What's it all about?

Rating: 10/10 (22 January 2009)

"The Reader" is about illiteracy and its impact.
Hopefully it leads viewers to a comprehension of the effect this Achilles' heel has on people who are otherwise perfectly normal and the isolation it propagates.
The reason Hanna Smitz turned down promotion, firstly as a production worker at Siemens and then as a Clippie was, she couldn't move up because people would find out that she couldn't read or write.
The reason this woman became a concentration camp guard was reading and writing weren't necessary.
The reason she got 20 years instead of 4 was she still didn't want anyone to know. Admitting this failing was more complicates for her than admitting her role in the Holocaust.