Happiness For Blessing

Depending on the point of view, The Reader is one of two movies. To some, it is a romantic tragedy. The love that Hanna Schmitz (Kate Winslet) and Michael Berg (David Kross when young, Ralph Fiennes when old) share can never be, whether its because of their age disparity (the whole affair starts when Schmitz is 32-ish and Berg is 15) or because of Schmitz's unfortunate incarceration. To others, the story is an invitation to reevaluate the Holocaust from a different point of view. Because the audience identifies with Schmitz, the big reveal that she was a guard at Auschwitz almost forces the watcher to reconsider what he thinks about her role in that travesty.

The problem is that TR desperately wants to be both of those movies at once, but its not strong enough to bear the weight of it all. The film is about 30 minutes too long, and if you believe in The Reader: The Romantic Tragedy, it's the cumbersome court scenes in the middle that get in the way, while if The Reader: Holocaust Edition is more your cup of tea, the courtroom drama represents the crux on which the entire story hangs. I tend to subscribe to the latter line of thinking, and even though I believe some important questions were asked here (What do we make of the "I was just doing my job" defense, and what about people today that could say the same thing? Guantanomo, anyone?), I still thought the script was a little heavy-handed and in your face. Young Berg's impromptu visit to an abandoned concentration camp seemed gratuitous, to say the least, and I was a little insulted by the way his classmate was utilized to sway the audience's opinion.

Then, of course, there is the excessive level of sexuality. I was watching TR on my laptop, and for the first 30 minutes I was afraid that Jodi would walk in and think I was looking at porn. It's that ridiculous. I understand that the intense connection between the two leads had to be established, but after a period of time I found myself thinking variations of the following:

"Does Kate Winslet have to be naked the minute she walks in the door?"
"She hates clothes!"
"She sure takes a lot of baths for someone who's supposed to be poor in the 50's."

I probably wouldn't be so skeptical, but the only trailer I've ever seen for this film was one where the producers were clearly trying to draw people to the theater based on the sexual content involved.

Nevertheless, The Reader is a very beautiful movie. It is wonderfully acted by almost the entire cast (the lone exception being the aforementioned classmate), and the soundtrack is just about perfect. I am slowly becoming convinced of Kate Winslet's acting prowess. Because I was so taken by the production in this film, I am probably giving it about 1/2 a star too much. 3.5/5 stars.