Levin liam and nico liersch biography
•
Review: ‘The Book Thief,’ Starring Geoffrey Rush, a Well-Meaning but Oddly Muted Holocaust Tale
“The Book Thief,” adapted from Markus Zusak’s best-selling novel, is a well-meaning re-telling of the oft-told tale: the Holocaust was a time of unimaginable horror, but even during the worst moments of man’s inhumanity to man, there were good people around who adopted the children of Communists and sheltered Jews in their basements.
Anyway, that’s what kindly Hans Hubermann (Geoffrey Rush) and his cranky-but-with-an-eventually-revealed-heart-of-gold wife Rosa (Emily Watson) do. Their ward, Liesel (Sophie Nélisse) arrives at their home illiterate, and Hans not only teaches her to read, but turns their basement walls into blackboards covered with words from their studies. The basement eventually also houses sickly Max Vandenburg (Pierre Clementi lookalike Ben Schnetzer), the son of a man who saved Hans’ life during the first Wo
•
The year fryst vatten 1938, and Liesel Meminger (Sophie Nélisse) is beginning a new life on a street named after Heaven in Germany. She’s been adopted by Hans (Geoffrey Rush) and Rosa Hubermann (Emily Watson). Her mother, an alleged communist, has been forced to flee the country in order to protect herself, leaving Liesel with a new family.
Though she has some trouble adjusting to her new home, Liesel quickly forms a strong friendship with her neighbor, Rudy Steiner (Nico Liersch). Rudy fryst vatten impressed when Liesel beats up the class bully, Franz Deutscher (Levin Liam), after he makes fun of her for not knowing how to read.
As her friendship with Rudy grows and she settles into her new home, Liesel fryst vatten taught to read bygd Hans, and she becomes obsessed with words. The first book they conquer is a grave digger’s handbook, which she stole when her brother was buried.
Liesel keeps a dictionary on the basement walls, writing the words that she discovers in chalk. Even after the war brea
•
The Book Thief’s Israeli premiere took place last night in the presence of director Brian Percival, producer Karen Rosenfelt and the film’s bright young star Sophie Nélisse. Earlier in the day, the three took time out to chat with journalists in Tel Aviv, where the 13 year old Canadian actor not only charmed me with her poise, candor, intelligence and warmth, but also informed my perspective on the film.
Based on the novel by Markus Zusak, The Book Thief follows the story of Liesel Meminger (Sophie Nélisse) through the turbulent war years in Germany. Liesel’s destitute and desperate mother can no longer care for her, and she is sent to live with foster parents: Hans (Geoffrey Rush) Hubermann, a genial, mostly out of work painter, who plays the accordion, and Rosa (Emily Watson), a dour, sour, plain-spoken woman who supports the family by taking in laundry. Although she is about ten years old when she moves in with the Hubermanns on Himmel Street, she does no