GAHHH.
You know when you think a movie is so beautiful that you just look and stare and choke in the splendid-ness of it? You know when you get so destructed by deaths of amazingly great fictional characters? You know when you read a book and love it and then watch a movie and love it almost more? You know when all the actors in a movie are just so spot-on perfect, all you can do is reel in the perfect-ness of it?
If you do, you can imagine what I felt like while watching The Book Thief several days ago.
I was a big fan of the book. (Yes, I read the book first. I'm a bit of a good girl for once in my life; isn't that amazing?)
Let me start at the very beginning, as I like to do with Reviews. (After all, it's good to start at the very beginning. Fraulein Maria has given us some very important life lessons.) So I got the book last year for Christmas. I'd heard of it before; heard that it was sad, and beautiful, and it had been on my to-read list for quite a time (as books generally are.) It was one of the only presents that was a surprise (as I pick out my own presents, haha) and I was SO happy with it. My cover is the same as the movie poster up there, and it's a gorgeous edition - big, and pristine. I was SO excited to pick it up and read it. BECAUSE IT WAS MINE. You know. :-)
So I read it in the beginning of January, and JUST FELL IN LOVE. Yes, it is the kind of book you either hate or love. But for it, it's the book that makes me sigh in writerly pleasure. THE WAY Markus Zusak writes, peoples. It will just shatter your soul. It's written so unique-ly, and so beautifully. You just want to sink into the pages and eat up the letters and just... breathe the descriptions. I can't tell ya. :-/ (I also cried a lot. Tears splishing on the pages, and all that.)
It's a very unique book, and yes, there is That One Thing I don't like about it. The swearing. It's really bad in the book - next time I read it, I'm going to hide all them words with a sharpie. It must be done. Also, some people might be weirded out by the fact that the story is narrated by Mr Death. Death, that is. He's the narrator. I know, it's weird. But it's so unique! And oh... it's so clever! I JUST LOVED IT. (Don't stare at me like that.)
So yes, the book was a big favourite, and now I wanted to do the Next Thing. Watch the movie. I had to wait a long time (In the meanwhile I re-read the book, because why not, after all), but finally I met someone who had the dvd, and we borrowed it. AND THEN WE WATCHED IT. Duh.
Okay, sorry if I sound like an excited two-year-old, but I was so excited. And scared that it wouldn't live up to my expectations. The movie did change some things (*rolls eyes in the usual manner at the film makes*) BUT IT WAS SO GOOD. I basically loved it. The actors, the filming, the scenery, the setting... it was ridiculously picturesque and yes I approved most strongly. (NOW the review starts for real. I knew we'd get there in the end.)
This man up there, he is my favourite character. (Not only in the movie, also in the book.)
No-one, NO-ONE, could have acted Hans Hubermann like
Lionel Logue Geoffrey Rush did. No, seriously, I couldn't have asked for a better actor to play my favourite character. I've seen Geoffrey Rush in two movies - This one, and
The Kings Speech - and he plays my favourite character in both of them. Lionel Logue and Hans Hubermann are rather similar characters, actually - very kind, playful, good with kids, courageous. Hans Hubermann was so KIND. The way he treated Liesl like a real loving father, and called her 'Your Majesty' to get her out of the car - the way he helped Max, and remained positive. I want to give him a big long hug.
Like this.
Is anyone else super jealous of the Burgemeister's library? Because I am. I WANT IT. For My Own. (Even if all the books are German. I just want the books.)
This movie is a delight for readers and writers. All the emphasis on 'the magic of words', ya know, and how Max thinks. (Us bluestockings all agree that Max is a darling.) How Liesl yearns to read, and then becomes entranced with the world of stories and words. She starts her own dictionary on the wall in the basement. She steals (No, she's not stealing. She's borrowing.) books because she only owns two (and one is about how to bury dead people, which isn't very interesting for a twelve-year-old.)
Also, when I saw the words 'WRITE' painted on the basement wall, I kind of had a great-kind-of-chill. I bet Max wrote that.
Now we have to talk about Max. I loved him. "Words are life, Liesl." "If your eyes could speak, what would they say?" He was pretty awesome. I loved LOVED his first Christmas, and when he paints over Hitler's face, and when he cheers Liesl up by pretending to be Hitler's mum ("Dear Fuhrer, what is dat thing on your upper lip?"), and ohhhh I love Max.
I almost cried in the cuteness when he kissed Liesl's forehead when he left.
THIS SCENE. Was. So. Intense.
I had read the book, so I knew the German soldier wouldn't find him, but I was still SO scared. Like, when the soldier kept on chatting pleasantly in the basement. I just
wanted him to go upstairs quickly.
Liesl was brilliantly acted. We found it rather humorous that they made them speak in German accents, and put little German words like 'und' in now and then. But it was done very well - I really liked it. I like speaking in a German accent now. "It wasn't always mine." (It woesn't ollways main.)
I'm especailly in awe of the young actresses' skills in the end. I know I couldn't act such a scene. (*Sobs*) (Also, as my mother pointed out, 'they' did such a good job of making her grow up. Her fluffy short little-girl hair in the beginning made her look years younger than her mature coat and bun in the last scene.)
Emily Watson was brilliant as Rosa. Like, REALLY. You could see she had a heart from the beginning (which you can't really, in the book) and by the end she's just WAYYY nicer. I love how she helps hiding Max, even though it depends on her life, and how she supports her husband, and strokes his hair when he cries in dispair. (Hey that rhymed. I am a poet... no, I won't say it. T'is far to overused.)
I loved Rosa. One of my favourite scenes was the one where she pretends to be really cross and grabs Liesl out of her classroom, but then she tells her some good news and they give each other a hug. Ohhh, it's preshhhh. (That's a cool way of saying 'precious.' By the way.)
Rudy!!!! Rudy was such a sweetheart. His Hair. THE COLOUR OF LEMONS. (See what I mean with gorgeous ways of description? He just finds the right words to make a masterpiece. It's unfair, Markus Zusak. It's unfair.)
I love the way he goes, 'Books? Are you nuts?' I love his eyes and his sweet adorable cute smile. He is so adorable, this lad is. Generally kids-in-'love' in movie REALLY annoys me to
death, but I didn't mind in here. (Although it annoyed me that he always talked about kisses. Blech, boy, you're what? Eleven? Quit.)
And ohhh it tears me to pieces inside; What happened to him.
(Spoiler ahoy in the following paragraph.)
Ahhhhh. They changed his last scene! They made him alive for a few seconds!!!!!!!!!! I don't know what to think of it, dear readers. It made it only harder, though. Okay, I think I just have to talk about The Sad Scene now. (Warning, this is a major spoiler. But you already know it's going to be sad, so I suppose it's not
tooooo major, even if you happen to accidentally read this.)
AZIORHEUNCRAOEI. I AM NOT EVER GOING TO BE OVER THE FACT THAT HANS AND RUDY AND ROSA ALL DIED IN ONE NIGHT. And also Rudy's brothers and his mother...
Just no. Just no. Just no. Just no. JUST NO. Liesl does not deserve anything of that. *Sighs forever*
I need to KNOW. Do Max and Liesl marry?!!!!! This is what Markus Suzak told fans with the same questions as I. Read it.
On one hand (and this is the cop-out answer) it’s purely up to the reader, just as characters in every book live on beyond the pages. Nobody can be wrong.
In this case, though, in my own mind, I have at least four reasons why Max and Liesel don’t get married, and I honestly believe it’s more romantic that they don’t.
First, in many ways I felt that the book is about Liesel’s different kind of loves - for Hans, for Rosa, for Rudy and Max, and for books and living in general. She is in the centre and all of these things revolve around her. Max, to me, was a brotherly\sisterly kind of love. There’s at least one allusion to him as a replacement for her own brother.
Second, I could cite an age difference, but that, of course, wouldn’t be insurmountable, but it is there.
Third, I’ve always believed (in my own version of events beyond the pages) that they do keep in contact their whole lives and still have that kindred connection. But I also feel like they needed to start their lives fresh, alone and away from all of that mess.
And lastly (and most romantically, I think), I figure if Rudy couldn’t have Liesel, no-one from that world could. In my mind he was the one who loved her with the greatest intensity in that way, and I feel like it’s only fitting that we have to leave that world for her to find a different life, and all that comes with it.
Still, like I said, for me (and it is only my opinion), Max and Liesel DO stay together, but not necessarily in the way some people think…But of course, I’m still more than happy for readers to believe they do get married and live their lives together. At the end of the day, it’s still up to you, and that’s the beauty of books. In so many ways, they never really end.
Well, for ME, they DO end up together. So THERE. I mean,
how can you not ship them after that far-too-short-scene where they re-unite and give each other a big long hug?!!! (Well, actually, I agree with Markus Zusak. While on one hand, I REALLY think they married, on the other hand I agree with Markus. He's right. I can't
really see them married. Bleh, I don't know. I wish I did. I'm forever pondering about this.)
Finally, now I have to talk about the scenery and the filming. Because that was one of the best thing about the movie - it was ART. Seriously, I don't think I've ever seen a more picturesquely filmed movie. The snow, the houses, the collars, the way everything is filmed; JUST WOW. IT'S GORGEOUS. Every screencap is stunning and desktop-background-able.
Don't you love those kind of movies?
Oh, and one more thing. (Yes, I also loved This Thing. Duh, I love quite a lot about this movie.) The MUSIC. It's haunting and twinkly and thrilling all at the same time. I have listened to it many times over during my lessons, and I'm proud to say I have it running inside my brain.
SO yes.
I RECOMMEND THIS. :-) I know there are people who aren't crazy about it (lookin' at you,
Natalie ! :-D), but I personally think it's a stunning movie, which will reach inside your heart and make you feel all kinds of feelsy feels. It's emotional and beautiful, and makes one Look Back, and Know.
Have you seen it?
Do you think Liesl marries Max?
