THE BOOK THIEF (2013)

**2014 OSCAR NOMINEE**
Liesel (Sophie Nelisse) is a young girl in World War II Germany who is given up by her mother in the hopes of giving her a better life.  Living with her adoptive parents - a stern mother (Emily Watson) and childlike father (Geoffrey Rush) - as the war in Germany grows Liesel learns to read for the first time, books both transforming her imagination and fueling her resistance of a nation going mad with oppression.  When her new parents take in a Jewish refugee, hiding him in the basement, Liesel finds a friend who also has a love for literature ... and the first crush of love via Rudy, a neighbor boy, whom she badly wants to trust in a world where you can trust no one.  The Book Thief is engaging, beautiful, and ultimately satisfying in its tale of the Holocaust as seen through Liesel's eyes - yet, good as it is, in the end there is something lacking, almost sugarcoated ("Disney-fied"?) in its emotional impact, though the subject matter is handled with such grace even young people would enjoy - and benefit from - seeing it. (RATED pg-13)  ***1/2

THE BOOK THIEF trailer