Nusrat Jahan
As I write this review I am thinking to myself “Is there a point to this”? I am sure that most of you book worms out there have already read the book and have fallen in love with it (unless you are Ursula and have a black hole instead of a heart). Hence, I decided to tweak this review a bit and turn it into a “the movie or the book” type of article. Keep on reading to know what yours truly feels about the two.
It is incredibly hard to actually summarize Zusak’s book using just a few lines, as the main character- Liesel’s story spans out for four years and showcases many different aspects of her life such as growing up in Nazi Germany, Jews, rebellions, war, poverty, deaths, friendship, family, and of course books! The story is about survival but in some ways, it is also about death and how completely unexpected it can be. However, the story mostly focuses on love: Liesel’s love for reading, for her friends Max and Rudy, and for the Hubermanns- her foster parents. There are numerous little stories fused in to the main story which makes it even more interesting (as if Death itself being the narrator was not enough). Zusak’s writing style is almost like poetry, and he also makes use of the perfect blend of metaphors and symbolism.
Now, let us discuss the movie. Do you know what happens to movies that are deliberately constructed to be released during award season? A lot of them do not make the cut because it just seems like the directors were script-writers were trying too hard, and that, unfortunately, is what happened to the movie adapted from our favorite book. The entire idea of the movie might have seemed like a goldmine on paper considering that the book was written by a popular novelist, had strong subject matter, and talented award winning actors like Geoffrey Rush and Emily Watson. However, the film looked pretty and managed to make the Hubermann residence look exactly like I imagined it would, severely lacked depth and failed to stir up the whirlwind of emotions that the book so magnificently did.
Besides the obvious lack of depth and emotions, the exclusion of some characters and, some key scenes and information also contributes to this negative review I am writing. Characters like Hans Jr., Frau Holzapfel, and Victor Chemell were completely cut out. Max’s dreams of becoming a boxer and fighting Hitler were left out. The tearjerker part of Hans feeding bread to a Jew only to later on get whipped by a Nazi officer was altered to something less emotional. In the movie, Rudy’s father suddenly leaves for the army while in the book there was a very sad reason to it. Little key things like Rudy waiting for Liesel outside the Mayor’s window, Liesel’s bed wetting woes, and Hans Hubermann teaching her how to roll cigarettes were also completely left out of the movie. The part that really infuriated me in the end was how Rudy says “I lo…” before dying while in the book, he was already dead when Liesel found him. I felt like the need to add an “I love you” in the end was an unnecessary marketing gimmick.
Overall, the movie was a big no-no for me, while the book is something I would reread.
Book Rating: 8/10
Movie Rating: 5/10