Movie Review: The Reader
The Reader, 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 touchy subject of the Holocaust, it deals mostly with the lives of ordinary Germans at the time. Additionally, it brings the film into the modern day, showing the effects 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 reminiscing about 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 get 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 involved 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 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 the women, all former SS guards, who are on trial for the deaths of hundreds of Jewish women locked within a burning church. Her presence at the trial lends a great deal of suspense to that portion of the film; as 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. A lot of evidence is provided by a woman named Ilana Mather, whose memoir described how she, along with her mother, survived the incident. 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.” Yet, Michael finds himself unable to even talk to Hannah about it 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. Perhaps because of his failure to act, Hannah receives 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.
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. She leaves behind some money and a request that he deliver it to Ilana Mather. He travels to the United States to meet with Ilana, who is the first person he ever confesses about his relationship to Hannah. Ilana refuses the money, and agrees with Michael that the cash would be best given to a Jewish literacy charity; her luxurious apartment also hints that she has no need for cash.
Films about the Holocaust inevitably stir up a variety of strong emotions in viewers, and The Reader is no exception. Films such as Schindler’s List (1993) and The Pianist (2002) were met with great acclaim from critics and audiences alike. Those two movies deal more directly with the Jewish plight and atrocities that occurred under Hitler’s reign in World War II. In The Reader, though atrocity is mentioned in the trial portion of the film, 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 acts as a Good Samaritan and 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 Hanna 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 receives. 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 dire 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 unpalatable, 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, explicit as the scenes are, 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 merely stiff and boring; the undercurrent 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 members, including reading and dialect coaching (Kross and Daldry). This shows throughout the film, giving it consistency and fluidity. The cinematography is also excellent, with the use of angles and color schemes greatly aiding in depicting the emotions of each scene.
Overall, this film is not easy to watch, yet compelling. The clumsiness of a first love affair and the intensity of the sexual situations were both emotionally gratifying 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!” The question remains if apologies are unnecessary, why she did not hold herself to the same standard. 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.
Works Cited
IMDb. Awards for The Reader. IMDb.com. Web.
Kross, David and Daldry, Stephen. Conversation with David Kross and Stephen Daldry. YouTube. Web.
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.
