The Book Thief Film Analysis

Liesel Meminger, the main character in The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, is a very complex and deep character. Throughout the almost six year span of her life starting from age nine covered by this novel, Liesel not only grows intellectually and physically, but as a whole person. Physically when Liesel arrived on Himmel Street as a foster child, “everything about her was undernourished” (Zusak, 31). Death described even her smile as hungry. Liesel was depicted with “Her hair was a close enough brand of German blond, but she had dangerous eyes.

One thing the film did not do so well was an accurate representation of the Arabian people.

A few violent scenes occur, but the one that started trickling realization into Liesel brain is the scene in part 10. Liesel is searching through the marchings Jews for a familiar face she once knew and loved. Not finding Max in the crowd of Jews took away from the rest of the pain in Liesel’s life. On this unfortunate day Liesel searches the crowd and immediately feels her heart drop when she sees Max’s twigs of hair and swampy eyes studying the crowd for the same reason Liesel was. The German girl rushes through the blur of Jews and makes her way to Max. blocking out the german soldiers, Liesel restates Max’s story he wrote for her. In this moment, Liesel was so brave that she feared no one, including German soldiers. “She was courageous enough to reach

Liesel Meminger is a main character described in “The Book Thief”. After her mother can no longer support her Liesel and her brother, although he does not make the journey, are sent to a foster home in a small town in Germany called Munich were Liesel meets Hans and Rosa Hubermann or Mama and Papa. Although the initial warming up is hard Liesel soon becomes very close to her Papa. “Over the next few weeks and into summer, the midnight class began at the end of each nightmare” (Zusak,69). Hans teaches Liesel each night how to read and write to ease her mind when all Liesel can think about is her dead brother. Hans truly becomes Papa when Liesel trusts Hans will never let her be

In The Book Thief, we saw how Liesel felt through the words that were written. The book told us in detail how Liesel felt about both Max Vandenburg and Rudy. When I watched “The Book Thief” as a movie I saw in even more detail Liesel’s empathy for Max. Liesel we could tell was a very brave girl. Liesel had also gone through a lot of hardships throughout her life and we got to learn about them form both the book and the movie.

Liesel Suffering from unbearable pain of lost ones, the protagonist of the story Liesel goes through many tough situations. In The Book Thief, Liesel changes greatly from being sad and lonely due to her harsh past, to accepting reality and learning to love her In the beginning of the story, Liesel loses her father, brother and only had her mother left, but soon also loses her. She was alone all by herself, until she got taken in by someone else. Although, it didn’t change anything for her since she was still always reminiscing over her family.

Lastly, Liesel and Frau Holzapfel develop a relationship, “Strangely, one of Liesel’s favourite distractions was Frau Holzapfel. The reading sessions included Wednesday now as well, and they’d finished the water-abridged version of The Whistler and were on to The Dream Catcher. The old woman sometimes made teas or gave Liesel some soup that was indefinitely better than Mama’s.” (Zusak 439). Although Liesel did not originally like Frau Holzapfel because she was quite rude and cruel but she begins to develop a fondness of her and even enjoys her company. This develops the theme because it shows that even an uptight old woman can learn to love life by learning to enjoy words. The theme, the power of words, is minimized in the film as only the scenes in which Liesel and Frau Hermann and Liesel and Rudy develop relationships. By only showing this one does not fully see how much words can impact a community. Therefore, the novel The Book Thief develops the relationship between Liesel Meminger and her neighbours more than the film The Book Thief thereby minimizing the theme.

In the beginning of The Book Thief, the reader meets Liesel Meminger, her mother, and her brother, Werner Meminger. The father is never introduced. It is only said that he is a communist. Werner dies on the train to Himmel Street, the place that Liesel is left with a couple, Hans and Rosa Hubermann. Liesel’s mother is never seen again, but the reader assumes that she was taken away for being one of the Nazi’s targets. According to The Book Thief, “What came to her then was the dustiness of the floor, the feeling that her clothes were more next to her than on her, and the sudden realization that this would all be for nothing—that her mother would never write back and she would never see her again.” Nazis were the epitome of evil. They tore families apart and killed millions of innocent people.

The Book Thief is a film directed by Brian Percival, narrated by death, the film is about a nine year old girl called Liesel who is the protagonist of the story she went from being a character that’s angry to a character that deeply loves her family and friends. Hans Hubermann which is Liesel’s foster father he is described as being patient and gentle with Liesel and he was the first person to win her trust, Liesel’s foster known as Rosa Hubermann came across as cold and impatient after she fostered Liesel and Max she became kind and caring. Max Vandenberg went to hide in the Hubermann’s house he was cautious and introverted; when he grew stronger, he had a rage for Hitler which motivated him to stay alive. He understood Liesel’s experience

Imagine you are a poorly fed citizen, who is living in Germany, during the World War II, what would you be doing, probably stealing something to fill up your tummy right? It is true that at the economically unstable period mentioned in the book, thievery is understandable, anything could be stolen and anyone could be a thief. However, for those who have read and understand the book thoroughly would acknowledge the importance of Liesel's’ thievery characteristic.Markus Zusak, in The Book Thief characterizes Liesel as a thief to compare her theft with mutiny against Nazi Germany, other rebellious German people and the development of her personal identity.

Liesel Meminger is the main character in Marcus Zusak's novel, "The Book Thief". She had hair that was "a close enough brand of German blond, but she had dangerous eyes. Dark brown" (Zusak 31). From the age of nine, Liesel had to overcome many hardships during Hitler's rein of power. The fact that her real parents were communists made the situation worse. However, she still managed to be a loyal, caring, courageous, understanding, strong-willed girl who loved stealing books to flourish her love of words.

Liesel loves to read and it doesn't take her long to withhold her title as Book Thief. She starts with The Grave Digger’s Handbook which is the book she picks up after her brother’s death. Hans teachers her to read and painted her a “chalkboard” in the basement so that she can write down the new words she has learned. There ends up being a town “parade” which is really a book burning event where Hitler and the Nazis are commemorated, during this time Germany was looking towards invading new countries. Liesel is handed a book and pressured to throw it into the fire, to which she eventually does so. However, once the fire has been put out and everyone has gone home, she notices a book that is only slightly charred, not destroyed by the fire and picks it up. A car drives by and a woman, who is Ilsa Herman, the mayor’s wife, sees her take the book, but Liesel hides it under her coat and runs away quickly back home.

1. Brother’s Funeral “When it came down to it, one of the called the shots. The other did what he was told. The question is, what if the other is a lot more than one. (Zusack 18)”

In the film The Bicycle Thief the audience is able to witness all the elements of neorealism. The use of non professional actors, to low class working characters, the flattening of scenes, and the location where it was shot at; are just a few of the essential elements that can be found in this film along with copious neorealist films. It is clear that the director used a variety of shots, angles, and set-ups in order to create certain emotions at very specific scenes in the film. From the start we are able to obtain a feel about the film’s tone as a result of the lack of color. The use of black and white truly helped the audience experience what Italy was like during the post World War 2. As a result of the depressing post war we are able to detect how the act of trying to improve oneself can sometimes lead to desperation.

Ruling Germany under a democracy, Hitler controlled and influenced everyone's ideas and views on particular religions, races and what is the ideal norm. This reign of power destroyed and developed relationships for Liesel. With the disappearance of her mother, father and the death of her brother Werner, Hitler ruined her sense of belonging with her biological family. Thus, creating a sense of belonging with the Hubermann family and the community of Himmel street. At the beginning of the novel The Book Thief (2005), Liesel has a neutral feeling towards Hitler as she only knows of him as the Fuhrer. However, as she grows an understanding of literature and the harsh reality during Hitler's rule, Liesel develops a loathing hate towards the