01
Au Revoir les Enfants
Why this pick
Shares the intimate child’s-eye view of Nazi-occupied Europe, finding tenderness, friendship and moral awakening within an atmosphere of mounting danger.
A FILM WORTH A CLOSER LOOKTHE FEATURE PRESENTATION
MOVIE2013 2h 11m USA
IF THIS ONE STAYED WITH YOU
Movies like
The Book Thief
Drama
CINEHUNCH / THE NEXT FRAME
Keep the feeling.
SIMILAR PICKS / A PERSONAL CONNECTION
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Why this pick
Like The Book Thief, it centres on a traumatised child transformed by an initially stern but deeply compassionate foster parent, with reading and trust becoming lifelines.
03
The Island on Bird Street
Why this pick
A lyrical, tense wartime story seen through a resourceful child’s perspective, balancing fear and loss with imagination, small acts of care and resilience.
04
A Bag of Marbles
Why this pick
Its young protagonists navigate occupied France with the same accessible, emotionally direct focus on childhood innocence strained by war and persecution.
05
Sarah's Key
Why this pick
A moving literary adaptation that treats wartime trauma with compassion, following a young girl’s ordeal while preserving a strong sense of human connection and remembrance.
Finding the atmosphere, tension and little details that made this one stay with you.
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01 / THE STORY
A little about the film.
In February 1938, a voice representing Death (personification) tells about how the young Liesel Meminger has piqued his interest. In one of the opening scenes, Liesel is traveling with her mother and younger brother on a train. On the way, her brother dies and is buried next to the tracks. Liesel steals her first book, titled ''The Grave Digger's Handbook'', when it falls out of the gravedigger's pocket. Liesel is then brought to her new home in Munich, where she meets her new foster parents Rosa Hubermann and Hans Hubermann. Rudy Steiner, a boy who lives next door, accompanies her on her first day of school. When the teacher asks Liesel to write her name on the chalkboard, she is only able to write three Xs, revealing to her classmates that she is unable to write. She is taunted by her schoolmates who chant "''dummkopf''" ("dunce") at her. One of the boys, Franz Deutscher, challenges her to read just one word to which Liesel responds by beating him up. She impresses Rudy, and they become fast friends. When Hans, her foster father, realizes that Liesel cannot read, he begins to teach her, using the book that she took from the graveside, and a giant chalkboard. Liesel becomes captivated with reading anything she can.
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02 / FACES IN THE FRAME
The people who bring it to life.
Emily Watson
Rosa Hubermann
Sophie Nélisse
Liesel Meminger
Nico Liersch
Rudy Steiner
Ben Schnetzer
Max Vandenburg
Heike Makatsch
Liesel's mother
Rainer Bock
Bürgermeister Hermann
Rainer Reiners
Priest
Kirsten Block
Frau Heinrich