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MovieMail's Review
Alex Davidson finds much to recommend in this controversial film.
After five previous nominations Kate Winslet finally won her Oscar for her most challenging role to date. She plays Hanna Schmitz, an ordinary, uneducated German woman who begins an affair with the much younger male protagonist. He falls in love, but one day she vanishes. Years later he sees her again in very different circumstances; she is now on trial for war crimes, and he could help her defence. But will he?
In spite of the great acting and terrific script, The Reader earned controversy for depicting Hanna as a ‘sympathetic’ Nazi; The Guardian hated it, while Jewish groups complained of alleged anti-semitism. For this reviewer, however, Winslet’s brilliant performance carefully and sensitively delineated a simple, fallible woman unable to comprehend her actions. The scenes where she is offered emotional release, first through a relationship, then literature, are moving, but never allow the audience to forget her crimes. It is a magnificent performance in a complex, troubling film.
Making The Reader: Adapting a Timeless Masterpiece
A Conversation with David Kross and Stephen Daldry
Make-Up, Music and Production Design Featurettes
Deleted Scenes.
Film Description
This drama starring Ralph Fiennes and Kate Winslet (in a BAFTA, Golden Globe and Oscar-winning performance), is a haunting story about truth and reconciliation, and about how one generation comes to terms with the crimes of another. Based on the novel by Bernard Schlink.
It's set in post World War II Germany, where the story revolves around a teenage boy Michael Berg (David Kross) who falls ill with scarlet fever and is helped home by Hanna (Winslet), a stranger twice his age. When Michael recovers, he tracks Hanna down in order to thank her for her kindness. Despite their age difference, the two embark on an intense and secret affair that is based largely on Michael reading aloud to Hanna, until Hanna suddenly and mysteriously disappears one day, leaving Michael confused and heartbroken. Several years later, when Michael (Fiennes) is a law student observing the Nazi war crime trials, he comes across Hanna again - this time as a defendant in the courtroom. As Hanna's past is revealed, Michael uncovers a secret that profoundly affects both their lives.
