Missing A Movie At The Cineplex
I watched The Book Thief DVD three times. How did I missed this movie in the theatres? Probably because it wasn't shown at my regular cinema TGV Bukit Raja. Cinemas must have some form of gauge to screen movies that will be watched by the movie-buffs of the particular locality. Or simply, if they think not many people will watch it, then just don't screen it. To be very frank, I am a little fixated on stories about children having to go through a lot of hardships in their formative years, whether in the form of books or movies. Perhaps a certain part of me finds its identity in these stories, perhaps I am a little too sentimental, perhaps both. Further more, the central character in The Book Thief is a young girl who has a natural inclination towards reading and writing, albeit being able to read only at the age of ten, after being coached at home by her foster father.
I loved the movie but I loved the book much more.
About The Author
Markus Zusak is an Australian writer and was born in Sydney in 1975. He is of Austrian-German parentage and his parents migrated to Australia in the late 1950s. Zusak is a very successful writer and has won many literary awards in the young adult literature category, especially with two of his books The Messenger and The Book Thief. The Book Thief is perhaps the most successful of Zusak's writing and was published in 2005. The book has been translated into almost 40 languages and had held the number one position on The New York Times and Amazon.com bestseller list for quite some time. In 2013 The Book Thief was adapted into a movie of the same name starring Geoffrey Rush, Emily Watson and Sophie Nelisse.
I keep surfing the net to find out if somehow there is a link between the author and the story. Perhaps Zusak wrote the story based on the experience of his parents or grandparents. What I found is pasted below in green.
Zusak was born to an Austrian father and a German mother, both of whom experienced World War II firsthand in their native countries. Zusak has stated that The Book Thief was unlike anything he had written before and largely inspired by stories his parents told him as a child about wartime Munich and Vienna. Zusak has specifically singled out two stories his mother told him, one of the bombing of Munich, and one of Jews being marched through Zusak's mother's town on their way to the Dachau concentration camp.
Like The Book Thief's character of Hans Hubermann, Zusak's father was a house painter, and at an early age Zusak wanted to be a house painter as well. Zusak began writing as a teenager, and citedThe Old Man and the Sea and What's Eating Gilbert Grape as inspirations. Zusak's sixth novel, a young adult fiction titled Bridge of Clay, is to be published in November 2009.
The Book Thief
The Book Thief is about a young German girl named Liesel Meminger. In fact the whole book is mainly about Liesel Meminger's life between 1939 and 1943. In this story, the narrator is Death. I thought it is a bit morbid at first. It is January 1939 in a bitterly cold Nazi Germany and Liesel is soon approaching her tenth birthday. Liesel, her six-year-old brother Werner and their mother are on a train journey to Munich. Along the way Werner died and has to be buried in a cemetery alongside the railway track. As Liesel and her mother are about to leave the cemetery, a book falls out from one of the grave diggers coat pocket and Liesel picks it up and hide it in her clothing. Liesel is later taken on a car journey by Frau Heinrich to a fictional town of Molching, very near Munich to be handed over to her new foster parents. Her mother herself is continuing her journey to another place, perhaps to be rounded up by the Nazi SS men and further on to the concentration camps. Both of Liesel biological parents are Communist Party members which Hitler despises as much as the Jews, blacks or any other categories of humanities which is deemed not of the "pure Aryan race" or could somehow place the mighty Germans in jeopardy.
In Molching Liesel becomes the new daughter to the elderly couple Hans and Rosa Hubermann. Hans' gentle demeanour and his accordion playing quickly win Liesel over. It was Hans who teaches her the alphabets and how to read. Liesel is one of those children where a love of reading comes naturally and she is good with her "words" too. Together foster father and daughter read the book that was dropped by the grave digger at Liesel brother's funeral entitled "The Grave Digger's Handbook". Rosa Hubermann is a kind-hearted woman hidden beneath a witch exterior of loudness and constant swearing and scolding. Liesel is befriended by her twelve-year-old next door neighbour Rudy Steiner who becomes her partner in book and food thievery. It was a difficult time for most people in Molching. Hans is a house painter who finds himself out of work most of the time. Rosa supplemented the family's income by doing the laundry for the wealthy people of Molching, including the Mayor and his wife Ilsa Hermann.
A few months into her life in Molching, Liesel, Hans Hubermann, Rudy and Rudy's father Alex Steiner go to a gathering celebrating Hitler's birthday. Part of the celebration is a bonfire to burn books. When the ceremony is over Liesel picks up a partially burned book from the bonfire and hide it under her coat. It just happens that Ilsa Hermann was leaving with her husband and she sees Liesel taking the smouldering book. It was around this time too, Liesel learns the truth that her real mother has disappeared and is not coming back for her anymore. Liesel hates the Fuhrer as she begins to understand the Fuhrer's role in all these events.
Situation in Molching is getting more difficult, with work shortages and food shortages too. Jews are being rounded over and taken into custody, their properties being confiscated, their shops and businesses being destroyed.
Hans Hubermann was a soldier in WWI. He became friends with a German Jew by the name of Erik Vandenburg during that time. Erik somehow saved Hans life. After the war Hans promised Erik's widow that if ever she or her son need any help in future, he promised to help them. Erik's son Max Vandenburg enlists the help of his friend to contact Hans and to ask Hans to hide him in his house as Jews are being rounded and prosecuted in Germany. Hans agrees and one night Max arrives at Hans residence, tired, weak, almost at death's door. The Hubermanns hide him in their basement and nurse him back to health. It is not easy for the family, as the punishment for hiding a Jew will be the same as being a Jew themselves. So Max lives in the basement, even when the Hubermanns biological children Hans Junior and Trudy come home for Christmas. Liesel becomes a friend to the 22-year-old Max. Max asks Liesel to describe the outside weather to him everyday using her own words. He encourages Liesel to express herself in her own words verbally or in writing.
While picking up or delivering laundry done by her foster mother, Liesel develops some sort of friendship with the mayor's wife Ilsa Hermann. Frau Herman allows Liesel to read in the library in her home every time Liesel goes there. Ilsa Hermann knows Liesel's love of books and reading when she witnessed Liesel picking up a partly burned book from the bonfire on Hitler's birthday. Perhaps Ilsa Hermann feels a strong connection with Liesel as her own son who is lost in the ongoing war also very much loves to read.
When Max Vandenburg falls sick in the basement, Liesel reads to him. She steals books from Ilsa Hermann's library. She does not go there anymore as the Mayor's wife stops engaging Liesel foster mother to do her laundry. One day the SS comes to check their basement, checking for its suitability as an air raid shelter. It is by sheer luck that the SS does not discover Max under the basement stairs being very sick.
Liesel begins to read aloud in the basement of her neighbour on Himmel Street, which serves as an air-raid shelter, every time the Himmel Street community is there sheltering from the bomb drops. People begins to like her reading as it tends to calm them as they focus on the story Liesel narrates. In fact one of the Hubermann's neighbour, Frau Holtzapfel begins asking Liesel to come to her house on a regular basis to read to her. For that chore, Liesel is paid with whatever foodstuffs Frau Holtzapfel has at that time. Liesel's reading must be something very compelling as Frau Holtzapfel is actually not very neighbourly with Rosa Hubermann. She used to spit at the Hubermann's front door every time she passes by.
After Max recovers from his sickness, he decides to leave the Hubermanns for fear of endangering their lives. Max encourages Liesel to write as he says he will be present always in the words written by Liesel. A few weeks after that Hans Hubermann receives a letter informing him of being conscripted into the German army despite his age. Liesel and the outwardly tough Rosa are very sad about having to let him go. While Hans is away, Liesel witnesses the parade of Jews being marched away onto Dachau where one of the concentration camps is situated. Liesel breaks into the line of Jews searching for Max Vandenbug and gets thrown down by the soldiers.
A few months later however, Hans Hubermann comes home after being injured slightly in the leg. He once again cheated death as he changed seat with another younger soldier who is killed when their army truck overturned. Liesel remembers Max advice and she starts writing the story of the book thief. One night after completing her story, Liesel falls asleep in the basement. There is no air-raid sirens but bombs begin falling on Himmel Street while the inhabitants are sleeping. In the morning, Liesel is discovered safe in her basement. Hans Hubermann, Rosa Hubermann, Rudy Steiner, Rudy's mother and siblings all perished in that bombing. Liesel runs and hugs Ilsa Hermann where the latter arrives at the scene and she drops the book that she had written. It was then that Death picks up the book and learns of her story.
Two years after the bombing of Himmel Street, Max Vandenburg came to meet Liesel who by that time is staying with Rudy's father Alex Steiner.
Death then tells the story of him coming to get Liesel when she is in her nineties. After all, as Death puts it, everybody dies. By then she had made good of her ninety years, she had had a good life. She migrated to Australia, became a famous writer, got married, has three children and a few grandchildren. Death is overwhelms by humans who can be beautiful and can also be hideous in nature.
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| The last page of the book |
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