The Reader, a movie directed by Stephen Daldry and starring Ralph Fiennes as Michael Berg, David Kross as young Michael Berg, and Kate Winslet as Hanna Schmitz, is an unusual film because unlike most pieces that tackle the shocking subject of the Holocaust, it deals with the lives of ordinary Germans at the time. Additionally, it brings the film into the modern day, showing the effects of the war on German lives almost half a century after the time of the atrocities.
The movie’s form is that of a retrospect. It opens in Berlin in 1995 with Michael Berg (Ralph Fiennes), a lawyer, admitting to a woman he slept with that he does not get close to anyone. When the woman departs, he begins to remember his first love affair when he was 15 years old with a woman in Neustadt, West Germany, in 1958. His first encounter with the woman, Hanna Schmitz (Kate Winslet), occurs when he gets off a tram and she discovers him vomiting in an alley; she helps him return home. Three months later, after recovering from scarlet fever, the young Michael (David Kross) returns to Hanna’s home with a bouquet intended as a thank you for her previous assistance, and she seduces him. Perhaps other viewers knew it would happen, but I felt Michael’s surprise as he exits the bath and Hanna approaches him from behind, naked, asking him, “Isn’t that why you came back?” Much of the time they spend together involves Michael reading various books to her, which Hanna requires him to do before they engage in sex. The colors used in this part of the film are golden warm-tones, helping express the warm and happy feelings that Michael and Hannah experience. Their affair lasts for only the summer; one day Michael goes to apartment, finds her gone, and is unable to discover where she went.
Some years later, in 1966, Michael is a law student at Heidelberg Law School and is shocked to discover that Hannah is one of the women, all former SS guards, on trial for the deaths of hundreds of Jewish women who were locked in a burning church. When Hannah admitted she knew why she had to select several women each month to be sent to their deaths, I found myself clenching my fists and wondering how Michael could sit still or remain silent at the trial. Before the end of the trial, Michael talks with his professor, saying, “I have a piece of information, concerning one of the defendants. Something they do not admit.” His professor responds, “What information? You don't need to tell me. It's perfectly clear you have a moral obligation to disclose it to the court.” Their talk illustrates how difficult it is to make decisions and have the courage to act. Michael finds himself unable to talk to Hannah and leaves his visit to her in the prison before even seeing her. I found myself hoping he would do something and cannot understand why he did not. The Judge gives Hannah the biggest punishment of all the women on trial because she claims responsibility for having written the report on it and being the leader in the situation; she is too ashamed of her illiteracy to do otherwise. The colors used in this part of the film are stark, sepia and grey dry tones, reflecting the serious nature of the trial.
Years later, in 1980, Michael begins sending the incarcerated Hannah cassette recordings of himself reading many of the books he read to her back when he was 15, including the Odyssey and The Lady With the Little Dog. It is really touching to see Hannah’s expressions and enthusiasm for this gift she has been given by Michael. Using the tapes and the prison’s library, Hannah finally becomes literate. In 1988, she comes up for release and Michael is her only connection to the modern world. He agrees to help her find a job and a place to live, but on the day of her release, he is informed at the prison that Hannah hung herself. In the moments before her death, she is seen placing the books on the floor, all the ones Michael read to her and from which she learned to read, and I found myself saying, “Oh, no!” out loud as I realized what she was about to do. The colors used in this part of the film are vivid but with a blue tone, reflecting Hannah’s despair she feels she cannot escape. I wished that Michael and Hannah could reunite for a happy ending, but the film strives to deal with a more realistic outcome when someone like Hannah endures a lifetime of despair and expects to be despised for the rest of her earthly life.
Films about the Holocaust inevitably stir up a variety of strong emotions in viewers, and The Reader is no exception. The film Schindler’s List (1993) was met with great acclaim from critics and audiences alike; it deals more directly with the Jewish plight and atrocities that occurred under Hitler’s reign in World War II. In The Reader, little time is spent examining the effects of the Holocaust on the Jews and much more time on the personal lives of the two main German characters, Michael and Hannah. For this reason, The Reader is likely to be much more controversial than other films dealing with the Holocaust.
Perhaps the most controversial aspect of the film is that it asks viewers to sympathize with Hannah. In the beginning, it is easy to see her in a positive light because in Michael’s first encounter with her, she helps him get home when he is terribly ill. The viewers realize Hannah’s illiteracy long before Michael does, when Michael offers her a book to read and she pushes it back at him, saying, “I’d rather hear you read it.” Again, it is easy to sympathize with her when she receives a promotion to a desk job, which she knows she cannot accept because of her illiteracy.
It is much more difficult to continue having sympathy for Hannah when she is on trial for the death of hundreds of women. The film does not ask viewers to excuse her for her actions; however, it depicts her as a woman who was desperate for a job and signed up as an SS guard probably because that is the only job available that she was qualified to do. The hardest aspect of Hannah to accept is that she is much more ashamed about her illiteracy than the things she was required to do as an SS guard. While admitting her illiteracy would not have exonerated her, it would have had a great impact on the harsh sentencing she received. Hannah appears to be a woman who is willing to take action in desperate times; therefore, it is a little unbelievable that she would not defend herself given her situation.
Another controversial aspect of the film is its frank sexuality during the scenes of the 1958 summer affair between Hannah and Michael. The fact that he is only 15 while she is 36 is bound to strike some viewers as in appropriate, though Kross was 18 years old at the time of the scenes’ shooting (Winslet). These scenes alone are likely the reason the film earned its R-rating. However, I liked the explicit nature of the scenes; they are handled with taste and provide an important background into the intensity of the relationship established between the two lovers. When Michael reads to Hannah and later they go on a two-day bicycling trip together, it is obvious that a real friendship has blossomed and that this is not just a sexual relationship with an older woman taking advantage of a young man. Michael is also portrayed as being more emotionally mature than his peers, more inclined to his studies and reading than the others.
The acting in the film is superior. Though The Reader was only Kross’s third film and his first in English, as young Michael Berg he expresses a full range of emotions with ease. Winslet won numerous awards for her performance, including an Oscar for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role (IMDb). Her role as Hannah was a difficult one considering the situation and the subject; she succeeded in making this controversial character much more than a stereotype, and fully human. Fiennes’s role as the older Michael Berg is memorable for the way he manages to maintain an almost continual somber nature without being stiff and boring; the affection of his guilt, regret, and memories is easy to see.
The film’s Director, Daldry, guided his cast through the film with great sensitivity and humor, requiring a lot of preparation from the actors, including reading and dialect coaching (Kross and Daldry). This shows throughout the film, giving the movie consistency and smoothness, so things like inconsistent accents or actors stumbling with words do not distract the audience. The cinematography is also excellent, with the use of angles and color schemes greatly aiding in depicting the emotions of each scene. The angles are omniscient, yet intimate, allowing viewers to feel close to the emotions of the characters. The colors in warm, stark, or blue tones directly reflect the mood of particular scenes.
The reader raises very emotional and powerful issues such as first love, coming of age, guilt, responsibility, and the relationship of how a past event like the Holocaust still touch people’s hearts. Overall, this film is not easy to watch. The clumsiness of a first love affair and the intensity of the sexual situations were both emotionally beautiful and awkward to view. It is hard to believe that Hannah does not admit her illiteracy at her trial; earlier in the movie during a lovers’ quarrel, she shouts at Michael, “You don’t have to apologize, no one has to apologize!” Maybe that is why she did not speak up for herself at her trial, because she did not think past things require apologies. The Reader is a film worth watching and interesting because of its unique point of view and its characters dealing with the consequences of their lives. It will definitely find its place on my DVD collection shelf.
Works Cited
IMDb. Awards for The Reader. IMDb.com. Web. <http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0976051/awards>
Kross, David and Daldry, Stephen. Conversation with David Kross and Stephen Daldry. YouTube. Web. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ypC-FQwpnw>
The Reader. Dir. Stephen Daldry. Perf. Ralph Fiennes, Kate Winslet, David Kross. Mirage, 2008. Film.
Winslet, Kate. Kate Winslet on Filming Sex Scenes in The Reader. YouTube. Web. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Cb9Lae73HA>
