The Reader (2008)

User Rating:

7.7/10   

Director:

Stephen Daldry

Writers (WGA):

David Hare (screenplay)
Bernhard Schlink (book)

Release Date:

9 January 2009 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Tagline:

How far would you go to protect a secret?

Plot:

Post-WWII Germany: Nearly a decade after his affair with an older woman came to a mysterious end, law student Michael Berg re-encounters his former lover as she defends herself in a war-crime trial.

Plot Keywords:

Student | Law Student | Trial | Germany | Nazi

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 13 wins & 25 nominations

Cast

Ralph Fiennes	...	Michael Berg
Jeanette Hain	...	Brigitte
David Kross	...	Young Michael Berg
Kate Winslet	...	Hanna Schmitz
Susanne Lothar	...	Carla Berg
Alissa Wilms	...	Emily Berg
Florian Bartholomäi	...	Thomas Berg
Friederike Becht	...	Angela Berg
Matthias Habich	...	Peter Berg
Frieder Venus	...	Doctor
Marie-Anne Fliegel	...	Hanna's Neighbor
Hendrik Arnst	...	Woodyard Worker
Rainer Sellien	...	Teacher
Torsten Michaelis	...	Sports Master
Moritz Grove	...	Holger

Also Known As:

Der Vorleser (Germany)

MPAA:

Rated R for some scenes of sexuality and nudity.

Runtime:

124 min

Country:

USA | Germany

Language:

English | German | Greek | Latin

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

USA:R (certificate #44922) | UK:15 | Ireland:16 | Singapore:R21 | Australia:MA | Finland:K-15 | South Korea:18 | Brazil:16 | Portugal:M/16 (Qualidade) | Netherlands:12 | New Zealand:R16 | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | Philippines:R-18 (MTRCB) | Spain:13 | Germany:12 | Canada:14A (Ontario) | Mexico:B15 | Japan:PG-12 | Sweden:Btl | Hong Kong:III | Denmark:11 | Austria:12 | Argentina:16 | Iceland:14 | Iceland:12 (DVD rating)

Filming Locations:

Berlin, Germany

Company:

Mirage Enterprises

Trivia:

To avoid legal consequences, the crew delayed the filming of sexually explicit scenes until after actor David Kross' 18th birthday on July 4 2008.

Goofs:

Incorrectly regarded as goofs: Hanna teaches herself to read and write though library books. Yet, her handwriting is in the style of "penmanship" handwriting, for certain letters, not as they are written in books. The main example of this is the lowercase "a" - she writes it the way most people write it, not as it is printed in books, which is how she would have learned it. However, in the movie when Hanna first begins to learn to write while reading "The Lady with the Little Dog", it is shown that the lowercase "a" in her copy of the book is not printed in "penmanship" font, i.e. printed in a font much like the way most people write (such as Arial).

Quotes:

Young Ilana Mather: [Testifying in court] Each of the guards would choose a certain number of women. Hanna Schmitz chose differently.
Judge: In what way differently?
Young Ilana Mather: She had favourites. Girls, mostly young. We all remarked on it, she gave them food and places to sleep. In the evening, she asked them to join her. We all thought - well, you can imagine what we thought. Then we found out - she was making these women read aloud to her. They were reading to her. At first we thought this guard...

Movie Connections:

Featured in 15th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards (2009) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Pueri Hebraeorum

About As Unbiased and Objective As Any Form Of A Medium Can Get

The Reader is one of my favorite movies from the year 2008. It is incredibly complex in the way you react to the characters of the movie. It carries many emotions from sensuality to anger all the way back to that of sympathy and resolution. Many moves advertise themselves as unbiased and fair but nothing gets close to that like The Reader which is able to build sympathy for a character you would never think you could feel towards.

The acting in the movie was phenomenal. Especially that of Kate Winslet who draws out many emotions from whoever is watching. She plays an ex-Nazi guard who has an affair with a 16 year old boy played very well by David Kross. Her bitter, cold attitude, random behavior as well as her past history seems unjustifiable and deplorable. Yet you can do nothing more than feel empathy and compassion towards the shame and humiliation she feels about her one well kept secret. In the course of her affair she ask for one thing, to be read to. From this do you see the humanity within her. Ralph Fiennes also gave quite a nice performance as an older Michael Berg who looks back on his life and then later finds a way to open himself up through his time of self reflection and sudden realizations towards life. David Kross plays the younger Michael Berg whose performance was undoubtedly a very good one, maintaining his presence in not letting himself being totally overshadowed. Overall the performances are very deep and will keep you thinking long after you have seen the movie.

The directing and writing also was very key to the emotions felt in this movie. Every scene had to be done precisely and consistently to feel genuinely touched rather than feeling falsely drawn in. Stephen Daldry did that under his great subtle direction. The writing by David Hare allowed actors such as Ralph Fiennes, David Kross and of course Kate Winslet to give such stunning and deep performances and take the film to another level.

I found this movie to be very compelling in many ways. The emotions felt here were not cheap gimmicks but that of feeling true sympathy and forgiveness towards what we would normally describe as something wrong, shameful and reprehensible. I can't remember another film that made me feel these emotions for a character especially after learning one startling secret after another. This film succeeded in ways that almost movie would likely fail in, it did not come off as generous or light but as remarkably fair as a film or any type of medium can get shedding light on both sides of the spectrum. This is a film that is amazingly thought provoking and will bring out the humanity within all of us and should not be missed.