I always find it interesting when films cast a group of relatively unknown actors and actresses. I tend to wonder if it has to do with their budget or because they feel as if well-known actors may ruin the tone of the film. Based on the budget of this film ($19m), I can’t imagine that was the reason behind the interesting casting. If casting director, Kate Dowd, did choose the actors/actresses to help keep the tone of the film the way it was intended, I believe she did an excellent job. With the exception of Geoffrey Rush (and even he isn’t the most well known actor) I don’t believe I’ve seen any of the other cast members in anything else. The tone of the film was somber, but filled with innocence. Casting Sophie Nélisse and Nico Liersch as the two primary children allowed for the feeling of innocence to shine through in a film filled with tragedy and hatred. For being such young and unseasoned actors, they did a fabulous job of making me believe who they were and when they were. I genuinely liked the story. It was touching and it seemed historically accurate. I definitely don’t claim to be a history wiz, but based on what knowledge I have of Nazi Germany, I felt that this film captured the essence of what that time period and part of the world would have been like. Levin Liam’s Franz Duetscher was a dick of a character, but a necessary evil in terms of keeping everything in perspective. One of the most interesting things about the film is the narrator. Considering the content of the film, the choice of Death as the narrator is more than appropriate, it was perfect. Death’s dialogue made him being the narrator even better. I’ve never read the novel, but according to Stephanie Bain, this film is pretty consistent with the book (from what she can remember). While the story and the characters are a testament to Markus Zusak’s writing ability, it also speaks volumes to the writing ability of Michael Petroni and the directing ability of Brian Percival. As a whole, everything was well executed; plot, acting, directing, narration and even uses of symbolism were done incredibly well. The film was full of emotion, in all of the most appropriate ways. I looking forward to reading the novel. https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0816442/
Comments