The Reader

The Reader

In celebration of its DVD release, I bring you a review of The Reader, the film which finally brought Oscar gold into the hands of Kate Winslet.

The story, based upon Bernhard Schlink's novel, is quite beautiful, if you don't mind feeling massively depressed. The film centers on Michael, a teenage boy who has an affair with an older woman, Hanna (played by Kate Winslet). Their affair ends after a few short months, but years later, when Michael is a law school student, Hanna reappears in his life as a defendant at a Nazi war crimes trial. It is a nuanced film that gently broaches the subject of Germany's collective guilt as a nation after WWII and acts as both a simple love story, and a complex allegory.

But, I said it before, and I won't hesitate to say it again.

me: Kate Winslet must really want an Oscar to be so down with both pedophilia and Nazis.

Seriously, it does smell a bit of Awards Season Bait, doesn't it? Luckily for this film, and for Harvey Winstein, things turned out well.

The acting is rather inspired, and throughout the film, I felt like I could really relate to the characters being portrayed. The Ralph-Fiennes-does-not-age-for-15-years problem aside, both his coldness and his emotional outbursts are understandable and very believable. David Kross, who plays Young Michael, does a tremendous job in his role, exhibiting openness, youthful first love, and then emotional conflict so convincingly, it's sometimes painful to watch.

Of course, then there's lovely Kate. And she is lovely, even when they age her up a bit. But why, why, why must they make her have that horrible fake German accent? Does this somehow help disguise the fact that much of the young cast is actually German? Seriously, it's weird. Plus, how is this a Supporting Actress role, dear Golden Globe voters? The only person who is actually in the entirety of the movie is a supporting character? At least the Oscar voters didn't buy into that, bless them.

This movie somehow actually ended up being less depressing than The Duchess, despite the additional Nazi element. Who would have thought? The hopeful, uplifting tone rang quite true to my ears. Some might complain that for such a complicated subject matter, the entire presentation is too slick, but I thought the beauty of the film was not at all to its detriment.

In summary: Excellent acting all around and painfully believable at times. A very poignant tale that you might find yourself unexpectedly relating to.

PS: The book is wonderful as well, and unlike most novel/film combinations, these two somehow manage to be complementary. But perhaps more about this at a later date, if I ever get around to writing the book review.