a receptive mood, "The Book Thief" plays well enough, but its lack of any bite means that it will likely grow hazy in memory.