Robin PottratzWinslet, Daldry make "The Reader" something to behold ***1/2 stars out of 4
January 31st 2009 00:24
Kate Winslet and David Kross as doomed lovers in "The Reader"
Let me start off with a couple of thoughts. When the Academy Award Nominations were announced on January 22nd the primary thought that was at the epicenter of the Blogosphere and other forms of Film Journalism was "How could The Reader possibly be nominated for Best Picture over The Dark Knight?!! Its an outrage!!!" The sources of such thoughts have clearly not taken the time to sit in a theatre and experience The Reader. If they had, they would discover that Director Stephen Daldry's morality tale about a young man who has an affair with an older woman, only to discover later that she is a former Nazi Concentration Camp guard is gripping, thought provoking, and extremely powerful.
Kudos are deserved first and foremost to the actors for bringing this difficult material to the screen while making it appear easy. Kate Winslet (is she ever bad?) plays Hanna Schmitz, a frumpy tram operator in Germany circa 1955. One day, she encounters a sneezing teenager named Michael Berg (The Excellent David Kross) and gently escorts him home. As a sign of gratitude, Michael returns to her apartment with a bouquet of flowers, and before either of them know it...they are engaged in an affair which can only be described as pure carnality with one interesting wrinkle...Hanna requests that Michael read aloud to her...it even gets to the point where Hanna changes the rules of their trysts (reading first, then sex). Both Michael and Hanna find that each of their individual needs can be satisfied by the other...Michael's sexual curiosity is fulfilled...and Hanna feels fulfilled and more worthwhile when listing to this boy, who is about half her age, read aloud.
There is difficult business being transacted in this film...however, Director Steven Daldry (The Hours, Billy Elliot) allows for brief glimpses of happiness to shine through for both of his lead characters during their inevitably doomed affair...most notably when the two lovers take a cycling trip, and the elation on Hanna's face when Michael infuses passion in his reciting of everything from "The Odyssey" to "TinTin" comic books. The moments of joy are unfortunately short lived as Hanna disappears from Michael's life, leaving him heartbroken and emotionally shattered.
Years later, Michael...now a law student and still haunted by the memories of Hanna, observes a trial of Nazi war criminals and finds that the woman who he once loved was once a Guard at Auschwitz and may have been directly responsible for the death of 300 Jewish women and children. This begs the unfortunate question for Michael...what if the woman you love is actually a monster? That question will continue to haunt Michael for the rest of his life and will haunt you long after you leave the theatre.
First and foremost, this film is about the actors. Kate Winslet continues to astonish as her career goes on. Hanna Schmitz is not a easy character to play...it takes a skilled performer to bring her journey to the screen and Winslet is more than up to the challenge. She nails every nuance and movement of Hanna, from her low class loping...to the emotional releases that she has when she hears a childrens choir or the ending of "The Odyssey." She is nominated for Best Actress for this film and deserves every accolade that she receives for this truly masterful work. It may just be Winslet's time to win one of those golden boys and if she wins for The Reader, she will have earned it...she made a Nazi War Criminal heartbreaking and sympathetic...you can't be more skilled than that.
David Kross is terrific as the young Michael Berg. It takes guts to be willing to go toe-to-toe with an actress as skilled as Kate Winslet, and it takes even more cojones to be completely naked for most of the first half of the film. Kross delivers a terrific first performance...nailing every nuance in a complicated role. Ralph Fiennes plays the older Michael as a lonely, isolated, shell who has never recovered from the effects that the affair had on his psyche. Fiennes weathered face and sad blue eyes serve as a representation of the guilt that most second generation germans feel when the horrors of the Holocaust are brought up. When Michael sends audio tapes of himself reading to Hanna in prison, Fiennes lets us see the brief hope that existed in his life only when he was with Hanna. It is a wonderful performance in its own right.
Above all, the film belongs to Director Stephen Daldry. He infuses The Reader with the same nuance and poet's eye that he brought to his other films. Just look at the way that the numerous love scenes are shot. They alternate between intense erotica and touching intimacy...which shows that perhaps the relationship between Hanna and Michael was more than just sex...perhaps it was actual love. Daldry is also not afraid to let a difficult story develop with steady pacing which can be too slow at times...but never uninteresting. The Reader is a quietly devastating piece of cinema. I know that the subject material and dark overtones and nuance will likely scare off the Paul Blart crowd, but I say to the doubters of this film: If you give The Reader a chance, you will be rewarded with a deep, powerful, and rich film experience that will sneak up and knock you sideways.
Oh and by the way...The Reader definitely deserved its nomination for Best Picture.
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