10/24/2023 0 Comments A book thief movieInstead, Hans is sent into the war only after proclaiming "But he's a good man!" as a Jewish neighbor is being taken away by some Nazi officials. This act of good-heartedness and humanity is unparalleled in the movie. Similarly, the book version of Hans is forced to join the war effort as punishment after giving a piece of bread to a starving Jew being marched through the small town. He's almost always unconscious, making him a flat, one-dimensional character: the physically weak Jew wasting away in some cold basement, who only occasionally offers a word or two of encouragement to Liesel. Instead of the homemade books, Max gives Liesel a blank journal. In the movie? None of these things happen. It is in these homemade and personal stories that we really see Max's personality and depth as a character. He talks about his dreams of boxing Hitler, develops an exercise regimen to occupy his time in the Hubermann's basment, and, after discovering Liesel's love for the written word, creates two books of his own to give her. In the book we see much more of Max's past, and his present. There are some major discrepancies between the two versions – perhaps most significantly is the film's lack of character development. Sure, the movie trailer (above) looks really great and powerful – I agree! But it comes nowhere near the emotion and message conveyed by the book. Now, I must preface this by saying I always find the book better than the movie, but I don't think I've ever been so let down by a book-to-film adaptation in my life. And that's when the story really begins.Īfter finishing the book with tears in my eyes, I decided to rent The Book Thief movie from my local library to compare the two mediums. The stranger turns out to be Max Vandenburg, a Jewish man with a unique connection to the Hubermanns, and they proceed to hide him in their basement. One fateful night, a young stranger appears on the doorsteps and is quickly ushered inside before collapsing. After some initial resistance she manages to find love for her new family, especially her accordion-playing papa, Hans Hubermann, who gives her the magical gift of literacy. Using Death as the story's narrator, The Book Thief follows the life of Liesel Meminger, a young German girl who is sent to live with foster parents after her Communist mother flees the country during Hitler's rise to power. But if the book was a peacock, then the movie version must have been a pigeon. Luckily, it was an assigned reading for one of my classes, so I managed to kill two birds with one stone, and let me tell you – what a beautiful bird it turned out to be. After years of having it on my to read list, I finally got around to reading The Book Thief.
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