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| Poster artwork for the drama film The Reader. |
Generational Guilt Conflicts With
Lasting Love by Linh
Director
Stephen Daldry and screenwriter David Hare have remained faithful to the book
upon which his Oscar-nominated film The
Reader is based. The Reader reflects the emotional depth and
thought-provoking material of Bernhard Schlink’s acclaimed book Der Vorleser, however some alterations
were made to seek sympathy for and understanding of the character Hanna
Schmitz.
The Reader tells the story of a
fifteen year old boy, Michael Berg, whose love affair with a mysterious woman
twice his age, Hanna Schmitz, during post World War II in Berlin, has
repercussions on him later in life. He discovers her secret a decade later when
he sees her defending herself in a Nazi war crimes court, but is unwilling to
divulge it, as he knows she never wants it revealled.
The
film is told in flashbacks where the adult Michael tells how his past
experiences may have influenced and affected him in later life.
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WELL READ: Hanna (Kate Winslet)
listens to Michael (David Kross) read aloud in the film The Reader. Image: The Weinstein Company.
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The Reader has been praised and
condemned.
Many
have found the film to be a moving and provocative drama, while others have
seen it as representing Nazi revisionism where the character Hanna Schmitz is a
metaphor for the many Germans who’ve committed terrible war crimes and her
‘secret’ is a means of freeing her from the blame and accusations of mass
murder.
The Reader has sparked much debate
and even some protests against the film and its producers.
The
characters in The Reader are superbly
portrayed and Kate Winslet's leading actress Academy Award win for this film is well
deserved. Winslet plays the tram conductor Hanna Schmitz who brings young
Michael Berg to his sexual awakening in the Summer of 1958.
Hanna’s
mysterious and abrupt nature intrigues Michael, and she enjoys having people
reading aloud to her. She shows much affection towards Michael and is very
blunt and straight-forward with him, yet she could never reveal her past or her
secret illiteracy to him.
Winslet
is disarmingly seductive yet hard-edged as the former Nazi guard, and her
German accent is convincing enough. Winslet has conquered a very complex role
in her portrayal of Hanna providing soul stirring moments and fascinating
insights into a woman who is seemingly merciless and unrepentant.
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BIKE TRIP: Michael (David Kross)
and Hanna (Kate Winslet) take a day off to go biking in the film The Reader. Image: The Weinstein
Company.
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Young
German actor David Kross had to learn English for the role of teenager Michael
Berg and he is believable as Hanna’s lover who thought he was “not good at
anything”. When Hanna praises him for his reading ability after hearing him
read Emilia Galotti by Gotthold
Ephraim Lessing, Michael continues to read aloud various literature to her
including The Odyssey by Homer, D. H.
Lawrence's novel Lady Chatterley's Lover,
Anton Chekhov's The Lady with the Little
Dog and The Adventures of Huckleberry
Finn by Mark Twain.
Kross’s
character Michael and Hanna’s love scenes were tastefully performed and filmed,
and although Michael didn’t know it at the time, the intimate nature of the
affair shapes the rest of their lives.
Kross
brings intelligence, sensitivity and a maturity to Michael, also showing the
deep internal conflict as he grapples with his love for Hanna and revealling
her illiteracy.
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INTIMACY: Hanna (Kate
Winslet) is very fond of Michael (David
Kross) and enjoys his company in the
film The Reader. Image: The Weinstein
Company.
|
Ralph
Fiennes gives a consummate performance as the adult Michael Berg, whose
narration and flashbacks form the thrust of the film. Fiennes appears briefly
in the beginning and the end, and seems moody, impatient and withdrawn, unlike
the young Michael. The youthful exuberance has disappeared and in its place is
a wreck whose marriage has failed, his daughter hardly knows him and even his
legal work dissatisfies him.
The
best scenes involve him recording audio tapes of all the books in his library
for Hanna including Doctor Zhivago by
Boris Pasternak, Jaws by Peter
Benchley, Charles Dickens’s The Old
Curiosity Shop and Ernest Hemingway’s The
Old Man and the Sea. Fiennes brilliantly creates a character who is a moral
conundrum and at conflict with his emotions and thoughts for Hanna.
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CONUNDRUM: Adult Michael (Ralph
Fiennes) is still feeling the effect of Hanna's love and her secret many years
later in the film The Reader. Image:
The Weinstein Company.
|
The
supporting cast also deliver fine performances including Bruno Ganz (best known
for his exceptional portrayal of Adolf Hitler in [I]Downfall[/I]) as Professor
Rohl who challenges Michael to question his own morals on the war crimes trial;
Lena Olin as the Nazi concentration camp survivor, Rose evokes sympathy and
Burghart Klaußner as the Judge presiding over Hanna Schmitz’ trial is
effectively commanding.
The
film is compelling with enthralling performances, on the subject matter of Nazi
guilt, shame, responsibility and the delicate balance of morality. The film
also echoes aspects in Bernhardt Schlink’s novel where no-one is asking for
forgiveness or seeking redemption. It’s not essentially about the Holocaust but
more to do with the aftermath of Germany’s involvement in the Holocaust and its
effect on future generations.
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MORAL MESS: Michael (David Kross)
and his law lecturer Professor Rohl (Bruno Ganz) at a war crimes trial in the
film The Reader. Image: The Weinstein
Company.
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Director: Stephen Daldry
Writers: David Hare (screenplay), Bernhard
Schlink (book Der Vorleser)
Cast: Kate Winslet, Ralph Fiennes, David
Kross, Lena Olin, Bruno Ganz, Burghart Klaußner, Jeanette Hain, Vijessna
Ferkic, Karoline Herfurth
Producers: Jason Blum, Donna
Gigliotti, Anthony Minghella, Henning Molfenter, Redmond Morris, Arno Neubauer,
Sydney Pollack, Michael Simon de Normier, Nora Skinner, Bob Weinstein, Harvey
Weinstein, Charlie Woebcken
Cinematographer: Roger Deakins (Director
of Photography), Chris Menges (Director of Photography)
Original Music Composer: Nico Muhly
Film Editor: Claire Simpson
Production: Brigette Broch
(Production Designer), Christian M. Goldbeck, Stefan Hauck, Yesim Zolan, Erwin
Prib (Art Directors), Karin Betzler, Eva Stiebler (Set Decorators)
Costume Designer: Donna Maloney, Ann Roth
Running Time: 2 hours and 4 minutes
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