Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0976051/
A boy of 15 years is away from home when he becomes violently ill. But not for the kindness of a passing woman, he does not know how he would have made it home. To express his gratitude he goes back to her with flowers. His innocent act of thanks then leads to a torrid affair with this older woman. Their time together lasts only a few months before the woman disappears without saying goodbye, but the boy, Michael, will never be the same. Later, in law school, Michael's class goes to the courthouse to learn from courtroom experience. On trial is Hanna, the woman who changed Michael's life forever.
After a few days of soul searching I am finally ready to say if I liked this movie or not. And I did. I thought that there were a few things that detracted from the movie, but there are almost always things that detract from movies. I will try to be brief and discuss my main complaint with the movie first. It was in English. The movie bounces between different chapters of Michael's life, but except for a short scene at the end (that I would have left out if I had edited this film) the entire movie takes place in Germany. The movie, based on more than just the countless scenes of passion between Michael and Hanna, strives to become intimate with the audience. I found it strange that the movie was not in German with subtitles. I feel this would have given the movie a more authentic feel and bridged that final gap of intimacy.
With that out of the way, I may continue with what I enjoyed. Much early press suggests that Kate Winslet will take home an award or two for her role as Hanna. I have not seen every movie she is nominated, or might be nominated, against so I will not comment on that. I will say that in this movie alone her performance was second best. David Kross was young Michael. He is our protagonist. While it is hard to overlook Ralph Fiennes, who plays older Michael, most of the movie happens while Michael is young. David Kross, a young actor with very little experience, shows strong talent in The Reader.
I wanted to argue against the amount of nudity and "adult situations" that make up essentially the entire first half of the movie. I have gone so far as to jokingly call this movie pornography, but I think it was all necessary to lend credibility to the impact Michael and Hanna had on each other. Here were two people who yearned to be together and were physically intimate beyond all boundaries, yet secrets were kept. And the secrets drove them apart.
I cannot say that The Reader was any better or worse than the other movies I have seen where a boy has an affair with an older woman then sees her tried in a court of law. Shockingly, this is the only movie I have seen in that category. Since I cannot compare it to anything, I will say that I found the story to be deeply moving at times. I thought the characters were developed well and the things I didn't like did not make the movie unwatchable.
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said on : 01/09/09 @ 09:49
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