Well crafted, tense and quite accurate

Rating: 8/10 (12 December 2013)

An amazing performance by 13-year-old Canadian Sophie Nelisse in the movie version of Australian Markus Zusak's best selling young adult novel (2005). It's a fine way to introduce the era and what happened in it to children, as director Brian Percival gets a lot out of Nelisse and co- star Nico Liersch, letting these two kids play people their own age (and a bit younger) accurately and believably.
The tension that runs throughout the film is like watching children play with loaded guns for 131 minutes, truly and fairly representing what these people must have lived for six years. I disagree with other reviewers who found that it didn't dwell on things long enough...it's shot from a young person's point of view, with that kind of simplistic acceptance of things that happen outside one's field of view.
This is the kind of film that provides much to chew on afterward, if taken seriously. We saw it with members of our synagogue so that wasn't an issue. The tension for us began with simply seeing that this was set in Germany during WW II.