A New Perspective

Rating: 8/10 (13 March 2009)

The Reader was one of the most memorable films of 2008. It was also incredibly controversial, as it humanizes the monster: a Nazi prison guard. Kate Winslet brilliantly portrays Hannah Schmitz, the German who decides to become a Nazi, a decision which a teenager struggles to understand after an affair with her. The film seems to be in two parts. The first part is their affair. She is an older, lonely woman, and he is a teenager. She is reluctant to love him, but they bond over his reading to her. The first half of the film is executed perfectly. While some already seem to deem Hannah as evil as she is now a pedophile, pedophilia is not the theme of the first half. The theme of the first half is love and happiness. We know the Holocaust is going on, but it is not even shown. They go away with each other to the country, etc. However, the film abruptly changes. Hannah has suddenly left, and the boy is left sad and confused. Later, in law school, after the Holocaust, he finds out that she was a Nazi. It is here that the film becomes more controversial. He is trying to understand how someone he thought he knew could do something so evil, and also struggles with his newfound guilt for loving her. A brilliant line is, when talking about the toll their affair took on his later life (as he has become unable to form real relationships), he says "she did far worse to others." The Reader may be a holocaust story, but its central theme is love. I remember when I saw this film in an advanced screening, the critic talking about the film detested it. He said it was insulting to Jews who were hurt in the Holocaust to humanize the monster. But the hard truth is that the Nazis were people, and the film tries to understand how ordinary citizens could do something so cruel. While the film made me think, I also have problems with it. First of all, I wish they would have filmed it in German. While Kate Winslet was brilliant, it is frustrating that films like Slumdog Millionaire stay true to the culture and speak the language, but The Reader hired famous actors to make more money. The Germans are speaking English in this film. Also, the "big shock" about the film was incredibly easy to figure out. I think that some intelligent people might have a problem with the fact that the main character does not figure out the surprise soon enough. Also, the first time I saw the film, the ending dissatisfied me. However, upon seeing it again, I think that it was a simple and profound way to end the film. Another nit-picky problem of mine was its lack of a consistent score, which I personally feel would have added more emotion to the film (but this is just personal preference). But I still loved The Reader. The Reader dares to go where other Holocaust films have never gone before. It is a standout of 2008. However, it is not a "perfect" film, and beware, for many people found the film to be insulting.