The Reader Movie
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Storyline
TAGLINES PLOT SUMMARY
Post-WWII Germany: Nearly a decade after his affair with an older woman came to a mysterious end, law student Michael Berg re-encounters his former lover as she defends herself in a war-crime trial.
| Volker Bruch | Dieter Spenz |
| Ludwig Blochberger | Seminargroup 1 |
| Marcus Bode | Crowd Marshal |
| Ralph Fiennes | Older Michael |
| Bruno Ganz | Rohl |
| Moritz Grove | Holger |
| Matthias Habich | Peter Berg |
| Alexandru Herca | Reporter |
| Alexander Keller | Law School Student |
| David Kross | Michael |
| Rüdiger Kühmstedt | Ice Cream Vendor |
| Hendrik Maaß | Michael's Court House Assistant |
| Max Mauff | Rudolf |
| Rich Odell | Cab Driver |
| Sam Luca Scollin |
| Stephen Daldry |
7.80 out of 10 (19241 votes)
Visitor Reviews
Hetero love from a gay perspective is problematic
posted on 28 Aug 2009A teenage boy named Michael (David Kross) has a passionate love affair with Hanna (Kate Winslet), a tram conductor in Berlin. Years later, while studying to be a lawyer, he discovers that Hanna is on trial, and he finds himself in a position to alter the outcome. Does he act? You have to see the film to find out. The first half is devoted to the relationship between the teenage Michael and Hanna. Ralph Fiennes, who plays the adult Michael in his usual sooky way, reflects back on his decision, so the film is a series of flashbacks. The second half busies itself with the trial, the outcome, and Michael's effort to balance the scales of justice. I was involved up to a point with this movie. It didn't bowl me over. The sexual relationship between Michael and Hanna was meant to be erotic, but it was shot like incest. I suspect the director is gay because he brought no eroticism to the hetero encounters. Michael was filmed as a gay man would film him. Lots of frontals. I felt that there was no sexual interest behind the camera in Winslet. Is that an issue? Yes, it's an issue because we have to believe that Michael would be sexually into this older woman. I didn't believe it. Stephen Daldry didn't, either, or couldn't. To be fair, a hetero would shoot lots of female frontals if given the opportunity, so it's horses for courses. Daldry was simply a bad choice for this story. Because I couldn't get comfortable with the relationship, I couldn't empathize with the characters. Finnes really irritated me, too. His sullen, closed character was simply not an interesting subject for a film, no matter how convincingly he played him.
A Very Morally Polarizing Movie
posted on 26 Aug 2009This is another one of those difficult to watch movies. Unfortunately, there is nothing neutral about this movie. Anything I mention about it can spoil another person's appreciation of it. I think it would be safe to say that this is a very polarizing movie. It plays two very emotionally charged cards which are bound to upset viewers -- one is about pedophilia, and the other one is about the Holocaust.Yet here it is, a nominee for Best Picture in the upcoming Oscar Awards. Being the most unexpected of the five nominees, this is the film most blamed for kicking out the popular choice "The Dark Knight". So, does "The Reader" measure up? **************** Spoilers ahead! The first third of the movie is of a very sexual nature. The female party Hanna Schmitz is 36, but the male Michael Berg is only 15! OK, granted that even if the female party looks like Kate Winslet, this would still be disturbing for some. Though admittedly not so much than if the sexes were reversed, would it? Aside from this detail, those very frank execution of these sex scenes were really unexpected especially since one party is supposed to be a minor. There was even uninhibited frontal nudity by both Winslet (she's not the Rose of "Titanic" as we remember it anymore) and the 17 year-old promising (and daring) new actor David Kross. And I thought they did not really resort to such gratuitous exposure anymore these days, but I guess this is the proverbial "for art's sake" in its truest sense. However, as an unusual fetish, Hanna would request Michael to read books to her before they would make love, thus giving their affair another dimension; and this movie its title.Hanna and Michael's affair occurred in the summer of 1958, abruptly ending when Hanna left the city. The setting then fast forwards to 1966 when Michael was attending law school. As his seminar class sat in on a case involving atrocities of Holocaust guards, he was shocked to hear his beloved Hanna's voice on the witness stand as one of the accused guards. In the trial, Hanna withholds a vital secret that could have spared her from a life sentence. Should Michael reveal himself and this secret he also realized in order to save Hanna? Fast forward again to the 1970s when Michael (now played by a very cold Ralph Fiennes) gets divorced and visits his old home. There he finds his collection of novels, so he suddenly decides to record himself reading these novels aloud as he did before, and send these tapes to Hanna in prison. Of course, these recordings succeeded to buoy and encourage Hanna's spirits and gave her a renewed sense of purpose in life. However, in 1988, the story of Hanna and Michael ends unexpectedly for a reason I am not entirely clear on.The best part of this movie is really Kate Winslet, who is so bold as to accept and tackle such a thanklessly negative role like Hanna, and yet still come out as someone that audiences can somehow sympathize with. This audacity of Ms. Winslet is perhaps why the Academy correctly elevated this role to Lead (not the Supporting that the Golden Globe recognized). However, this is not to downplay Kate's effort in "Revolutionary Road" which is no walk in the park either. Her roles were both offbeat, irrational and miserable, yet she was able to portray them with sensitivity and dignity. She is ripe for an Oscar win this February.The script loses points with me not really because of the emotional buttons it pushes, but because it fails to clarify character motivations that drive critical moments of the story. The great mystery that the movie's tag-line invites to unlock almost seems too trivial in the greater scheme of the events. That meeting of Berg and the Holocaust survivor at the end was not very well written and fails to evoke its planned dramatic purpose.The treatment by Director Stephen Daldry may be a little too bleak. Although, it has the same feel and look of the other Daldry masterpiece "The Hours." But I guess there may have been no other way to portraying the emotionally-charged material, but straightforwardly and frankly, as this movie certainly did.
Always interested, never entertained, impressed by acting
posted on 26 Aug 2009In 1958 Germany, 35 year old tram conductor Hannah embarks on an affair with 15 year old Michael. Before each session of sex, she makes him read to her. The affair lasts all summer but, when offered promotion to an office job, Hannah quits and moves on. Eight years later, law student Michael attends the trial of Hannah and six other women as war criminals - between them they allowed prisoners to be burnt to death. When asked for a sample of her handwriting to prove that she didn't write the report into what happened, Hannah confesses that she did write it, and is sentenced to life imprisonment as opposed to the 4 years the other defendants get: at this point Michael realises that Hannah is illiterate and therefore innocent of the greater crime. He respects her decision and keeps the truth to himself. Years later he finds the books he had read to her, and begins to read them again onto tape, which he sends to her in prison. Hannah, touched by this gesture, takes one of the books from the prison library and by matching the number of spoken words with words on the page, starts to teach herself how to read and write, writing short simple letters to Michael. As her sentence comes to an end, Michael is prevailed upon to help her with accommodation and work, but Hannah takes her own life before she is released. Michael finally takes his daughter to visit Hannah's grave and begins to tell her of the relationship he has kept secret all his life.This film is an acting masterclass. Kate Winslet is utterly magnetic whenever she is on screen, delivering a Hannah who is complex and simple, compassionate and cruel, full of contradictions and, quite clearly, someone who is faulty in some fundamental way. Fiennes' adult Michael is equally good despite less screen time, though perhaps somewhat lower key (not that any of the performances are particularly flamboyant). And 18 year old David Kross as young Michael is the glue holding the first half of the film together in a performance of remarkable maturity.The main problem with this film is that while it might be a masterclass in acting, it is never that engaging. Young Michael engages our sympathies, but his experiences with Hannah - particularly the court case and its immediate aftermath - damage him, and the film never fully recovers from the remoteness which then envelops the only really sympathetic character. The only sequence which moved me to tears was when Hannah teaches herself to read and writes her first halting letter to Michael.This film is well worth seeing, but I'm not sure I shall want to see it again soon. I can imagine it being Oscar-nominated - it is very worthy - but I'm not sure it is particularly entertaining.And I was greatly saddened to note the much-missed Anthony Minghella (with whom I appeared in a school play back in 1970) on the credits, producing with Sydney Pollack, equally missed.
An amazing picture of human nature in love and despair -
posted on 24 Aug 2009I will start by saying I have never seen a movie which made me feel the way The Reader does. It captures every emotion that can be experienced. I was in tears at one moment, and in a blank stare at another moment. Kate Winslet was incredible playing Hanna Shmitz. Her raw attitude and personality creates a clear visual of her character. David Kross shows his true potential playing Michael Berg - I see a prominent future in his acting career. It is very rare when a movie can move you in such a way as The Reader does. You get lost in the story and the characters. There is not one thing that I would want to change about this film. I have never had such a strong reaction to a movie. This movie shows the significance one person can have on another - even if it is only for a brief period of time. The affects an individual can make on another can be tremendous, and tragic. The love, the pain, and the heartache are all expressed with extreme care in this film. Stephen Daldry should not go without applause, as well as all the actors. This is a movie that will stand the test of time, and teach us of true human individuality, morals, and nature. A re-occurring thought was in my head throughout the film, "Someone had this story in their head, in their mind - Somehow, someone created this beautiful story - Where do people come up with this?" You should not miss this, it's a true gift to cinema.
Peculiar link between the markets & a 1957 novel
posted on 22 Aug 2009Insight | North America World ... Books do not sell themselves. The Reader, the book that inspired the Oscar-winning movie, has shot up the bestseller lists. Another recent publishing success, however, has had more help from Washington, D.C., than Hollywood: Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged.Reviled in some circles and mocked in others, Rand's 1957 novel of embattled capitalism is a favourite of libertarians and college students. Lately, though, its appeal has been growing.According to TitleZ, a firm that tracks bestseller rankings on Amazon, the book's 30-day average rank on Feb. 21 was 127, well above its average over the past two years of 542. On Jan. 13 its ranking was 33, briefly besting President Barack Obama's The Audacity of Hope. That is what films are for...THE ECONOMY The spikes in sales of Atlas Shrugged coincide with specific developments in the economy Read full story from www.thestar.com via http://www.topix.net/forum/world/canada/TCNHU8FSGLH22H7CV
progression through the life of Micheal, The Reader
posted on 22 Aug 2009Great score, interesting but not invasive. Great cinematography, at times when you would expect a still shot the camera moves with the characters, helps the film's progression and although it is long it will fly by. Loved it, would recommend to anyone (over the age limit, sexually charged and explicit). Great performances from all involved, Fiennes doing his thing as usual, understated excellence. The accents are brilliant, the women beautiful and the script intelligent (reads like a play at times, heavily stylized). Definitely see this film, as Jake the Poacher might have said..."Here, Hare, here does a great directorial job".
Funny out takes at the end?
posted on 22 Aug 2009Was it just me, or were other people hoping for some funny out takes at the end of the movie? With all the sex scenes between the boy and Kate Winslet, there had to be some funny moments when shooting? :-)If someone gave you the "elevator pitch" on the plot of this movie, I think the typical person would roll their eyes (at least a little). I'm giving it six stars because the film was beautifully shot, set, and caste, but the real purpose of the movie was to "build" an Oscar worthy movie. Unfortunately, the endeavor failed miserably.On the other hand, if I was dating a new girl and hadn't had sex with her yet, I would definitely take her to see this movie! This movie mixes heavy emotions (shallow girls will dig it) with plenty of scenes of a woman having enthusiastic sex! Just the ticket to get your new girlfriends motor purring.. :)
Reader Wanted!
posted on 22 Aug 2009Congratulations! You are the protagonist of this film review! Yes, you are. It is not me the writer, it is you "the reader". Come back! Please do not stop reading! Director Stephen Daldry's "The Reader" is definitely not the feel good movie of the year, but it is gripping enough to satisfy your visual-literary movie experience. Kate Winslet stars or is a supporting star (depending on which movie awards you go by) as Hannah Schmitz, a German lonely woman in the 40's who works as a transportation ticket-taker. Her young meal ticket though comes in the form of Michael Berg, a secluded teenager she meets in a side street in caring for him cause of an ailment. Eventually, Hanna's pedophile storm stars erupting when she starts having passionate sex with him on a routine basis. You don't have too read much into the fact that Michael does not mind that whatsoever. Hanna does fixate for Michael to read her novels and books; call it a foreplay literary fetish, but if it helps getting Kate Winslet into bed with you then it's a well read out plan. OK, enough! Hannah's temporary cradlerock adventure does fade when she deserts her apartment and also Michael for an employment promotion. Michael eventually reconnects with Hannah (and no, not on Facebook) years later as a law student when he witnesses a Holocaust S.S. trial which Hannah is one of the defendants. "The Reader" also shows a much older Michael in recent past time reminiscing on his "Hannah-Barbaro" experience, and in trying to open up resolving chapters in order to help the troubled older Hannah. Speaking of chapters, I will let you (the reader) visually read the remaining plot line chapters of "The Reader" in order for yours truly not to play the part of the antagonist "Reader Spoiler". Winslet's performance is worthy of all the accolades it has received. David Kross and Ralph Fiennes also delivered authentic performances as the young & older Michaels respectively. Writer-Director Stephen Daldry did demonstrate the post Holocaust doldrums in "The Reader", but his readiness on the narrative was primarily fixated on the impact that hiding a disability can have on people's lives. "The Reader" does include some inconsequential scenes that could have been read out of the film, but it is still a powerful film which you should read into. **** Good
A Bit Odd
posted on 22 Aug 2009Okay, if I were the Academy Awards, I would have given Kate Winslet the Oscar for Revolutionary Road. She was compelling and she showed all different kinds of emotions and she refused to let her character get one-sided. But in this movie, all she does, is screw, bath, bath, screw, read-to-me then we screw...I was waiting for something to happen because I knew the second half HAD GOT to be better. But, alas, it was not. Throughout the course of the movie, it was made plain that Hanna could not read or write. That is why she had Micheal read to her. But during the court scene, when the other Nazi's blamed the writing of the report on Hanna and the judge puts a notepad in front of her, instead of saying she can't read or write, she takes the blame. Okay, you'll be going to jail for almost half of your life but no one will know she can't read or write. I mean come on!!! How stupid can you be. She was on trail for MURDER!!!!!!!!! The judge probably wouldn't have believed her but still...she would have said something and that would have made this movie a little bit more interesting. But no, instead of saying she couldn't read, she went to jail for about 20 year while the rest of them got 4.
Love, Literature and the Holocaust
posted on 20 Aug 2009Using post-war Germany as its settings, The Reader is a fascinating exploration of guilt, responsibility, love, shame, the power of the past and the loss of innocence; it's a very complete portrait of Mankind, with its darkness and light, its love and cruelty.Fifteen-year old Michael Berg (David Kross) meets Hanna Schmitz. A relationship develops. For Michael it's entering the world of sex; but for Hanna it's the birth of something more special. For the time they spend together, Michael is obliged to read aloud to her. During a summer they live a strange relationship of sex and literature. Then she moves away without notice.Year later, Michael, a law student, travels with his teacher and colleague to witness a trial in which six female concentration camp guards are being judged. Hanna Schmitz is one of them. This is only the beginning for Michael of discovery which will change the way he saw the innocent days when he read to Hanna.I've come to expect nothing short of technical and visual excellency from the collaborations of director Stephen Daldry and screenwriter Richard Hare. Billy Elliot and The Hours were two amazing dramas in which human relationships were at the center of the action, and The Reader is no different. Kate Winslet pours everything she has into the secretive, weary-looking Hanna. It's a great performance (but not my favorite) by this generation's greatest actress.Ralph Fiennes unpredictably also gives a great performance, standing in as the older Michael Berg, whose reminiscences are the bulk of the story. He's a man obsessed with the past, unlike Hannah, for whom "the dead are still dead." David Kross is also good. He portrays a fairly innocent kid who slowly discovers the cruelty and unfairness of the adult world. He sacrifices everything for the afternoons with Hanna: friends, family. His feeling of betrayal is quite visible in the courtroom scenes.It's also worth mentioning the joint cinematography of masters Roger Deakins and Chris Menges. It's pretty easy to spot which scene was shot by whom, so different are their styles. But even their differences work for the movie's benefit, with Deakin's bright colors in the outdoor scenes contrasting with Menges' dark interiors.The Reader was one of the best movies of 2008 and well worth watching.
A movie of profound moral dilemmas!
posted on 20 Aug 2009Diane and I watched this moving, confronting film yesterday and we both felt its disturbing combination of innocent guilt (can there be such a contradiction of terms?) and commonplace evil. So much is illuminated in the last part of the film; so many questions answered and so many moral issues raised during the film's trial that a person like myself left the theatre with fascinating moral dilemmas jumping over each other and made The Reader an extremely satisfying viewing experience. To me, the most memorable scene took place at the trial when the prosecutor asked Hanna (Kate Winslet) why she did not open the door of the burning church when she knew that a fire was sweeping through the building. Hanna, when questioned by the trial judge and asked why she did such a thing, replied that it was the proper thing to do; that she was an SS guard and that to let the people out of the burning church would have meant chaos and as a guard she could not allow that to happen. Hannah Arendt perfectly described the moral situation that the Hanna of the movie found herself in and she described it as the banality of evil. To quote her, "The sad truth is that most evil is done by people who never make up their minds to be good or evil" and isn't this precisely the situation that Hanna Schmitz found herself confronting? After this startling revelation, the viewer must deal with the confronting personal trauma faced by Fienne's character, Michael Berg; should he tell the court of Hanna's illiteracy (a personal problem she has lived with her entire life) or keep her secret and see her spend her adult life behind bars while her fellow SS guards continue their lie and escape justice?The Reader is an intellectual, severe movie that people should see without fail.
Should Have Tweaked the Novel
posted on 20 Aug 2009Wow, what a performance by Kate Winslet. Kudos to the author of the underlying novel for such an original and interesting plot and devices. But I couldn't help wishing to fill in what I felt were missing or weak plot lines. The story centers on; i.e., is essentially about Hanna and her struggle with her disability, Might have been useful to flash back to the war tragedy to depict Hanna's handicap as impacting on her circumstances; e.g. certainly, because of her illiteracy, her occupations called for rote tasks and blind routine (Query: Didn't she leave her ticket punching job because she knew she couldn't handle the promotion?). To see what happened when the prisoners died shouldn't exonerate Hanna but could strongly support her life long agony with her disability. Also, her suicide appeared vague in purpose, although I believe I understand it as her reluctance to face the challenge of the world with her -though now less severe- reading problem.Why so much nudity? Certainly was only a limited factor in the story. Could've made it a PG-13 and I'd have taken my 11 year old son.I complain too much. This was a fine movie.
Why Oscar went to Kate?
posted on 18 Aug 2009I never believed that Oscar always went to the best is out there, but after watching "The Reader" I am still wondering what Kate Winslet did in this movie to deserve the Oscar for a leading role? other than having sex with a minor! The 1st half of the Movie officially should be considered as Pronography or Adult movie as it shows very detailed aspects of having sex which would be unnecessary in a drama, showing them together half-naked in the bed would give the viewer the same understanding of their relationship, there was absolutely no need to go to those details. and in the 2nd half, she rarely had any strong play, a stubborn German woman who was ashamed of her illiterateness? even for the cost of her life! Congradulation to Academy for its new definition of a leading role as a an actress!!! Sharon Stone should have received hers for Basic Instinct.
Compelling film-making...
posted on 18 Aug 2009Starring Kate Winslet and Ralph Fiennes, two of my favorite actors, The Reader was what I expected it to be...an absolutely stunning movie rich with excellent acting and a compelling tale. The movie is about how a young man and Kate Winslet enjoy a sordid love affair one summer (sordid because the boy is only 15 and Kate Winslet is in her 30's). The boy falls in love with her but one day, Kate Winslet packs up and leaves without telling the young man and his heart is broken. Later in life, the young man is a law student and Kate Winslet's character is at the center of a huge trial. The movie explores themes of love, loss, and "what is the right thing to do?" As with most Kate Winslet movies, there is an abundance of nudity in this movie, which in my opinion, never fails to increase the sense of realism and eroticism in a particular scene or shot...and that goes for all movies; not just The Reader and not just Kate Winslet movies. The musical score to this movie supplements the visuals well and the acting is just top notch. A must-see film in my opinion.
The movie version of Bernhard Schlink's novel delivers: Kate Winslet naked, strong story-telling, fascinating take on German history.
posted on 16 Aug 2009Berlin, 1958. Michael is fifteen when he first meets Hanna, a woman more than twice his age. Nevertheless, they fall in lust and gradually, into some sort of love. Their relationship includes an important element. Michael regularly reads to Hanna. Together they go through the world's literature, from Schiller to Chekhov.But then, the affair ends abruptly, as Hanna disappears from her apartment. Michael is not going to see her again until ten years later, and it will be in a courtroom. She is accused of killing hundreds of people as a Nazi prison guard.Director Stephen Daldry sensitively paints a picture of a young boy who doesn't really know where he's going with an unconventional relationship and the ramifications of learning something unbelievable about someone you once loved.Kate Winslet gives the performance of a lifetime as a woman without remorse. And yet, she is not evil in the slightest. She just shut herself off from what happened, disconnecting herself from her past. "It doesn't matter what I think. It doesn't matter what I feel. The dead are still dead," she says. In the courtroom, she seems lost, helpless, almost pathetic. "What would you have done?" she asks the judge, and it's not a rhetorical question.Meanwhile, Michael has to battle his own demons. He knows something, a piece of information that would exonerate his former lover but can he bring himself to disclose it? Doesn't she still deserve punishment? And who is he to decide? Those are questions that will haunt him for a long time.Yes, "The Reader" deals with the topic of the Holocaust, but it is not a Holocaust movie. It's just as much a character study, the story of obsessive love, and a tale of coming to terms with the past, personally and collectively.
Winslet's Oscar-winning performance.
posted on 16 Aug 2009Quite by coincidence I watched two Nazi-themed movies back-to-back, this one and "Valkyrie." While they are quite different movies, together they offer some very interesting insights into Nazi Germany in the 1940s and following years as war criminals went to trial.This one is edited in such a way that it jumps back and forth in time, but the early part is in 1958 when David Kross as the Young Michael Berg is seen very sick, at what turns out to be scarlet fever, and is helped by a stranger. The stranger happens to be Kate Winslet as Hanna Schmitz, a basic, sturdy German woman who works as a ticket taker and change maker on the city transportation line.We are also introduced early to Ralph Fiennes as the adult Michael Berg in modern times. He is a lawyer and as the movie unfolds we learn his back-story. We see the young Michael in law school, and later by chance encountering Hanna again in the 1960s in a courtroom.This is a fictional story, but is a plausible one. Winslet is just perfect as the German woman. There is considerable nudity in this film but all in done in context with the characters and is not offensive. The critic Ebert has an excellent review of the story and its meaning, regarding taking responsibility for what we see and participate in.SPOILERS FOLLOW: When young Michael returns in 1958 months later to Hanna's apartment, now well, all he wanted to do was thank her for having helped him and cleaned him up before he went home that day. But Hanna is lonely and takes the opportunity to start a torrid sex affair with this 15-year-old boy (the actor was actually 18). This lasted the summer, and Michael went off to Hanna's at any chance he could. The result was always the same, but soon Hanna made him read to her each time before they got into bed. We find out Hanna never learned to read and write, and in the 1940s took a job with the Nazi SS as a guard, and in 1966 she and 5 other women were at trial for murder. That she participated in choosing imprisoned Jews for execution was lost on her, it was just her job. Michael as a law student witnessed the trial, and during Hanna's 20-odd years in prison sent her tapes he made, reading books for her, but never visited her. Through this she learned to read and write, but could not face getting out of prison and working in the real world as a 70-something woman. She hung herself the day she was to get out.
A Nutshell Review: The Reader
posted on 14 Aug 2009After the recent Golden Globes, I'm sure many were scratching their heads why Kate Winslet was put up for a Supporting Actress award, because if she's not the lead actress in The Reader, then I don't know who is.Based on the book by Bernhard Schlink and adapted for the screen by David Hare, The Reader tells of the sexual relationship between a boy and his older lover during a summer in post WWII Germany that had been kept under wraps, and the aftermath of that relationship after some trying circumstances involving sudden departures, unexpected reunions, and worse of all, denial because of confusion in wanting to do what's right.Directed by Stephen Daldry, The Reader tells the story of Michael Berg (played by David Kross and Ralph Fiennes as the older man) and his sexual awakening under the tutelage of Hanna Schmitz (Kate Winslet with an accent), a tram conductor whom he met one day when he was sick. Soon after he's back at her place more frequently like a horny schoolkid given a head start in sex education, who thought that his reading to her the classics of works from Charles Dickens to D.H. Lawrence was kinky foreplay. Rated R21 for full frontal nudity (male included) and what have yous, but it's all quite tastefully done without the need to gratuitously exploit the scenes.The first half dealt more with the physical nature of Michael and Hanna's relationship which slowly transforms to an emotional one, albeit peppered with issues because of their obvious age gap, and for her, in being a cradle snatcher. We know little of her past as well, which will be revealed in due course, but so long as it's not made known to her lover, their tiffs (as with all couples) become more pronounced and reconciliation becoming more difficult as well. She disappears one day, leaving Michael heartbroken, and it's not until much later during a trial that he finally learns more of her. Not an ideal situation of course, as it presents a chock load of questions to which there are no clear answers.Kate Winslet deserves her awards thus far for her portrayal of a woman hiding what she deems as a shameful secret, and it's not about her romance with Michael at that. She gives her Hanna an air of innocence despite the severe crime against humanity in which she was implicated, all because to her it was a job, and has to be done right, and duties discharged professionally. Winslet brings through her exasperation really well, and slowly we see her steely resolve and innovation in correcting her deficiency. The make up department also deserve credit for their work on her, and adds an extra dimension to her performance.Ralph Fiennes on the other hand has limited screen time here as the older Michael Berg, but managed to add gravitas by linking both past and present together. His role is to carry the sense of guilt over, as well as to seek some redemption and forgiveness of his past. His short scene opposite Lena Olin wrapped that up quite nicely. David Kross naturally steals the show as the protagonist, who in his youthful exuberance and defiance at first deemed his relationship under wraps to be perfectly novel, until like Adam's biting of the forbidden fruit, he finds himself surrounded by controversy that he's unable to handle, and a tinge of shame that his promising future will be on the rocks should his illicit affair be made known.Kross had shown this change of attitude perfectly. From that innocence of a wide eyed boy toward getting to the candy shop every day, preferring to forgo hanging out with his immature peers for the arms of a mature woman, to discovering that growing up also meant change, and wistfully wanting to be back with his peers. He doesn't know whether to do the right thing, or weighing the consequences, prefer to keep mum, deny, and let another go through persecution alone. His failure to understand and grasp his reading to Hannah, and worse, that act being associated in what was deemed to be a heinous crime, seemed to all condemn his silence even further. While Ralph Fiennes had that excellent scene opposite Lena Olin, here David Kross has plenty opposite Bruno Ganz who plays his law lecturer.You know that Oscar season is here when movies like these start to make a beeline for release dates from now until February. The Reader is recommended for its well thought story, as well as its wonderful cast to bring to life a tale of romance, guilt and redemption.
Unbelievable Tale of Sturm and Drang
posted on 14 Aug 2009While I was eager as I was to see The Reader, I was completely disappointed in this improbable and sentimental story. While I have not doubt that a lonely woman would leap into bed with this handsome young man, I found it highly unlikely that she would be overjoyed having The Illiad read to her. What is she, a scholar? I am well-educated and would be bored to death by The Illiad.Without revealing anything, I would say that was just one of the many absurdities in this totally unbelievable film. Except for the sex, it was impossible to understand anybody's motives for anything they did, or more to the point, did not do. While the critics praised this film and the Academy gave Kate a well-deserved Oscar, I feel that is a laughable film filled with unlikely characters being ever-so solemn and tormented based on a single premise that is completely unlikely.
An OK film with interesting aspects and good performances but lacking in the total delivery
posted on 12 Aug 2009The Awards season always generates buzz and also means the sudden release of lots of worthy and good films all at about the same time. Of course this doesn't mean that all of them are good and just because some have hype for acting reasons does not mean that the film itself will be good, vice versa and so on. Coming to The Reader, the viewer already has pressure on them – the film is one of these contenders for awards, it has some heavy-weight performances and it is about a typically worthy subject in the Holocaust. The pressure to be overwhelmed and deeply moved by it is there for all to see – some say films will make heavy plays for Oscar but they do the same for the audience. The reality is not always so (both for the Oscars and for the audience). With The Reader the film is very much on the back of the actors and I left with the impression that that's all it had in its bag.The story is a reasonably interesting twist on the Holocaust drama as it is seen in retrospect through a case convicting those who worked at the death camps, with a focus on Hanna. We meet her via the teenage Michael and for the majority of the film we know nothing more than her love of being read to and their sexual relationship. It offers the potential for exploration of guilt, of personal responsibility, of morality in the face of a mob mindset, of forgiveness – all of these are here to be had and the cast suggested that the script must really do this, hence their involvement. The thing is that the film doesn't manage to do this to any significant degree. The first half of the film spends far too long on the relationship between Michael and Hanna, because it has nowhere near enough to do with it and it ends up slightly dull as it goes along.The second half is the guts of the film where secrets come out, things are confronted and issues are on the table for moral debate, whether within the characters or in the group of law students who seemingly exist to allow this debate to occur. Here is where my doubts over the film manifested themselves in proper, if slight, disappointment. The second half, you see, is interesting. That's it. Interesting. It is not challenging, it is not impacting, it is not moving and it is not thoughtful. I honestly no idea why it failed to really punch home on any of these because at times the concept and the characters make it feel like an open goal of sorts. It is a disappointment when all's said and done but thanks to the cast it does still engage to a point.Everyone is good. Winslet gets the praise and rightly so as hers is a difficult and complex character. That she gets so much out of it when the material does want to explore her very much as part of the narrative is to her credit. Kross works alongside her very well, with a strong performance that matches her in so much as the material needs him to. Fiennes is a good future character and I liked what he did despite having the challenge of remoteness from the majority of the film and also little screen time. The problem is that everyone is good enough to make me yet again be bothered by how the script is not better so that they may have had more to work with.The Reader is a big worthy film with big worthy names giving big worthy performances. Problem is that it doesn't do half as much as it should with the subject. The concept is fine and the cast deliver it with all they can but yet the material fails to deliver a really thoughtful piece full of debate and impact – the way it is set up suggests it was going to be all about this but instead it is only an OK film with interesting aspects and good performances but lacking in the total delivery.
Phenomenal Movie
posted on 28 Aug 2009This movie was absolutely amazing. I disagree with those who complained about how the movie revolved around the affair between the woman and the man. Obviously, that was one of the points of the movie. Meeting this woman impacted the boy tremendously because it was the first woman he loved. I also think people should look past the story of WWII and Auschwitz and remember that the movie is about the importance of education and what kind of impact not having one can have on your life. Excellent movie, I definitely recommend it. If you don't want to buy movie tickets for it, you can watch it for free at www.watch-movies.net.