Good Movie, but Never for Oscar Nomination

Rating: 8/10 (18 March 2009)

In 1995, in Berlim, the lawyer Michael Berg (Ralph Fiennes) recalls his adolescence in 1958 in Newstadt, West Germany, when he was fifteen years old (David Kross). While walking on the street, he becomes ill and the thirty-six year-old stranger Hanna Schmitz (Kate Winslet) helps him to go home. Three months later, in summertime, he is recovered and he pays a visit to Hanna to thank her kindness and they immediately begin a secret affair. Their encounters always begin with Michael reading a book and then going to the bed with Hanna, until the day Hanna vanishes, leaving the teenager brokenhearted. In 1966, Michael is a law student of the Heidelberg Law School and his class goes to a trial of Nazi war crimes. For Michael's surprise, he finds that Hanna was a former S.S. concentration camp guard and is being accused in the courtroom of several crimes. Michael lives a dilemma: should he disclose a secret that may save Hanna from a life sentence?.
"The Reader" is a good movie, but never for an Oscar nomination. The story is predictable and falsely moralist with the despicable attitude of Michael in court, hiding the secret that could have saved Hanna from her most severe accusation. In my opinion, Kate Winslet is presently one of the best contemporary actresses after Meryl Streep, but she could never win an Oscar performing a German character without speaking German. That is one of the major differences from a great number of Europeans and non-Europeans actors and actresses, the skill for languages.One exception is the fabulous Meryl Streep that not only learned a Polish accent but also learned how to speak German to make "Sophie's Choice". Kate Winslet deserves an Oscar for her magnificent filmography, but never for "The Reader", which is another movie about the Holocaust, the favorite theme for nomination in Hollywood. My vote is eight.
Title (Brazil): "O Leitor" ("The Reader")