I’m not even sure where to begin describing everything
that is loathsome about The Book Thief,
Brian Percival’s film of the novel by Markus Zusak, adapted by Michael Petroni.
It almost stirred in me a potentially self-punishing interest in reading the novel
to discover if Zusak’s representation of a German town during WWII is any less
trite and sanitized than Percival’s film. It is true that a WWII-themed story,
even one taking place in Germany, doesn’t have to be mired in depression and
death. The Book Thief has its share
of death and some destruction, but it fails to capture any real sense of
devastation and decay among the German people as their morals and country
crumbled around them.
