Kith and Kindle

Rating: 8/10 (21 February 2014)

For the Germans of course propaganda as a weapon was almost as effective as the V2 in the second world war so we can savour the irony of a film set against the background of WWII and portraying the conflict exclusively from the perspective of German civilians, serving as propaganda for the printed word in an era when Kindle and other 'tablets' are sweeping all before them and doing to the printed word what Henry Ford did to the horse and buggy. In a simplistic sense this is the other side of the coin to The Sound of Music; both share an approximate time scale (1938-1943) and locale (Germany-Austria) but whereas The Sound of Music falls into the Trapp of utilising primary colour that emphasises the picture-postcard 'gingerbread' houses, The Book Thief mutes its colour so that the overall feeling is documentary rather than chocolate box. By portraying the German civilians who populate the film as ordinary, humane, people, much the same as their counterparts in Allied countries the film runs the risk of being castigated as pro-German propaganda but realistically it is probably an accurate depiction of life at the time. The emphasis throughout is on humanity and rubbing along in the face of adversity which makes the ending - which states unequivocally that humanity is meaningless in the long run - more powerful. Overall a fine film and highly recommended.