The Book Thief
Reading opens new worlds for a girl in Nazi Germany.
Directed by Brian Percival
(PG-13)
**
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Genocide isn’t such a terrible thing in this “shameless piece of Oscar-seeking Holocaust kitsch,” said Stephen Holden in The New York Times. Based on a popular young-adult novel and aimed at family audiences, the film makes World War II Germany look like “the setting for a holiday greeting card” and uses “saccharinity” to camouflage the horrors of the conflict. The girl at the story’s center, played by newcomer Sophie Nélisse, “radiates klieg-light levels of wholesomeness” as she’s deposited at the home of foster parents who will teach her to read while she slowly decodes the signals that something in Germany is amiss, said Adam Markovitz in Entertainment Weekly. “It would make for a pretty ghastly pageant if not for smart, understated turns” by Emily Watson and Geoffrey Rush as the adults in the house. Books rescued from Nazi libraries and bonfires serve to connect various of the story’s kindhearted characters, and the resulting drama is “perfectly serviceable” as a heart-tugging showcase for some “accomplished performers,” said Robert Abele in the Los Angeles Times. For harder truths, you’ll have to look elsewhere.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Why are military experts so interested in Ukraine's drone attack?
TODAY'S BIG QUESTION The Zelenskyy government's massive surprise assault on Russian airfields was a decisive tactical victory — could it also be the start of a new era in autonomous warfare?
-
Critics push back as the government goes after Job Corps
The Explainer For at-risk teens, the program has been a lifeline
-
5 horror movies to sweat out this summer
The Week Recommends A sequel, a reboot and a follow up from the director of 'Barbarian' highlight the upcoming scary movie slate