10 Heartbreaking Movies Like The Book Thief (2013)
Let me guess, you watched The Book Thief and it broke you into a thousand irretrievable pieces. And now you’re looking for more heartbreak.
Based on the novel by Markus Zusak, The Book Thief is an emotionally gut-wrenching film about a young girl named Liesel living in Nazi Germany. Shortly after moving in with her new foster parents, her foster father teaches Liesel how to read. And so begins her quest to save books from Nazi flames.
When her foster parents shelter a Jewish boy, a wholesome friendship forms between them amidst the danger encroaching on their home.
10 Best Movies Similar to The Book Thief (2013):
Like The Book Thief, this heartbreaking movie set in the Holocaust. It tells the tale of friendship between two young boys. One is the son of a Nazi commandant and the other a Jewish boy in a concentration camp nearby.
This haunting war drama strikes the same emotional chord as The Book Thief.
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This award-winning comedy drama by the brilliant Taika Waititi follows the story of a young German boy in Nazi Germany. When he finds a Jewish girl hiding in his attic, he struggles between his brainwashed nationalism and his mother’s kind wisdom.
Like The Book Thief, a strong friendship forms between the two children in spite of the constant threat of being discovered by Nazis.
Similar to The Book Thief, this movie is an emotional war drama set in WWII about a fostered child. After his wife dies, Mr. Tom is overcome with grief and isolates himself in his English village home. However, he reluctantly agrees to foster a quiet English boy evacuated from London during the war.
When realizes the boy has been mentally and physically abused, Mr. Tom becomes determined to raise the boy as his own son.
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This Italian comedy drama is a touching story about a kind Jewish-Italian man who ends up in a concentration camp with his son. He tries to shield his son from the terrors of the camp by pretending they’re both in a game.
Like The Book Thief, this movie about the Holocaust is equal parts haunting and beautiful.
This war drama masterpiece by Steven Spielberg should be essential viewing for any cinephile. Like The Book Thief, this film depicts the horror of the Holocaust and the unyielding humanity in defiance of it.
It follows the story of a businessman who hires Jewish workers in his factory and saves them from the SS.
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Similar to The Book Thief, it may take some time for audiences to emotionally recover from this heart shattering film about the Holocaust. It follows the story of a Polish-Jewish pianist trying to survive in hiding as a Jew in Nazi-occupied Warsaw during WWII.
The Zookeeper’s Wife revolves around Antonina, who along with her husband manage the Warsaw Zoo. Just like Liesel’s foster parents in The Book Thief, Antonina and her husband defy the Nazis and shelter Jews in their zoo.
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Set during the World War II, this feel-good movie follows a group of art scholars, historians, and experts in their mission to retrieve the countless art pieces stolen by the Nazis from their Jewish owners.
While The Book Thief’s Liesel is on a mission to save books from the Nazis, these men are on a mission to save art.
This masterful film conveys the horrors of the Holocaust through the eyes of a Jewish prisoner at the Auschwitz concentration camp. When he finds the body of a boy he mistakes for his son, he tries to find a rabbi for a proper burial.
Similar to The Book Thief, it’s a gut-wrenching story about resilience in the face of inhuman evil.
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This is another historical drama about a young heroine set in WWII like The Book Thief. It follows the story of Sophie Scholl, a member of the White Rose resistance group distributing anti-Nazi leaflets in Munich.
Conclusion: These movies will break your heart in the same fashion as The Book Thief. It’s best to have a tissue box and your comfort food of choice ready while you watch these touching yet devastating films.
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Guest Author: Emily Henry is an entertainment writer at Custom Essay. She writes about films, shows, and the latest entertainment news.