Capsule Film Review: The Reader (2008)

 Holocaust theme is one of the reasons why cynics would easily recognise The Reader, 2008 film by Stephen Daldrey, as one of those titles designed to win as many Oscars as possible. The sinister subject is, however, approached by rather unusual perspective, because the narrator/protagonist happens to be person indirectly affected by those tragic events. Screenplay is based on the semi-autobiographical novel by German judge Bernard Schlink. It begins in 1995 when Michael Berg (Ralph Fiennes), middle-aged respected jurist, remembers 1958 when he, as a teenager (David Kroos) had brief and passionate love affair with Hannah Schmitz (Kate Winslet), 36-year old woman who disappeared only to become defendant during Nazi war crime trials years later. The film created a bit of controversy because sex scenes featuring Winslet and teenage Kroos were deemed child pornography by some critics. Winslet nevertheless won Academy Award for her role. The rest of the film wasn’t so impressive, especially in the second half, when the great plot twist is released. The Reader had intriguing premise that metaphorically dealt with the issues of guilt and embarrassment by post-war generations of Germans; the opportunity was mostly wasted by Daldrey’s cold direction and Fiennes’ uninspired acting, so different from the performance in similarly themed Schindler’s List.
 

RATING: 4/10

 (NOTE: Croatian language review of the same film could be found here.)