Incredibly moving, incredibly controversial....college classrooms could benefit greatly from a showing, as would most every adult

Rating: 10/10 (11 March 2009)

Michael Berg (David Kross) is an almost-16 year old German secondary student who is very, very ill. On his way home from school, he stops in an alley to relieve his stomach and shiver madly during a torrential downpour. Fortunately, a woman, Hanna (Kate Winslet), who lives in an old building spies him, helps clean up after him, and makes certain he gets home. Back with his family, a doctor arrives and declares that the teen has scarlet fever and must stay in bed for a couple of months. Once recovered, Michael mentions to his mother the lady who helped him on the street and mama insists that Michael take her flowers. Remembering the apartment building, the teenager does so. Hanna, very surprised to see him, is ironing her clothing, including her under garments. Michael is intrigued, for Hanna is very beautiful, even if she is 20 years his senior. On the next visit, protocol is thrown to the wind and the older woman puts the moves on the shy Michael, resulting in a torrid affair. Hanna, especially, begs Michael to "read to her", everything from Homer to Chekhov to Tintin. Lovely Hanna works hard as a money-taker for the trolley but, after weeks of meetings, Michael convinces Hanna to go on a "bike holiday" with him. Bliss is too weak a word to convey their mutual affections but it is short lived. One day, Hanna has packed up and gone and Michael is disconsolate. Flash forward several years. Now Michael is a law student and his class is attending a local trial of six former prison guards at Nazi camps. Astonishingly and tragically, Michael learns Hanna is one of them. Despite Michael's suspicions that Hanna is illiterate, the former beauty is given the harshest sentence, life in prison, for she claims she wrote the camp's reports. She is gone from sight forever. But, Michael can not forget her. Now grown-up (Ralph Fiennes takes over) and divorced, Michael records books, including their favorites, on tapes and sends them to Hanna in prison, where she is astonished and gratified to get them. But, will the two lovers ever see each other again? This is a powerhouse of a film, incredibly moving and incredibly controversial. While the storyline is intricate, it is still basically an exploration of what is good and what is evil and if there is anything "gray" in-between the two. Specifically, can an illiterate German woman, trying to support herself, take a job in the SS, follow orders, send Jews to their death and be anything other than a monster? With this highly volatile premise, there is bound to be controversy and one can not imagine a Jewish person, especially a Holocaust survivor, having anything but one opinion only, with good cause. Yet, the movie presents evidence to support both sides. As the principal stars, Winslet, Kross, and Fiennes are magnificent and well worth any accolades and prizes coming their way. It is even more astonishing to realize that Winslet gave another knockout performance this year in Revolutionary Road, as well and that Kross was a mere 18 when filming began! The scenery, too, is lovely, as are the costumes, musical score, script and direction. Due to the sexual nature of the film, it is unsuitable for anyone under 18. But, this movie is a true lightning rod for the brain and for the heart and should be seen by every discriminating movie attender.