Post #5: Film Adaptations

Certain scenes and elements of the book thief are without doubt essential to the reader’s (or in this case viewer’s) understanding of the story. There are a lot of “interjections” made by the narrator (Death) and lots of “flashbacks” that give background knowledge that pertain to a certain character, relationship between characters, or in general the historic setting (Nazi Germany).

One scene in particular that could not be removed is the scene where Liesel’s brother is buried after he dies on the train. This is a key turning point in Liesel’s life, and is the beginning of the book. This scene is also where Liesel commits her first act of thievery in stealing The Grave Digger’s Handbook after one of the boys who bury her brother dropped it in the snow. This book is what sparks her interest in books and is basically the whole point of the title…J
 

                Another key scene would have to be the Kristallnacht scene where it is described how bad off the Jews really were, and is the basis for why Max Vandenburg comes to Hans for assistance and shelter. I almost think that this is a scene where you could go into even more detail than in the book itself. It is a majorly significant historical event and could be easily extrapolated upon further.

Finally I feel like a scene that would have to be included (and was in the movie, and yes, I know I’m horrible for seeing then reading… oh well) is the “flashback” of “the Jesse Owens incident”. This “incident” is where Liesel’s friend Rudy Steiner covers himself with coal dust so he appears to be black, and runs around the track pretending to be Jesse Owens from the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin. This shows how Rudy is different from many other Hitler Youth and has yet to be entirely brainwashed into thinking that anyone “different” from what he is, is therefore his inferior. Besides, I think that it would just make kind of a funny scene in general…J

However, for the sake of time and money there are definitely some scenes that could easily be removed and viewers would not miss out on the essence of the book.

One such “part” could be the whole background of Max being a fist fighter growing up; although in the book you learn that he made friends with Walter Kugler (the man who helped him escape to Hans) because he was a previous opponent, you don’t need that background to understand the point of the book.

Another part of the book that WAS cut from the movie was the entire sort of “sub-story” of the “apple thieves”. I think that it would have definitely been a good thing to keep in the film adaptation, however it is not essential, and I speak from experience it felt like a very long movie as it was.