The makers of the film have made sure to cover the streets of ‘Molching’ with replicas of some of the propaganda posters most frequently displayed during the dictatorship, though some minor errors have crept in in this regard. Other major events in the history of the Nazi regime are either referred to retrospectively (for example, the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, and Jesse Owens’ triumphs in particular), or presented as part of the narrative, albeit briefly (such as the beginning of the Second World War, and the later deportation of Germany’s remaining Jews). In this striking instance, the needs of the narrative – a key moment in Liesel’s increasing questioning of Nazism – have taken precedence over strict historical accuracy. A well-rendered depiction of a public book-burning presided over by invective-spouting Nazi officials, invoking some of the most familiar images of the first year of the Nazi dictatorship, is set instead in 1938. One scene – a depiction of Kristallnacht culminating in Max deciding to flee – takes place in Stuttgart. The film also follows the rather irritating convention, common to American and British films set in Nazi Germany, whereby minor characters speak in subtitled German, yet the principal actors speak English with German accents 95 per cent of the time, while also uttering selected curses in untranslated German.Ī: The film is set in the fictional small town of Molching, which the book places outside Munich (though this is not clear from the film). The latter manages to include some rather tacky product placement for Apple. There is a slightly syrupy, TV-movie feel at times, not least in the jarringly upbeat ending, in which a rather implausible reunion with Max is followed by a last scene reassuring the viewer of Liesel’s subsequent long and happy life. While Liesel’s changing attitudes are well handled, she is the sole protagonist to undergo such a transformation, and the other characters are rather one-dimensionally good or evil. This coming-of-age tale largely plays out in the period from February 1938 to November 1942, during which time Liesel’s emotional awakening parallels her increasing political maturity. In common with the book, the film is narrated by Death, voiced here in a rather avuncular manner by Roger Allam.
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