The Reader (15)

A GORGEOUS ILLITERATE CHEKOV FAN WITH A TONED BODY AND 3 JOBS ]---------------kate winslett seduces ,she cooks ,she cycles ,she bathes her teenage lover in a bathtub ,she sacrifices her job for him ,she becomes a martyr and then she learns to read after appreciating homer and chekov simultaneously as she is also recruited by socialist nationalists who fail to determine her educational qualifications into three jobs where she is obviously interviewed but selected so nobody at the trial for her war crimes at aushwitz mentions anything about her ouvrae while all other records were enough to be scrutinized in detail but her introspective curriculum vitae was of no consequence . a ludicrous fable with even ralph fiennes totally miscast where he has no semblance with his 15 year old self played by david kross -this has too many flaws in the script to even be commended as a fantasy adventure . the hilarity of how we contemplate illogical fiction and fake art is exaggerating in the search for an origonal script which is restricted to philandering morons like danny boyle and second rate plagiarised versions of bollywood . winslett plays a woman who indulges in sex tantrums and kama sutra in german glory with close introspective observations of her adolescent lover and his crown jewels , her choice of langerie is somewhat dubious as in the swimming sequence in the idyllic ravine ,but she has a rather kind nature as she takes a huge blame for a whole national crime to become a scapegoat and a martyr for the entire german nation who according to this fable built thousands of death camps and killed millions in a milieu where millions were aware of the crimes as well as the rest of the world too . but then were dachau or auschwitz ever bombed or even strafed by allies just so they could bring the wires down and help the inmates escape . although a church is bombed with 300 jewish women locked inside to burn alive while the six gaurds are wary to let them out as they might not be able to control the chaos . this rather paranoid ,pretentious and contemptuous view of humanity tries to make us feel guilty by implying we are all criminals as we observe the laws but not morality . unfortunately the transient milieu has no respect for any law either and morality was the first casualty when adam and eve decided to indulge themselves. there goes the debate about law and morality and justice which is rare and precious in all eras and milieus . the reader is not just illiterate it is also dyslexic like its admirers who could not decipher a working woman on a tram reading tickets cannot be illiterate . as for kate she deserves an oscar for all the aerobics she indulged in to tone up for the erotic german kama sutra with her youthful well endowed lover who cannot get over her because she was such a typical dysfunctional sadomasochistic character who slaps him for a birthday present . there are other hysterical idealistic youth too who suggest everyone who knew about death camps must be shot . it made me think about abu garib and gitmo bay and what that would imply in modern terms . also congratulations to lena olin for giving the most snobbish and exaggerated performance of a death camp victim who has survived aushwitz , she denies others absolution but to me it seemed she needed it herself with her atrocious arrogance and an attitude which redeems jade goody as a saint . finally the war crimes court needs to be rebuked for a mistrial as they did not look at the educational qualifications of a woman on trial who was bent on martyrdom to win a golden statuette . they fully aided her endeavours to perpetuate a so called moralist drama that ridicules not just holocaust but art in particular as propagandist trash . watch this if you like to see full frontal nudity and some well designed sex circus between an illiterate woman and her adolescent paramour and forget the rest

Very interesting and thought provoking. I didn't understand each characters motivations all the time, but then I think that is part of the power of the film, that you can read into it what you will. Definetely worth seeing.

to colin hall dexter: have you ever read the book. because you completely miss the message in your relentless search of imperfections. the book was written in english therefore the movie is as well. you probably were disappointed after they stopped showing the sex scenes and was pissed off after that

Like all good art, this film seems very divisive, which proves that those who don't like it are wrong because of the above statement. QED

Usman, whilst mentioning dyslexic you might actually like to look at your own feeble and utterly negative report and realise there are a stack of spelling effors and no puntuation whatsoever. Why people like you get near a keyboard to write such ill informed drivel is beyond me. The reviews are split between those who loved it (most) and those that seem to hate it with avengance but they rarely admit to why this is.

I thought it was a beautiful and moving film. No one moved a muscle when it ended, we all sat in the cinema shell shocked... most of us cried...

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

UK. Stop boasting about your two intelligent friends. I have an intelligent car. Peace brother.

i do not intend to even go near this mis conceived mis printed dyslexic reader two of my very intelligent friends and they are jewish went to see it and the wife had to shake her husband awake inthe end she gave it half a star i am generous as i have not seen it i wont give any or just 3 for charity

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!