The Reader

Rating:	★★★
Category:	Movies
Genre:	Drama

The Reader is a 2008 movie adaptation of a novel published in 1995 entitled "Der Vorleser" written by a German author Bernhard Schlink, who is also a law professor and a judge in the German justice system. The book won several awards and made it to the top of the elite New York Times Bestseller List. The film adaptation which was directed by Stephen Daldry (and top-billed by Kate Winslet of the Titanic fame) also received critical acclaim and was nominated in 5 Academy Award categories including the Best Picture category. It won for Winslet the Best Actress Award in the 81st staging of the Oscars (last February) and the Best Supporting Actress in the Golden Globe Awards for 2009.

SUMMARY: Middle aged German barrister Michael Berg recollects to himself his lifelong acquaintance with Hanna Schmitz, a relationship with whom he never disclosed to anyone close to him. Michael first met Hanna in 1958, when he was fifteen, she thirty-six. The two had a turbulent summer long love affair, dictated by Hanna that their encounters would begin with him reading to her followed by lovemaking. Michael next encountered Hanna in 1966, when Michael, now a law student, attended the Nazi war crimes trial of five female former S.S. concentration camp guards, one of whom is Hanna. Through listening to the testimony, Michael comes to the realization that he is in possession of information which could save Hanna from a life in prison, information which she herself is unwilling to disclose. In deciding what to do, Michael is torn between his differing views of justice. (Taken from imdb.com and written by someone who goes by the pen-name Huggo who apparently has written some 1,185 movie summaries).

My Take:
In spite of its impressive showing in at least two major awards bodies, I have given this a three-star rating. Which is to say, I wasn't impressed that much but was engaged enough to see the movie through till the end. Several things may have been responsible for that somewhat so-so rating. First of all, the opening scene which finds the the main character in the present day Germany in his apartment looking out of the window and watching a train pass by and triggering a flash back to his pained past, is an overused tool in the movie industry. I thought the originality of the director in that particular case wasn't apparent at all. And considering that it is done at the very first few moment of the movie, it kind of acted like a big sign that says, "Okay, you can now start dozing off from this point on (and please avoid snoring too loud because you might disturb the others who may have already fallen asleep ahead of you)."

But if you get past that temptation or is able to resist the tendency to close your eyes, you will be rewarded by what I consider one of the best scenes of the movie, i.e. a classic seduction of a young boy by an older woman where the first of a number of nudity scenes is shown.

Kate Winslet, playing the character of a 36-year old woman named Hanna, finds a young boy who has a fever and had just vomited on the hallway leading up to her apartment, brings her up her room and washes his clothes and directs him to take a bath. As the confused and nervous 15-year old finishes his bath, Hanna brings in a towel to dry the boy. As she wraps the towel on the boy's exposed body it is revealed that Hanna herself is naked. Although there is no direct frontal nudity, one will get a glimpse of Winslet's superb lithe body and more.

Winslet performance is as great as her body. Her acting thoughout the movie shows how she can tackle with apparent ease the transition of her character from the assertive 36-year old woman at the opening scene up to the concluding scenes where the character she plays as Hanna has become a somewhat broken 74-year old woman serving a life sentence in a German prison for her role in the Holocaust (with a little help from cinematic prosthetics).

On the contrary, I find the performance of Ralph Fiennes (of the Schindler's List fame) as Michael Berg, the barrister whom Hanna seduced when he was 15 years old when they first met, quite dry. But his seemingly constantly-pained look does well for him in the movie since the grown up Michael is apparently in a state of perpetual dilemma - that of having knowledge of something that could have helped her Hanna, who stood trial as Nazi collaborator, but would risk his good standing in the contemporary Nazi-phobic German society, and his career as a lawyer.

Michael Kross, who plays the 15-year old Michael Berg seduced by Hanna gives a very credible performance as a confused young man with matching raging hormones, torn between having to experience a feeling of a combination of love-lust which is totally new if not strange to him, and that of being just one of the carefree kids enjoying the summer of their youth.

I find the cinematographic treatment of the story very effective in focusing the drama of the story (e.g. no intruding soundtrack that would dilute or try to artificially coax you to feel the suspense and drama) which in spite of the few directorial flops, succeeded very well in engaging and encouraging the viewer to take a hard look at the contemporary Germany and how they feel about the unmoral war which many of their fathers or grandfathers either abetted or supported.

You have to see the movie to know and understand why it was entitled "The Reader." That would be enough excuse for you to see Kate Winslet perform masterfully in the seduction scene. If it succeeds in triggering similar memories (either your personal experience or of others you may know of), then your time would not have been wasted. Otherwise, you can just simply claim to others that you've seen how the 2009 Oscar Academy Awards Best Actress earned her title.

So, what are you waiting for pa? Go na to your nearest pirate...este video rental/store now.

(Note to self: For a three-starrer, I seem to have said a lot about this one. Makes me wonder why, myself.)
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Here's a Youtube link to view one of the official trailers of the movie:



And here's another link with some commentaries:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDFlN2snk8s&NR=1