A good movie on the "side" themes of war

Rating: 6/10 (10 July 2014)

A drama set in World War II Germany, about a girl of a mother unwanted by the Nazis. Liesel was orphaned when her mother was forcefully taken away by the Nazis for being a communist. On the train journey to her new parents' house, she lost her brother due to the harsh weather. Her new parents were very nice, although her new mother Rosa was very strict.
She was unlearned all her life, but then her new father Hans (Geoffrey Rush) begins to teach her to read and write. When the Nazis decided to purge Germany of the illness of foreign and radical ideas by burning books, Liesel starts her secret endeavor to learn more buy stealing books.
Along the movie, Liesel built relationships with other characters such as Max, a Jew that her foster parents take in and hide due to Hans' life debt to Max's father, and Rudy, a boy from their neighborhood and school.
Unlike other World War II movies, The Book Thief can present you a heavy drama with story build that feels slow enough. It shows us heavy demonstration of the culture that The third Reich tried to implant into the lives of Germans by portraying the children choir, the book burning, and the heavy display of Nazi party flag. Yet it lacks the gruesome violence that is typical of World War II movies.
The narration was the monologue of the character of death, which personifies death well, wondering of what will the humans do and be "haunted" by humans.
A sidelined idea that was underdeveloped was the "Jesse Owen wannabe" Rudy, that at one time scraped mud and dirt all over his body to be black just so he can be more like Jesse Owen, an African-American sprinter who was at that time the fastest man on earth.
The ending parts of the movie is just an anti-climax. When the story was built well with a pace not so fast, The main supporting characters suddenly killed by an air-raid bomb on a time when the sirens failed to ring. Yet magically Liesel survives the the blast AND the rubble falling down on her entire family. She was then fostered by the family of the madame who let her to read more books.
At least it's a good drama. I'd give it a 6.5 of 10. Just don't watch this if you're already sleepy. LOL