Synopsis
The Reader focuses on themes of love and guilt, and the psychological scars history leaves on people. It takes place In Germany after the Second World War, where Michael Berg, a young boy, has a passionate affair with an older woman, Hanna Schmitz, only to find out later in life that she was a former Nazi war criminal.
The story opens in 1958 West Germany where a 15-year-old Michael, portrayed as a teenager by David Kross, faints on the street. A 36-year-old tram conductor by the name of Hanna Schmitz comes to his aid. She cares for him and eventually gets into a sexual relationship with him. Their affair is deeply emotional and ritualistic in nature. Michael reads to her literary classics. Their love making sessions is after reading sessions of The Odyssey, Huck Finn, and The Lady with the Little Dog.
The sudden silence from Hanna leaves Michael heartbroken and deeply puzzled. Fast forward several years. Michael, now played by Ralph Fiennes, is studying law at university. As part of a seminar, he attends a war crimes trial. To his surprise, one of the defendants is Hanna, now being tried as an SS guard at Auschwitz during the Holocaust. During the trial, Michael understands that she is concealing a secret more shameful than the war crimes she is accused of—her illiteracy.
Even though Michael has information that could lessen the severity of his former lover’s sentence, he must grapple with his own emotions and moral dilemmas. Because of that, he chooses silence. Hanna is sentenced to life in prison, while her co-defendants receive lesser sentences. Michael, burdened by guilt and unresolved feelings, begins to send Hanna cassette tapes of himself reading the books they once shared. Unbeknownst to him, he is allowing her to learn to read and write during his her prison sentence.
Over the years, Michael, a lawyer, becomes professionally successful, but remains emotionally distant and feels weighed down by his past. Eventually, parole is granted to Hanna after serving almost two decades. Michael is reached out to as her sole visitor and though he helps her reintegrate to the world, he emotionally stays distant. Junctions where her release is supposed to be liberating, Michael is confronted with lingering trauma after her suicide.
With his daughter, Michael is shown to continue working towards the process of healing by attempting to reconcile the dissociation of memory and history as they travel to a concentration camp memorial.
Cast & Crew
Hanna Schmitz is portrayed by Kate Winslet as:
With her performance, she won the award for best actress of the year. In the movies of the past two decades, embracing likely the most shameful and praiseworthy women as a single person depicted her as a blend of unsympathetic and morally culpable in equal balances, making her complex.
David Kross as Young Michael Berg:
Kross gives an impressive performance as Michael, who is both a schoolboy and a confused young adult. His development from a simple schoolboy to a troubled young man is both fascinating and critical to the film’s emotional center. Kross and Winslet’s chemistry is both visceral and credible, capturing a form of intimacy that is deeply haunting throughout the film.
Ralph Fiennes as Adult Michael Berg:
Fiennes, as the adult Michael, brings emotional distance and regret to his performance, and approaches the character with the appropriate weight and stillness. He quiets his performance while attending to old tapes or visiting the prison, and the impact of each of his movements resonates deeply.
Supporting Cast:
Lena Olin: the Jewish woman and survivor of the Holocaust who testifies in the trial.
Bruno Ganz: Professor Rohl, the law teacher who emphasizes the importance of moral responsibility.
Alexandra Maria Lara: Michael’s ex wife who gives shares perspectives on his emotional numbness.
Directed by Stephen Daldry:
Billy Elliot and The Hours Stephen Daldry brings the same flair for weaving intricate emotional detail to his films. He skillfully ensures the film remains under the melodrama while still evoking a visceral response from the audience.
Screenplay by David Hare:
Hare captures the novel’s essence in his screenplay, and it is still as eloquent and exact in expressing its philosophy as the novel is. The words spoken in the film are deep, with thoughtful silence in between, allowing the viewers to ponder the film’s moral issues without being preached to.
Cinematography by Chris Menges:
Menges is an artist with an eye for the post war Germany’s stark imagery. The dull colors combined with the internal conflict of the people and the weather create a world that is still struggling to come to terms with its past. The greys and browns are rather cold and earthlike, symbolizing a world trying to come to terms with its past.
Music by Nico Muhly:
Always holding the film’s melancholic tone, the score is minimalist, making it both haunting and beautiful. Alongside a subtle piano and string arrangement, the film gains emotional weight.
IMDb Ratings and Critical Reception
The Reader possesses a 7.6/10 rating on IMDb, and that figure captures the overall opinion of the audiences and critics. The film’s sensitive treatment of challenging topics, as well as Kate Winslet’s performances, received a lot of praise.
The Reader is not an easy watch and invites viewers to uncomfortable questions such as: How do you deal with the perpetrators of unforgivable crimes? Where does individual culpability end, and can guilt tied to history truly be divorced from personal reckoning? Lastly, can love rooted in denial or ignorance endure? These terrible questions are the ones the film leaves unanswered.
The film had its fans. Roger Ebert absolutely loved it, awarding it 4 stars, and praised Winslet for her performance that made Hanna both heartbreakingly human as well as inscrutable. Germany had its own fans, as it was the center of a strange controversy where its citizens had issues with the film due to its alleged tendency to sympathize with Nazi criminals. Ebert’s Hanna debate was central to most discussions surrounding the film.
Still, the film won and was in contention for so many awards for a reason. In 2008, it was up for 5 Academy awards, with nominations for Best Picture, Director Award for Stephen Daldry, Adapted screen play by David Hare, Best Cinematography, and Best Actress, which the film won.
Conclusion
The Reader captures the viewer’s attention as a morally complex, breathtaking film about shame and reconciliation. It poses questions regarding history and humanity and challenges the audience to think beyond the film. The Reader effortlessly allows the audience to process difficult truths about love, guilt, and justice through the masterful performances of Kate Winslet and David Kross.
The Reader takes a different angle on post-war trauma by presenting the Holocaust not through the lens of its victims, but from the perspective of a generation coming to terms with their parents’ complicity in the atrocities. It remains a powerful cinematic experience, whether it is remembered as a tragic romance, a philosophical love story, or a reflection on memory.
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