The Reader

Rating: 10/10 (1 January 2009)

Kate Winslett's performance as Hanna makes this film a memorable experience. Her vacant stares are anything but vacant and will haunt you long after you have left the theater. The subject matter is much more than just an affair with an older woman, albeit this love affair impacts the young man throughout his life. It is more a morality play and a philosophical question of German guilt.
Bruno Ganz, who plays the professor, actually includes Karl Jaspers' The Question of German Guilt as required reading for his young law students, including Michael Berg, Hanna's lover. The professor also requires his young law students to attend a trial for low level guards from the concentration camps.
While watching the trial scenes, I tried to make a decision as to what I would have done if I were in Berg's position. It is not an easy question. I guarantee you will be torn apart by this film.
The young Michael Berg, David Kross, gives a stunning performance. And Ralph Fiennes, as usual, gives the performance he should, reserved, yet multi-layered if you look deep into the philosophical questions this film poses.
It is based on a book by Bernhard Schlick, adapted for the screen by David Hare, and directed by Stephen Daltry. I highly recommend this film.
One last thing, on a personal note, I fell in love with Bruno Ganz in the Wim Wenders film Wings of Desire and I am still in love with that man. So sexy.