This film surprised me. I knew nothing about this film going into it. It was set in a nazi-occupied country during the reign of Hitler and was told from the point of view of a little girl, named Liesel. She was adopted by a poor family having to accept a new mom and dad as her own. She quickly adapted to her new family and made a new best friend, a young boy named Rudy. The film was being narrated by her father who was being played by Geoffrey Rush but from the standpoint of the afterlife. This in itself was a bit of a spoiler. He brought a sense of warmth to his role of father and made Liesel feel at home. During this time the family, although struggling financially agrees to take in and hide a Jewish man by the name of Max. Liesel became attached to Max and helped to nurture him back to health. Eventually, after a long span of time, he leaves under the cover of darkness. The question becomes will she ever see him again.
Spoilers…
This film had two scenes that were rather emotional for me. The first one was when Rudy died in Liesel arms. This was very sad. The second one was when she was finally reunited with Max. This was more emotional for me but in more of a positive way.
The ending was decent allowing us to find out Liesel made it to old age and had a life of her own. Overall I would have to say I really liked how the film portrayed the era dipping into the horrors a little bit while at the same time providing a terrific story one that I would highly recommend seeing.
*****
