I suppose its fair to say that most German children were not exactly to blame for the Holocaust.

I suppose I should say that The Book Thief was a masterpiece of cinema and a very important film etc. but I did find it somewhat problematic.

As a child’s eye view of the horrors of Germany during WWII it performed admirably, if not somewhat apologetic most of the time (after all every German hid a Jewish runaway in their Cellar NOT, no one knew what was happening NOT etc.).

It did tend to gloss over the appalling nature of the Third Reich, but then from a child’s perspective the world is always somewhat limited and pure around them. I can forgive it therefore for not really being a serious holocaust piece and a reflection of the insular nature of youth.

I have never much enjoyed Geoffrey Rush, I have always found his acting pompous and over intense, he actually worked very well in this role as the loving father making the best of bad times around him.

Perhaps the worst decision in the film was the Narrator who popped up now and then in the style of a children’s story, warranted points for making him the grim reaper in a sort of twist on this style, but nevertheless the film would have been much better without it.

In some ways their are parallels in this film to Benigni’s Life is Beautiful, but where Life is a sick “humourous” twist on the Holocaust, this film manages to stay far enough away from it to not be tainted with the same brush.