Back in November I posted about our awesome book club meeting for The Book Thief. Twentieth Century Fox was super awesome and provided the books and a stipend for the goodies. They didn’t stop there! They also sent a group of us to see the film. How cool are they?!? Sadly the movie didn’t come to our local theater. We had to wait a bit but were finally able to catch the movie last Saturday. Here’s a bit about our experience:
First things first, we came prepared! I brought the kleenex packets with quotations from the book that I had put together for book club. It’s a good thing I did! I ended up handing kleenex out to random people at the theater who were not as well prepared!
We tried to be emotionally prepared for the movie. But let’s be real. That really just isn’t possible!
Of course there were tears. I was trying to hold back sobs. Like, not just silent crying. UGLY CRYING! Even the movie poster had me tearing up after the show!
After the movie we decided we needed some lunch to comfort our broken hearts. We headed over to The Great Dane to discuss the movie.
Over some much needed comfort food (like this amazing chicken pot pie!) we talked about what we loved about the movie and what we missed from the book.
Our thoughts:
- We really loved the movie. Just overall it had the feeling we were looking for.
- The Cinematography was beautiful. The beginning where we start in the clouds and then transition to the steam from the train and the white, white world!
- Any reservations we had about casting went right out the window. It was wonderful! Papa! Rudy! Perfect!
- Saumench! Saukerl! You have no idea how happy it made me to hear Mama utter these words!
- We were so glad that Death was still a strong presence. But we wanted more! That sounds heartless, wanting more death. But there were some really great lines that I really missed in the movie. Obviously they can’t include everything.
- The main change I didn’t like had to do with Rudy. I understand it and it was still good but (without being spoilery!) some of my most heart-wrenching moments from the book dealt with a scene at the end and much of what I loved was not included. (This is especially true of Death’s dialogue.)
- We were excited to see Ilsa! She was one of the characters we loved but weren’t sure if she would make the movie 🙂
- Max was wonderful. We thought it was sad that so much of his back story was missing. Obviously the movie can’t be 10 hours long but we hoped people who hadn’t read the book would love him as much as we did! (Sidenote: I asked someone who hadn’t read the book and she said she loved everything about it!)
- We were so pleased to see Max give Lisel the “blank” book and inspire her to write.
- I started choking up and trying not to bawl as soon as I saw Lisel asleep in the basement with her book.
- Overall the things we missed were small things and didn’t affect the power of the movie. It was incredible and I’m so glad that I read the book before I watched it. I highly, highly recommend getting to a theater ASAP!
Thanks again to 20th Century FOX! The book club and movie adventure were such great experiences!
THE BOOK THIEF – in select theaters November 8
Based on the beloved bestselling book, THE BOOK THIEF tells the inspirational story of a spirited and courageous young girl who transforms the lives of everyone around her when she is sent to live with a new family in World War II Germany.
Starring Geoffrey Rush, Emily Watson, and Sophie Nélisse.
Directed by Brian Percival.
THE BOOK THIEF online
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