#diliigent

Now writing Rudy I obviously have to be familiar with the text but because I can’t always be bothered to read a novel every time I lose muse I’ve identified what I personally think are Rudy’s key scenes.

These are: the

"teddy bear scene" in which he gives the bear to the English solider

the “bread scene” when he gives the bread to the Jews and

the “domino scene” in which he’s playing dominoes with his siblings while the Nazi is outside.

Now the one thing you might see these scenes have in common is not a single one was included in the film. Now I know, I know the film made sense without these scenes and I know I have absolutely no authority on what should and shouldn’t have been in it and believe me I do love the film, it’s the reason I read the book in the first place. But also I see no reason for not at least one of those scenes to have been included. I mean to be honest if you compare how often Rudy appears in the book to how often he’s in the film it’s a bit disappointing. Not only that but the way he finds out about Max in the film is really honestly my least favourite part. He practically bullies Liesel into telling him and that’s not what the Rudy I love would do. In my personal opinion I honestly think they completely pushed his character aside.

Now hear comes the really unpopular part: I think they did that to have more Max and Liesel scenes. Now don’t get me wrong please, I love Max and I love Liesel and Max’s relationship. Please, please, please don’t think I’m hating on either of them or anything like that because I’m not. I love some of the extra scenes they added in the film between the two of them, I just think they went about it wrong. For example they miss out Max giving Liesel the Standover Man but have him give Liesel the notebook. Why? Why not keep Ilsa giving her the notebook (tbh I could go on a whole other rant about Ilsa in the film) and Max his two books. Idk.

This is getting a bit rambly but my point is I feel like in the film they made a lot more Max and Liesel moments at the cost of many touching scenes between Liesel and Rudy, just Rudy and literally cut out whole characters (Tommy Muller, Arthur Burg, Andy. Kurt, Alex, Barbra and all the Steiners). Now I understand why they did that to an extent, I do. What I feel like they did is make the film very much a film about a German family who hid a Jew in their basement and a girl who sometimes stole books. Which is a good film, don’t get me wrong. But I feel like the book is much more of a book about childhood, about growing up in the harshest of places and how people can still be good and loyal and beautiful. How even at it’s darkest life can be amazing, about how even if people do bad things it doesn’t always make them bad people.