Summer Of My German Soldier Essays - Summer Of My German Soldier

Summer Of My German Soldier The novel, Summer of My German Soldier, written by Bette Greene is about a young Jewish girl, Patty, who befriends a Nazi soldier. She confides in him because of the lack of parental love in her life. The Nazi soldier shows Patty that she is a person of value and is important in the world. This is something that her parents have never told her. Michael Tuchner, director of the cinematic version of, Summer of My German Soldier, does a fair job of portraying the action in the novel, however some key scenes are not shown thus taking away important facts that the viewer would see. There are many scenes in the movie that are not in the book. There are a few key additions, one of which is, Anton asking Patty for accessories. The accessories are a toothbrush, toothpaste, razor, comb, etc. When he is asking for these things he seems really demanding. In the book he does not appear to be this way. Another addition is, towards the end of the movie, Pattys father comes into her room and tells her that she is a bad person and is dead to him. He also tells her that she has always hated him, and in a way this compares to the scene in the book where he goes into the garage and yells nobody loves me, nobody loves me!. The scene in which Ruth walks through the town with Patty is another key addition. It shows that she is confident in herself and that she is not afraid of the prejudice of the white people. This scene closely compares to the scene in the book where Ruth orders the white guards in the juvenile detention center to fetch Pattys Christmas bag. There are many scenes in the book that do not take place in the movie. The most apparent deletion is of the scenes dealing with the grandparents. In the movie Pattys grandparents are never mentioned; in the book they play a major role in her life. In the beginning of the book, before Patty meets Anton, her grandparents are all she has. Unlike her parents, they treat her like a person. Also at the end of the book they keep her before she has to go to the juvenile detention center. The movie does not show any of that. Another deletion that occurs is Pattys punishment for housing the Nazi. In the book she is sent to the juvenile detention center as a punishment. In the movie all that is said is that she will be getting a lawyer to help fight for her. Many of the interactions between Patty and her father are not shown in the movie. In the book Mr. Bergen beats Patty numerous times; in the movie Mr. Bergen only beats her once. Instead of beating her, he only yells violently at her. This i s probably done to keep the rating of the movie minimal. Also, when Patty goes out to see Anton during the night, in the book her father catches her in the kitchen; in the movie she sneaks out via the window and is not caught. A few scenes had the same outcome between the movie and book, but the way in which they were done is different. One major example of this is the scenes that involve Antons leaving. In the book, it is at night and it is long and dramatic. They also kiss right before he runs into the night. In the movie, it is during the day and very abrupt. The FBI comes to the Bergens house to search for the Nazi. Anton is forced to leave because he does not want to be found. They do not kiss in the movie, but Anton does give Patty a kiss on the forehead before he leaves. Another example of the changes which take place are the books and movies version of the stone throwing episode. In the book Patty goes out to look for the people whose window she broke to pay them back with Ruths money. She gets to her fathers store and sees that the car is there. Her dad gets to her before