Do not judge a book based off its cover. Read deeper. The Reader was indeed a pretty good read. The movie was even better.

Rating: 8/10 (3 May 2014)

Having both readt the book by Bernhard Schlink and then saw the movie directed by Stephen Daldry. I have to say, both were very sophisticated stories. I found that movie is very close to the source material. Without spoiling too much, it tells the story of Michael Berg (Ralph Fiennes) a German lawyer who finds out, that the woman, who he had an affair with as a mid-teenager in 1958 is being trialled for war-crimes. He's in conflict with himself over morals, as he doesn't know if he should help the woman, Hanna Schmitz (Kate Winslet) or not. Michael realizes that he know a personal secret of Hanna that if revealed, could help her at the trial. He has to make a choice, play Devil's Advocate, and help Hanna due to his blind love for the woman, ignoring the crude facts about her time as a Nazi Guard at Auschwitz concentration camps or allow justice to be served for the benefits of the Holocaust victims involved. While, Ralph Fiennes isn't in the film, much. He does bring his A-game to the part. Most of the film has Michael Berg being played by David Kross, who plays the young Michael in all the flashbacks, who received much praise for his performance. The one person who really deserve praise, is Kate Winslet as Hanna. You can see her deliver lines with such stubbornness, and pride. She also can be charming, but a bit crude, at moments. She really pulls off the complex character, well. She really did deserve the Academy Award for Best Actress that year. I didn't mind the German accents. It wasn't that bad. The movie mood is a bit dark, and gloomy for the casual viewers. There is a double standard here with the sympathy the movie put on Hanna. I doubt if the film had a male SS guard who committed wartime atrocities, escaped justice for more than 20 years afterwards, and engaged in a borderline-abusive relationship with an underaged girl. It would be hard to pull off. Honestly, it's hard to feel sympathy for Hanna. I really doubt a lot of people wanted to feel sorry about a cold and unsympathetic Nazi. The ending was a bit awkward. I thought it would ended better if Michael didn't do to New York. Honestly, it's not one of those entertaining type movies. I think the sex scenes were alright. It portray sex as what it is. Romantic at times, awkward sometimes, and brutal at others. One thing, it fail to portray is the age different. It supposed to feel disturbing due to the fact that he's underage, but it doesn't. You never see that, as David Cross looks way older than 15 year old, and Hanna is somewhat of an attraction age. It was too tastefully done. Another fault is that the novel portrayed Hanna's illiteracy as a metaphor for generational illiteracy about the Holocaust, the film failed to convey those thematic overtones. Germany was a rather literate country in the 1930s and 1940s - and I don't think it explains very well people's willingness to join a group to slaughter people. After all, the Nazism weren't all un-education bigots. Many of them were doctors, scientist, teachers, and scholars. Most join because of self-worth and survivable. Many of them felt that they got wrong, over the loss of WWI and looking for revenge. I don't see why the Germans born after World War 2 have to feel guilty for their fore-fathers mistakes. It's like saying all Modern Americans should feel guilty for allowing slavery to happen in the past. Yes, its sucks that it happen, but they weren't even alive, during those events. The only person that should feel guilty for it, is those who live during the World War 2 timeline and knew about it, and didn't do anything to stop it. The movie feels like one big Vergangenheitsbewältigung guilt trip, anyways. Also the movie fails to portray the 1980s in the film. It felt like it was present day. There were some different in the film from the book. In the book, Michael contracts hepatitis and misses 3 months of school. In the movie he has scarlet fever. I guess, the sex scenes wouldn't be appealing to watch if he know that he has hepatitis. Another thing, missing is young Michael getting advice from his father. It really was needed to tie in the story of life with his normal family, and his life with Hanna. Overall: it was the complexity of human morality that made this watchable. Other than that, it wouldn't be that good.