This thought provoking drama was a frontrunner at this years Oscars, and its easy to see why. It has great performances, is well directed and the production values are excellent, so was it worthy to be an Oscar contender? .Well not quite, I think there where better films not nominated, but that’s not to say this isn’t a good movie, it is.
Kate Winslet plays Hannah Schmitz a German tram ticket collector, who one day helps a sick teenage boy called Michael (David Kross) home. This leads to the two having an affair. Michael falls in love with the older experienced woman and Hanna appears lonely and in need of company. During their time together Michael reads books to Hanna, and it is at these moments when Hanna seems happiest, able to escape her boring mundane life. Only the truth of what she is trying to escape is much worse.
Inevitably the relationship breaks down, a few years later whilst attending law school, Edward discovers the truth to Hannah’s mood swings and strange behavior. On a trip to a court session, for the trial of German citizens involved in atrocities during the second world war he discover’s Hannah is one of the accused. During the war she worked at processing station, and was often responsible for choosing who would go to Aushwitz. She faces spending the rest of her life in prison, but Michael holds the key to her release, with information she is to ashamed to admit to the court. The film is intercut with sequences of the elder Michael (Ralph Fiennes) as a man who bears a great wieght on his shoulders, and a lifetime of regret.
This is an interesting story and very well told. The only real issue I have with the film is that it left me cold. I think this is mainly due to the fact that Hanna Schmitz is a hard character to like. We never learn a great deal of what she was like before the war, was she a Nazi sympathiser or simply a victim of circumstance. We are lead to believe she took the job as a guard as a career step, though if she really knew what went on, why didnt she get out of it somehow. It makes it hard to sympathise with her plight and the way in which she releases herself from it. This is no fault of Kate Winslet’s performance, which is excellent (even in dodgy old age make-up). Its much easier to sympathise with Michael, a young boy who fell in love, had his heart broken and has never really been able to have another loving relationship as a result (he has a failed marriage and a teenage daughter he barely see’s).
SUMMING IT ALL UP
A well crafted, interesting drama about a difficult subject, yet one that should be addressed.Its hard to recommend The Reader as entertainment, but if your in the mood for a thought provoking drama it will give you plenty to think about.
