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The Reader (2008)
Director: Stephen Daldry
Movie review
From Time Out New York
How do you turn tasteless literature—Bernhard Schlink’s 1995 Holocaust novel, which “complicates” archetypes by making an illiterate, unrepentant Nazi into its central figure of pity—into tasteful, awards-season filmmaking? Streamline the ambiguity and go heavy on the steam. In 1958, 15-year-old Michael (Kross) has an affair with the much older Hanna (Winslet), only to learn years later—as a law student observing her trial—that she belonged to the SS. He knows a secret that will lessen her sentence but not exonerate her. What to do? The film obfuscates its own dubious morality by briefly noting that Hanna could never be absolved—but from a dramatic standpoint, she is, something director Stephen Daldry and screenwriter David Hare appallingly seal by pilfering their coda from Schindler’s List.
What was a literary exercise has become a virtuoso demonstration in shouted themes and chronological scrambling. (Many characters are played by two actors, with the notable exception of Hanna—the better to bait a Best Makeup nom.) As in The Hours, Daldry has a field day with crosscutting, particularly when the elder Michael (now Fiennes) happily empties his shelves to record books on tape for Hanna. Her face lights up and the inspirational music soars. That she helped murder 300 Jews is something the movie prefers we ignore.
Author: Ben Kenigsberg
Time Out New York Issue 689: December 11 - 17, 2008
User reviews of this film
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- BONNIE BAKER said...
- Posted on Feb 23 2009 09:24 The movie was ordinary...lacked punch...no excuse for Kate W with what she did..she deserved to be punished for her attitude as did the others. Her remore was ony that her teen lover did not rallly when he found her the way she would have liked. He did fine under the circumstances. His reaction was real and just.
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- Kevin said...
- Posted on Feb 07 2009 10:24 Very touching film which is a fresh break from the holocaust genre straightjacket. Brings a new perspective and much more authentic look at what really motivated people. Very well acted
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- darryl said...
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Posted on Feb 02 2009 14:29
I can't help thinking this critic has forgotten that he is reviewing the film and not the theme. I think this is a flawed masterpiece, and moral ambiguity isn't one of those flaws- on the contrary, that ambiguity is an essential vehicle for examination of the human condition.
My only problem: I didn't buy the young Micheal's sex appeal- it strained the credibility of the already over-emphasized sex scenes. Beyond that the casting was superb; and Winslet hasn't gotten any credit for taking on a politically risky role. Her performance surpasses her already Oscar-worthy one in Revolutionary Road. I found the pacing to be good, and all that time- shifting was well handled. For a 2 hour movie it was easy to sit through.
But the moral beating this film has taken is completely unwarranted. I thought we had taken a historical step up beginning with "Hitler's Willing Executioners"; in recognizing the depth of complicity in the Holocaust. We've spent the last 50 years on individual guilt; we need to recognize that people of ALL stations and stripes were complicit- and that includes sympathetic characters. This film maker lets us discover that for ourselves. Why do we have to be bludgeoned into it?
By the end of the film we all feel sorry for Hanna, but we also know she deserved her punishment. She was not a Nazi, was uneducated and simple, with no racial, political or ideological axe to grind- but she WAS guilty- period. If we don't recognize that nice, ordinary people can do horrific things, how can we keep them from happening again? That's the message I got from the film; but it seems like I'm the only one! - Report as inappropriate
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- vicky said...
- Posted on Jan 31 2009 14:07 This is an amazing, moving movie.
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- Beth said...
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Posted on Jan 30 2009 18:37
The Reader is an offensice joke of a film.
Horrible and morally dubious. I completely agree with the Time Out review here.
To touch on these subject matters and then skim over the surface of them is to do disservice to the important issues of German guilt and culpability.
I thought Stephen Daldry was a better and far more intelligent film maker than that.
And it's ridiculous that it's up for best picture at this year's Oscars. - Report as inappropriate
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- ben said...
- Posted on Jan 24 2009 15:27 After seeing a movie like this, to then go read reviews which try only to pin it down as a story about this or a story about that, makes me a bit bored. This was a fantastic movie, not for any moral theme, but because it was a story. The best thing i've seen in a long time.
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- Ted said...
- Posted on Jan 10 2009 05:10 The film is so well acted that it slips in, almost as an afterthought, the classical Nazi excuse for having collaborated to the Holocaust: "we were obeying orders." So, to answer Alf, it is the film that is not honest -- a few minutes to talk about three hundred Jews willfully burned in a church (three hundred is a statistic, but there are three hundred individual tragedies) and almost two hours to create sympathy for a war criminal. Once the viewer understands the sleight of hand, he/she may wish to enjoy the fine acting if the viewer's conscience allows it.
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- Justaman said...
- Posted on Jan 02 2009 16:10 This movie is one of the top two best films of 2008. The critic above has no clue. The audience did not leave feeling anyhting but sorry for the hateful atrocities commited by everyone invovled in the Holocaust. At no moment did you pity this woman...you simply got another look at how vulgar mankind can be to each other.
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- alf said...
- Posted on Jan 02 2009 10:45 This film is excellent. It's a shame most critics seem unable to view it honestly, preferring the hysterical approach of vilifying anyone who dares even tackle the subject of the holocauset.
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- bubba said...
- Posted on Dec 10 2008 00:59 this is a great movie.
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Cast & crew
Director: Stephen Daldry
Cast: Kate Winslet, David Kross, Ralph Fiennes, Susanne Lothar, Karoline Herfurth, Lena Olin full cast
Rated: R
Duration: 123 mins
US Release: Dec 10 2008
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