Based on Bernhard Schlink’s award-winning novel, director Stephen Daldry’s The Reader on the surface represents a typical addition to Holocaust film canon. Few years float by without a slate of productions depicting the beyond tragic events of those dark days. This year is no exception with notable entries such as The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, United Artist’s Valkyrie, and Daniel Craig’s Defiance. The saturation of the subject has spurred ambivalence to such pictures and in turn has necessitated the filmmaker’s need for novel material. In The Reader, we find such creativity as it offers viewers a wonderfully nuanced cinematic journey rich with character study.
We are immediately introduced to German schoolboy Michael Berg who finds himself in the throes of Scarlet Fever. Away from home and wretchedly ill, Michael finds help in the form of tram attendant Hannah Schmitz played by Kate Winslet. Months later and fully recovered, Michael searchers her out to give her a proper thank you. When they meet a spark is lit that leads to a passionate love affair despite the couple’s substantial age disparity. During their summer of romance, Michael reads classic literature to Hannah and remains unaware of her shadowy Nazi past.
Kate Winslet immersed in another Oscar-
nominated performance.
Director Stephen Daldry, with now three consecutive Oscar nods to his credit, gives the audience a riveting romance that tests the sanctity of love. But within the film’s battle of morality versus love lies the equally impressionable argument for the power of the written word. When Hannah must answer for her crimes against humanity, there is certainly a focus on Michael, a then budding lawyer, and his internal struggle. However, a larger emphasis is placed on Hannah’s obvious illiteracy which takes on metaphorical and literal meaning. The Reader begs the question: Can we save ourselves from ourselves through the passion of Homer, Goethe, Chekhov, and Tolstoy?
There are many questions in this film surrounding what we learn from literature and the unique relationship between society and law. The many themes that The Reader presents are precisely what make it different from the majority of Holocaust pictures. Like previous achievements, such as Polanski’s The Pianist or The Counterfeiters, the presentation of the horror is used in a profound way to deconstruct the human condition.
Few pictures can claim a more talented class than The Reader. With standout performances almost too many mention, the continuity of top-tier acting is a delight. Kate Winslet, Ralph Fiennes and newcomer David Kross guide the film with exquisite restraint and proper pace to make the emotional ending a memorable experience.
*RIP producers Sydney Pollack and Anthony Minghella.
Adam is the founder of www.featurefilmreview.com. Email comments to adam (at) featurefilmreview (dot) com.
